Calls to take precautionary measures to prevent risks
Neglected wells... "dark traps" that prey on pedestrians and children
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Dubai ■ Emirates today / The
death of the Moroccan child, Rayan, after he fell into a well, in the village of (Igran) in the north of the Kingdom of Morocco, has recently raised fears of a recurrence of the accident in the countries of the world, which necessitated taking proactive measures and measures to prevent this type of accident from occurring. .
The concerned authorities in the country initiated calls targeting the owners of the wells, urging them to take quick measures to prevent a recurrence of the scenario of the child, who was stuck in a narrow well at a depth of 32 meters, for five days, during which the strenuous efforts of the civil protection teams failed to save him, due to the terrain of the area. at risk of soil erosion.
The calls also targeted the state’s municipalities and the relevant agencies, to conduct a comprehensive survey of the wells, whether inside homes or farms, and inventory the old and abandoned, in preparation for their filling, and tighten control over what is still in use.
Officials stressed the danger of the wells remaining without adequate protection, especially since accidents of falls in them have been frequent over the past years, and have left various deaths and injuries among children and the elderly.
Those concerned also demanded legislation that obliges owners of neglected wells to fill them, report them, and hold them responsible for the accidents they cause.
"Emirates Today" opens the file of "abandoned wells", and sheds light on the dangers surrounding this aspect of neglect.
Demands to implement campaigns to raise awareness of protection measures
Neglect is the main reason behind “falling into wells” accidents
Ahmed Abed ■ Abu Dhabi /
An estimated statistic for "Emirates Today", based on police and media reports, revealed the frequent occurrence of falls in wells, since 2008, for children, workers and the elderly, which resulted in deaths and injuries.
We review 10 incidents that revealed cases of neglect by the owners of wells, due to the lack of insurance, as well as the failure to monitor children and take measures to protect them from falling into them.
An accident occurred in the city of Al-Ain in 2016, which resulted in the death of three citizen children (the oldest of whom is five years old) after they fell into a well inside their parents’ house, while a fourth child, aged five, survived.
A man in his sixties died last year, after falling into a well, in one of the village estates, in the Emirate of Fujairah.
In 2020, he was preceded by the death of a six-year-old citizen child, after he fell into a sewage drain, inside his parents' house, in the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah.
And the death of a five-year-old girl, in 2018, Ajman police found her body in a sewage well inside her family's home in Al-Rawda, after it was announced that she had been missing.
In 2018, Ras Al Khaimah Police, in cooperation with the Civil Defense Department, managed to retrieve the bodies of two Asians (28 and 25 years old) who were digging a well in a residence in Ras Al Khaimah, and the well collapsed on them.
In 2017, Fujairah Police rescued an eight-year-old child after he fell into an artesian well in the Bidiyah area.
A citizen saved himself by contacting the Dubai Police from underground to report that he had fallen into an ancient well, in the Masfout area of Ajman, over 100 years old, which helped speed up access.
In 2014, Abu Dhabi Police rescued a 34-year-old Frenchman who fell into a 25-meter-deep water well, containing five meters of water, after he lost his way at night, crossed the barbed wire of a private farm, and fell into it without anyone seeing it.
In 2010, Abu Dhabi Police also recovered a three-year-old Pakistani child, who had fallen into an empty water well, located in the “yard” of a popular house in the Mazyad area of Al Ain, after he had fallen in it.
Two Pakistani workers were killed in 2008, while digging a well in the Al-Khatim area, more than nine meters deep, due to the erosion of sand dunes towards the well during drilling, completely covering them.
The Ministry of Interior, represented by the General Command of Civil Defense, called on the owners of exposed wells to cover them, pay attention to their children, and not let them play without supervision near the wells’ areas to ward off dangers.
She stressed the need to take preventive measures to reduce children's exposure to accidents, whether inside or outside homes, and to tighten control in the event of open swimming pools, or in the absence of supervisors, and to take the necessary precautions,
Children should not go out to play near the flow of valleys and heavy rain.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Emirates Child Protection Association, Counselor Faisal Muhammad Al-Shammari, warned against the recurrence of accidents that children are exposed to, whether inside or outside homes, noting that the most prominent types of accidents that children can be exposed to inside homes, are falling from a balcony, and being burned, Drowning, suffocation, poisoning from eating pills, detergents, or small toys, and suffocation with curtain cords.
As for accidents outside homes, they include torrential rain, drowning in the sea, being run over, and falling into pits.
Al-Shammari stated that the accident of the Moroccan child Rayan, who recently died as a result of falling into an open well, raised fears of a recurrence of the accident in countries of the world, pointing to the need to take proactive measures and measures to prevent such accidents from occurring within the country.
He stressed the need to implement awareness campaigns on the required protection and insurance measures, so that owners of farms and ranches, and even homes, or anyone who has an unlicensed well, abide by them, to prevent similar incidents against children in the vicinity of the well.
Al-Shammari also called on the concerned authorities in the country to take preventive measures, including closing dry or abandoned wells, fencing off working wells, and setting protection controls on them, noting that the Child Rights Law is “Wadimah”, stipulating that the competent authorities and relevant authorities coordinate with the Ministry, to determine standards And special engineering specifications, building codes, and safety and security requirements that protect the child from any kind of harm.
Advisor Faisal Al-Shammari:
• «The most prominent accidents of children falling from a balcony, being burned, drowning, suffocating, and poisoning due to eating pills or detergents».
Well count
Consultant Faisal Al-Shammari suggested launching comprehensive child injury prevention programs, and studying joint services to request the closure of dry or abandoned wells, and report them.
Al-Shammari called for the development of a special Emirati specification that meets the requirements of the "Wadeema" law, with regard to wells.
He also called for the release of data on children's accidents, to develop radical solutions to prevent their recurrence.
He called on the Ministry of Climate Change, the Ministry of Infrastructure, the environment authorities, municipalities, and the Federal Center for Geographical Information to develop updated maps of licensed wells, used, dry and abandoned, and to count them statistically and spatially.
Al-Shammari warned of the danger of neglected or abandoned farms as a result of the preoccupation of their owners or their old age, or the failure of the heirs to follow up on them, noting that some of them are not fenced, or the fence that surrounds them has collapsed completely or partially, due to the lack of management, operation and maintenance.
The majority of farmers abandoned the traditional wells and did not fill them. Emirates today
They pose a danger to children, the elderly and domestic workers
Expanded campaigns to fill in abandoned wells in farms and homes
Somaya Al Hammadi ■ Eastern Region /
The Director-General of the Environment Agency in Fujairah, Asilah Al Mualla, revealed the organization of extensive campaigns to fill in abandoned wells in farms and homes, stressing that the authority filled 42 wells in the emirate last year.
According to Al-Mualla, the authority has located 293 wells outside the property in the Al-Tuwaiyin area.
Some of them are abandoned and not being used, adding that the commission has finally identified 40 abandoned wells in the village, Murbah and Qadfa areas, and has taken measures to fill in 24 of them and instructed the owners of 16 wells to settle them, in order to preserve their safety.
Al-Mualla confirmed the filling of 12 abandoned wells in the Al-Bithnah area, and six other wells in different areas of Fujairah, indicating the completion of the campaign to inventory wells in cooperation with the towns of Fujairah and Dibba Al-Fujairah and the Department of Works and Agriculture in Fujairah.
Lawyer and legal advisor, Moza Masoud, stated that the responsibility of abandoned wells, which are used for farms or inside homes, includes home owners, farms and relevant government agencies, such as municipalities and private environmental bodies in each emirate.
She said that owners of homes and farms that contain abandoned or used wells should follow the procedures that exempt them from legal accountability, which is to inform the local authorities responsible for the existence of the well, and to close the well's mouth tightly, whether by filling it or closing it with materials that prevent the fall of children, the elderly or domestic workers .
She added that many citizens and residents go camping in some wild areas in the winter, some of which contain unknown wells, which may cause people to fall inside, stressing the need to pay attention to children and the elderly in these areas.
She called on the concerned authorities to monitor abandoned wells, and to educate their owners, through field visits, of the need to close them and not be satisfied with covering them with rusty materials or light wood pieces.
She added that the exposed wells in the homes pose a danger to children, the elderly and domestic workers, pointing out that the responsibility for anyone being exposed to the risk of falling into them rests with the owner of the house.
The commission identified 40 abandoned wells in the village, Murbah, and Qadfa areas. From the source
Official report: A plan to deliver desalinated water to 8,300 farms
Groundwater depletion doubled the salinity of farmland
Ashraf Jamal ■ Abu Dhabi /
An official report expected to connect the desalinated water network to about 8,300 farms, during the coming period, as an alternative to extracting groundwater, due to its high salinity, as part of the country’s water security strategy that is based on increasing reliance on desalinated water for irrigation and agriculture. .
The report, which was presented by the Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, Suhail bin Mohammed Al Mazrouei, to the Federal National Council, in his capacity as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Union Water and Electricity Company, stated that the demand of farm owners for government-subsidized desalinated water helps to provide sustainable solutions to water security, especially in light of the trend To govern and rationalize this vital sector, which faces many challenges, most notably the lack of rain and the depletion of the country’s groundwater, which in turn has caused a doubling of the salinity rates of agricultural lands.
He pointed out that within the framework of this strategy, the Cabinet issued a decision to review the electricity and water consumption tariffs based on an extensive study by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change and the Union Water and Electricity Company with the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure.
He explained that due to the preservation of groundwater for future generations, the Council of Ministers decided to focus the subsidy on water, as the Union Water and Electricity Company offered farm owners a price similar to the price offered to the citizen's house, which is a penny and a half, noting that subsidizing water prices will provide farms with arable water and produce Better planting material.
He said: “Since 2020, the company has started to support the water security project, based on the results of an extensive government study, by contracting and purchasing quantities of desalinated water from developers and stations, and whether the company succeeds in marketing it or not, it remains obligated to buy it, and for this, approximately 1.5 billion dirhams is invested. To extend an additional network, part of it will be allocated to deliver water to farm owners.
The report added: “Within the framework of the state’s keenness to protect the underground water reserves, water was provided to the farms at economic prices, as the connection fees for farms were reduced from 600 dirhams per KVA to 300 dirhams per KVA, with a reduction of up to 50%, in addition to exempting citizens in The farmer is entitled to pay the delivery fees and refund them for the categories that have previously paid their fees within the monthly bills.
The report also expected that electricity bills for farms would decrease when desalinated water was delivered to them, calling on farm owners to apply for water delivery and determine the appropriate quantities for them so that the Union Water and Electricity Company could evaluate and implement networks during the coming period.
neglected wells in farms and homes
The farmer, Ahmed Ali Al-Hafeiti, called on the responsible authorities to fill in the old wells, which some farmers in the eastern region had stopped using, and replaced them with “slavery”, which are deeper wells.
He explained that "the majority of farmers have abandoned the traditional wells due to their dryness and salinity, but many of them did not fill them."
He added that "an elderly farmer fell into a well in the Emirate of Fujairah, last year, because he could not see the hole of the well."
He stated that many citizen families prefer to spend weekends on farms, especially with the mild weather in the winter, and some of them do not pay attention to the danger threatening children due to the presence of abandoned and exposed wells, which warns of accidents.
For his part, citizen Abdulaziz Muhammad confirmed that the homes of some citizens and their farms contain old wells, which they tend to close with very simple tools, pointing out that he does not rule out accidents.
He called on the owners of farms and homes to cooperate with the responsible authorities to locate the abandoned wells, to fill them in the correct ways in order to preserve their safety.
He confirmed the death of a citizen, in his sixth decade, last year, after he fell into a well in the village area.
In March 2017, Dibba Al-Fujairah Police received a report from an Asian person stating that he heard a distress sound, and when he traced the source of the sound, he discovered that there was a child in the well.
Parliament calls for a fine for the owners of abandoned wells
Member of the Federal National Council, Shatha Alai Saeed Al-Naqbi, called for federal legislation that obliges owners of farms and homes to fill abandoned wells and cover them in ways that prevent human damage, while obligating those who fail to implement the laws to pay fines to limit their spread.
She pointed out that there are people who are indifferent to the necessary measures to protect lives.
She said, "The UAE is a state of security and safety, as it has given its people the means of comfort and prosperity, and has called for the use of modern and advanced tools to obtain water, in accordance with the conditions for conserving groundwater.
However, some people insist on using the old methods even though they are dangerous for others.”
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