CAIRO: If you thought life in the suburbs was problem-free, think again. Maadi, home to Cairo's elite, hasn't had water for almost two days. A main pipe connecting a major water station in Fustat to Bastateen, New Maadi , Zahraa Al Maadi and Muqatam, had suddenly burst on Friday at 6 near Hadyaek Al Maadi metro station. The pipe runs parallel to the metro rails near Road 9. The accident flooded shops, the metro line and threatened to submerge the electricity cables. Efforts are currently in full swing to carry out the necessary repairs as many of the residents are trying to eke out any water source to last them until the crisis ends. The Maadi water company told The Daily Star Egypt on Sunday morning that repairs are likely to end at 6 pm. They attributed the damage to that water pipe to heavy water pressure, since the mammoth pipe is a major artery for Maadi as well as some parts of Dar Al Salam. Residents of Degla and New Maadi told The Daily Star Egypt that water was available for a very short time then was cut once again. The Maadi water company's emergency hotline has been ringing off the hook with troubled residents hoping speed up the reparation. Old Maadi is the only area that remains unaffected by the water cut because it is supplied by another pipe. Residents who have friends or relatives in old Maadi rushed with their buckets and bottles in hand to fill up. Khalid, an engineering student, went over to his grandmother to take a shower. The little water reserves at home were barely enough for washing dishes and ablution. But it seems one man's meat is another man's poison. Supermarkets are seeing a hike in the sale of bottled water. Fawzia, a maid from Degla, bought six boxes of Baraka water from Metro when her employer's house ran out. But it seems the residents of New Maadi and the surrounding Basateen and Zahara Al Maadi had remained unaware of the magnitude of the incident. At first many thought it was a regular water cut until word went round that the cut had affected the Helwan metro line whose service was suspended until 9 pm the next day. While some state-owned dailies downplayed the incident with short reporting, other publications gave more detailed accounts, placing the crisis clearly in perspective. Al-Masri Al-Youm daily alleged that it was not the water pressure that led to the burst pipe, but a mistake on the part of a contracting company that had been undertaking a project on behalf of the Cairo Water Company. As the technicians were digging a tunnel on Road 9, which is planned to pass under the metro line, they damaged part of the pipe that runs on Horria Street which branches from Road 9. Immediately the water rushed to the area near the wall protecting the metro track and threatened to flood Hadayek Al Maadi metro station. Some of the residents walked through the mud to reach their homes in Hadayek Al Maadi. They told the press that in a blink of an eye the water began to spread heavily and rushed to the shops, destroying items worth thousands of pounds. The press reported that all officials of water, electricity and telecommunications have been called immediately after the incident. They had to cooperate to remove all their respective facilities so that that pipe in question could be reached, which is why the repairs are taking so long.
