The director of the Environmental Sanitation Office in Zliten, Muhammad Abu Qmeiza, said on Sunday that the city is suffering from an "environmental disaster" due to the high groundwater levels, calling for state intervention.

In a statement to Alwasat, Abu Qmeiza explained that the city has been suffering from this "disaster" since 2018, saying that the overflow of water has caused the displacement of citizens, damaged farms, increased the spread of harmful insects, especially mosquitoes that transmit diseases, and impacted construction the area.

He added that the crisis has now become greater than the capabilities of the city's municipal council, saying that as the water level rose and the local aquifer was filled, the excess water has turned large plots of land into swamps.

Abu Qmeiza called on the state to intervene and develop radical solutions to withdraw or redirect the underground stocks of water.