Egyptian mother Aaz Menhom (R) cups her hands under a running tap in her yard to let her her daughter Nada 6 drink, in the village of al-Jendaya, in the Bani Mazar province, in the Minya governorate some 200km south of Cairo on April 5, 2016 (AFP)
Several Egyptian governorates have been struck with water outages during Ramadan, sparking anger and dissent in the first week of the holy fasting month.
In Aswan, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported Friday that several residents cut off highways and roads inside the governorate to protest multiple water outages during Ramadan.
Residents of El-Koror village blocked Sadat Al-Raees Road to protest the outages.
The governorate rushed in an attempt to control the conflict, with the water company in Aswan sending a supply of water to residents of the area to meet their needs, Al-Ahram reported.
In Aswan's Kom Umbo, authorities were able to convince residents of the village to disperse their protest following a two-hour blockage of a highway connecting Cairo to Aswan to protest water cuts in the village. The residents set fires on the road, bringing transportation to a halt.
Aswan's Governor Magdy Hegazi decided to refer the incident to investigation following reports that unknown men were responsible for the outage, shutting down the valves of the main drinking water lines.
Hegazi ordered authorities to disclose the identity of the assailants.
In New Valley's Al-Kharga city, tens of residents protested in front of the municipality Thursday, demanding the government to provide drinking water to residents.
Authorities were able to disperse the assembly in a "peaceful way."
An official in the municipal unit, Somia Khalil, said the current problem started with Ramadan due to high uses of water, adding that the municipal unit used to compensate shortfalls through delivery trucks that supplied water, but that residents refused to receive these, saying the water was not drinkable.
Khalil added that a new water station would be ready by October to fulfill the needs of the neighborhood.
Nine neighborhoods in Giza have also been struck with water outages, including areas in Imbaba, Saft El-Laban, and Boulaq El-Dakroor.
On Thursday, the water back in service following the fixing of a 1,200-metre pipe whose rupture caused a water outage that lasted more than 48 hours.
Some 21 trucks of potable water were provided during repair work on the pipe.
According to Minister of Housing Mostafa Madbouly, fixing the rupture took time due to illegally built buildings in the area, making the maintenance job more difficult than it might otherwise have been.
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