Around 400 residents of the Daghestani town of Izberbash protested in front of the local mayor’s office on Tuesday, demanding their water access be restored.
According to Daghestani daily Chernovik, drinking water in Izberbash, a town 50 kilometres south of Makhachkala along the Caspian Sea, is normally supplied just twice a day.
On 2 July, Mayor Abdulmedzhid Suleymanov and the chairman of the city’s assembly of deputies, Islamabal Bagomedov, shared a video on YouTube to explain the reason.
The mayor criticised the ‘destructive Izberbash residents’ for their protests, and relieved himself of responsibility, claiming he could not solve the problem without state support.
Another ₽360 million ($5.7 million) is needed, the letter said, for the completion of water treatment facilities started in 2009, and ₽350 million ($5.5 million) for an ‘external water supply system’.
‘No city mayor could solve this problem without ₽1 billion ($16 million).
Deputy Mayor Nariman Rabadanov claimed the shut-off was the result of an influx of tourists.
In addition, according to the Mayor’s Office, there has been a decrease in the amount of water coming to Izberbash via the October Revolution Channel (ORC), a major source of drinking and irrigation water in Daghestan.
Last year, Kadilabagand Kadilagabandov, the director of the ORC Office, stated that the company supplies 472 liters of water per second, in compliance with their contract, and that they bear no responsibility for the water level in the lake or the amount of water reaching Izberbash.
He claimed the local authorities were responsible for the degradation of the water network, but even in such circumstances, three years ago residents of Izberbash still had water in their houses 24 hours a day.