KUWAIT: Officials at Kuwait's Water Emergency Centers have rejected reports in a local daily that Kuwait faces major water shortages. The Kuwait Times spoke with Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) officials at the country's Water Emergency Centers in Shuwaikh, Salmiya and Hawally, all of whom rejected the reports.

A spokesperson at the center in Shuwaikh denied that there are any water shortages, saying, "We receive around 10 calls a day, but they're not complaining about water shortages but about leaks. We send out our maintenance crews to help them, and they tell us here in the center what's happening in the area. But there are no shortages and people aren't complaining at all about that - trust me, there's surplus water!

The official at the Salmiya center echoed his colleague in Shuwaikh's statement: "The water is perfect in Salmiya and we don't receive any complaints about shortages. What we do receive all day are calls about water leaks - around 15 to 20 calls a day. What we do in these cases is, we send a letter to the technical department to send someone to check the leaks. We are doing our best in this situation, but nobody in Salmiya complains about water shortages at all - and I'd guess nobody in Kuwait does.

In Hawally, a water emergency center official told the Kuwait Times that while there have been two or three complaints about water shortages at certain times, these are the exception rather than the rule and are more to do with heavy water use levels during the pre and post-Iftar periods than with any actual shortage.
We don't usually get any complaints about water shortages in the Hawally area at all, but now because of Ramadan there's some pressure on the water in the period before and after Iftar," the official said.

In those three hours, a lot of people are using water for cooking, so there is some pressure on the supply and we have received two or three calls complaining about this, but only for a short period, not all the time. Mind you, we do receive complaints about leaks, that's for sure! - Kuwait Times