Page 158 - Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf_Neat

138 Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf

allowed the municipality to repair mosques, and to take on some of the
duties of the new Departments of Pious Foundations (Idarah al-Awqaf)
which supervised endowments and religious buildings. 61
The provision of water was another area of municipal intervention
which overlapped with the services offered by influential members of the
community. The majority of shallow wells which served the popular
classes of Manama were charitable enterprises (al-‘abar al-khayriyyah)
sponsored and maintained by notables. For instance, Muqbil al-Dhakir,
the powerful pearl merchant of Najdi origin, controlled a large portion of
Manama’s water supplies until the late 1920s through his large well in the
al-Fadhil district which was located in an open ground on his property. 62
With no legal rights on public water until a system of pipes started to be
fitted in the 1930s, residents drew water from these wells unless they could
afford the drinking water sold in the markets. When after 1925 wells
started to be registered in the name of their sponsors, they were placed
under strict municipal supervision and vetted by health inspectors. 63
Owners were required to provide for their upkeep in line with municipal
regulations, but the level of responsibility was often unclear. They recog-
nised in public the important role played by the municipality in ensuring
essential water supplies to the population, but were not prepared to
renounce their rights. In 1941 following complaints by the residents of
Farij al-Dawawdah, the majlis repaired one of the wells of Yusuf ibn
Ahmad Kanu, built in 1927. In a letter to the municipality he vehemently
accused the institution of violating his private property and of under-
mining local contributions to public welfare. 64
The politics and economics of such an essential urban service were
ultimately dependent on Manama’s decreasing underground water
resources, which eventually undermined private contributions. In the
late 1920s, artesian wells became an opportunity for business and a
sought-after status symbol for both councillors and residents. In 1927,

61
‘List of Projects Undertaken by the Baladiyyah of Manama in 1352 (1933–34)’, R/15/2/
1921 IOR; MMBM, 28 Dhu al-Hijjah 1355 and 26 Muharram 1356/12 March and 8
April 1937, R/15/2/1923 IOR; MMBM, 19 Rabi‘ al-Awwal and 2 Jumada al-Ula 1367/31
January and 13 March 1948, R/15/2/1932 IOR.
62
Lorimer, Gazetteer, vol. II, p. 1161.
63
I‘lan Hukumah al-Bahrayn, n. 793/17 of 1348 and n. 48 of 1351, R/15/2/1228 IOR;
MMBM, 19 Rabi‘ al-Thani 1360/16 May 1941, R/15/2/1925 IOR.
64
MMBM, 21 Rabi‘ al-Awwal, 7 Rabi‘ al-Thani and 16 Jumada al-Thaniyyah 1360/18
April, 4 May and 11 July 1941, R/15/2/1925 IOR. It seems that the contest for the control
of wells between the Municipality and private individuals continued at least until the end
of the 1940s as suggested by the case of ‘Abdallah Fakri who in 1948 claimed ownership
of his father’s well which the Municipality had taken over in 1939 in order to undertake
repairs. MMBM, 2 Jumada al-Ula 1367/13 March 1948, R/15/2/1932 IOR.