Water crisis looming in Gaza due to Israeli blockade

Date: 06 / 05 / 2008 Time: 10:04
Gaza – Ma'an –

About 70% of families living in the Gaza Strip receive water once every five days, and 30% have access to water only once every week, says Rami Abdu the spokesperson of the Popular Committee for Countering the Siege imposed on the Gaza Strip by the Israeli occupation government.

In addition, the drinking water in Gaza has become unsafe. Abdu said that 65% of the water network in Gaza is unable to operate normally to Israel's blockade of the Strip. He explained that due to the continuous closure of border crossings, the municipal councils of the Gaza Strip have been unable to import spare parts for water and sewage pumps and water treatment plants.

In addition, the water network and sewage treatment system requires 150,000 liters of diesel fuel a month to operate, and has received far less than that amount due to the Israeli blockade. Officials with the Gaza Coastal Municipalities Water Utility say that due to the scarcity of fuel and spare parts, the utility has been forced to pump 60,000 cubic meters of raw sewage a day into the Mediterranean.

Even before the blockade, little of Gaza's water supply was usable. In the 1995 Interim Agreement signed by Israeli and Palestinian leaders, the tiny Gaza Strip was left on its own, unable to import water resources from the West Bank or Israel. This meant that Gazans were forced to overdraw from the coastal aquifer, depleting supplies and decreasing the quality of the water.

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