The Parliamentary committee for public works, transport, and water issued a series of recommendations, following a meeting with officials, to combat water shortages.

“The committee decided to ask the government to declare a state of water emergency,” Chairman of the Parliamentary committee Mohammad Kabbani said. The committee urged the need to import water from Turkey. Kabbani will be meeting with Turkish embassy officials to look into the issue.

Private companies should also be allowed to import water from neighboring countries. “Water import companies should be exempted from paying taxes,” Kabbani said.

Recommendations include stopping the irrigation of seasonal agriculture, preparing a list of illegal artesian wells to confiscate their ownership, and organizing the distribution of water among trucks. Owners of confiscated wells would be compensated.

Officials called for stopping any road cleaning and washing of cars. A hose ban should also be put in place.

The committee called for the payment of advances demanded by the water establishments since 2012 and the allocation of more financial support to enable their activation.