Over the last two or three days I noticed that don’t seem to have enough water in the tanks. I went though the usual investigation process throughout the house to ensure that there are leeks. I checked the garden and the route of the line from the municipality and everything seems to be okay.
Logically, the only thing left to check is the municipal line, but as they do not allow anyone but approved Water Department employees to touch the line, and rightly so, we have to contact them to send someone out to do the checks.
I’ve been trying to ring their Emergency Response Number (17814111) for a while now and other than being put on hold for 10 minutes at a time (with no music to entertain me while holding!) there is never a response!
Do these people only work office hours? What’s the deal? I thought that emergency services like these should be manned continuously and telephone calls to them should be answered immediately. God forbid that there is a huge problem which might affect a whole village or town. Do they have to wait for the offices to resume a normal week to be able to contact the emergency desk?
update 12:00 finally got through! They promise to send someone over… let’s hope they come with a fix.
update 2: I’m impressed, the repairmen arrived at the door within about an hour of talking to the emergency line. They did find the fault with the meter restricting the flow. Now we’re just waiting for the fix. The meter was inoperative for the better part of a year with all our bills “estimated” on previous consumption patterns due to the ministry not have any of these meters in stock! Whether they have received a batch for them now to come and change it, or find alternative fixes is anyone’s guess.
update 3: It took them 44 minutes and 19 seconds to answer the phone! I was on hold for that length of time to the Water Emergency Telephone Line, this is ridiculous. That must be evaluated by the ministry and they either have to put more people to answer calls, or outsource it to a proper call centre. Waiting for someone to pick up the phone on an emergency line for three-quarters of an hour is just ludicrous. God forbid that an actual emergency occur!
update 4: It’s fixed! The guy just left after installing a brand new meter, and the water pressure is appreciably better than it has been for months! I hope that now at least I will be able to have a shower without worrying that the pump will go off due to the water level in the tank being too low! (no I don’t stink, thank you very much! :angel:)
Well done water guys, but for goodness sake fix your help line!
Comments
Ha Ha! that is funny but I am not surprised..
I wonder when things will start getting better in those government sectors..specially the help-service line.
I have had the same trouble with the Electricity Emergency Desk. I hear that Mr. Al-Jowder is very helpful in such matters. They have actually helped me out a couple of times before, and quite efficiently might I add.
Being the outspoken pioneer that you are Mahmood 😉 why don’t you send him a letter about the service, I am sure he will look into it pronto… :biggrin:
You mean he doesn’t read my blog? Shock! Horror! :w00t:
Mahmood,
It’s good to know that your problem was a technical one (and easily resolved, OK not easily but….you get my drift) and not due to a unilateral decision made by the E&W Min to safeguard future water supplies!
.
I hope someone can answer me this, HOW can we say that we live in a Kingdom (where all our needs are met) when the Min of E&W can turn off our Water Supply or Electricity any time they deem fit? I wonder if they are consistent in turning off the water supply to all parts of Bahrain or are they targeting selective areas that do not have VIPs residing in them.
.
The area Ii live in (Manama) did not have continuous water for seven straight days (from the 1st of Muharram to the Seventh). They would turn on the water early in the morning when we were asleep and then by seven or eight am the water was cut-off again.
.
This coming summer should not be an exception, we most definitely will get the electricity (power) cut off during the peak hours of the afternoon and at nigh (when we are lying in bed on the brink of dosing of to sleep).
.
Money is being spent by the Ministries to improve Bahrain (I think), yet no one has considered harnessing the power of the sun, or spending the government budget more efficiently by building more desalination plants or more power grids. [WHAT GIVES???]
.
The Government should start taking suggestions from the local population and not limit themselves to their employees, because I have yet to see a project which we are benefiting from that originated from a suggestion made by an existing government employee.
Redha you touch on several important subjects, I have no answers but hope that someone in the know would contribute. For the water situation you might consider installing a small receiving tank to receive the main supply and connect that tank via a small pump to the main house tank(s). That way you will be assured of a supply regardless of when the main supply line is pressured.
That doesn’t help of course when the pressure is so low that even the small tank can’t fill in time and water use outstrips the supply which could be caused by a faulty meter (calcification) but at least it’s a measure that could be easily adopted.
I have never understood why Bahrain isn’t leading the region with Solar Power and to a somewhat lessor extent wind. Though there is a wind turbine generator being installed now. Bahrain could be truly energy independent, with “renewable energy”, with not a lot of effort just by using the natural resources of the sun and wind which there is plenty to go around.