For the first time in over a decade of war, farmers in Syria’s rebel-held northwest are irrigating their crops more easily thanks to the rehabilitation of a vital reservoir, bringing life back to parched fields. Water from the Bala reservoir is once again flowing to a fertile plain in the Idlib area, home to several million people, many of them displaced during the country’s devastating civil war. “More than 10 years ago, water stopped flowing into the reservoir because of a lack of electricity” for the pumps, said Mohammed Ramadan, 42, irrigating his crops in the village of Bala.
Farmers have relied on rainwater ever since, but it was never enough for their crops to thrive, he added. “Now, thank God, water is flowing again,” he told AFP, with farmers diversifying their crops to include vegetables like eggplant and peppers rather than just the essentials. The reservoir went back into service after years of problems, including poor maintenance and damage to some of its facilities due to bombardment.
Pumps at a nearby station were repaired and reconnected to the electricity grid, while other cleaning and maintenance work was also carried out, according to the authorities. It collects rainwater in the winter, while water is also pumped in from the Orontes River area nearby. Agriculture is the main source of income for many in the roughly 60 villages in the Rouj plain, a vast patchwork of green and golden crops cutting rectangular shapes around the reservoir.
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