Chapter
9:
Case
studies
in
Ta’izz
9.6.2
Case
11
-‐
Al
Hayma
Overview
of
the
conflict
In
1987,
and
as
part
of
an
emergency
drilling
campaign
to
rescue
the
city,
the
NWSA
started
drilling
new
wells
in
the
Lower
Wadi
Al
Hayma,
four
times
deeper
than
the
ones
they
had
drilled
in
1982
with
a
maximum
depth
of
500m.
However,
the
villagers
were
refused
permission
to
deepen
their
own
wells.
The
locals
stopped
the
city’s
drilling
rigs
by
force
of
arms.
The
army
came;
the
village
men
took
to
the
hills
with
their
arms;
and
five
sheikhs
were
put
in
prison.
Eventually,
a
minister
came
down
from
Sana’a
and
brokered
a
settlement.
The
sheikhs
were
released
after
they
had
signed
an
agreement
not
to
stop
the
drilling
(Mounch,
1997).
By
1992,
the
villagers’
wells
were
dry.
They
took
up
arms
again
and
disconnected
one
of
the
water
supply
wells.
Twenty
truckloads
of
soldiers
moved
in.
The
President
of
the
Republic
intervened.
The
villagers
were
obliged
to
surrender
their
claims.
Context
and
contextual
changes
In
1976,
the
Government
conducted
investigations
of
the
groundwater
aquifers
in
the
Ta’izz
area,
and
the
Al
Hayma
aquifer
was
proven
to
have
significant
potential.
The
main
objective
of
the
investigations
in
Al
Hayma
was
to
supply
the
city
of
Ta’izz
with
water.
The
engineers
and
scientists
had
neglected
to
inform
the
farmers
and
stakeholders
about
the
purpose
of
these
investigations
(Mohieldeen,
1999)
In
1982-‐1983,
the
NWSA
started
the
commissioning
of
wells.
Some
locals
thought
that
the
NWSA
would
drill
only
seven
deeper
wells
in
the
area,
yet
now
there
are
more
than
thirty.
The
farmers
had
been
informed
that
pumping
water
from
the
deeper
wells
drilled
by
the
NWSA,
and
its
transportation
to
the
city
through
the
pipeline,
would