National Water Company tells Okaz: No weekend protocol to stop pumping, emergency teams work around the clock

Saudi Arabia’s National Water Company has rejected complaints that it routinely stops pumping water when the weekend begins, saying no such protocol or approved mechanism exists.

Majed Al-Jarallah, the company’s director of corporate communications in the central region, told Okaz that emergency and repair teams operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They handle customer reports at all times, including during the night and early morning, rather than only on official working days.

The company said continuous pumping does not necessarily mean that every location follows the same pumping schedule throughout the week. Operational conditions can require changes in particular neighborhoods or blocks, especially when crews are carrying out repairs or dealing with network faults.

In some cases, Al-Jarallah said, pumping may need to stop temporarily for two days to allow work to be completed. The explanation came after subscribers reported that water outages appeared to coincide with the start of the Friday-Saturday weekend.