Our next expert was Johanna von Toggenburg from WASH, representing 30 Palestinian and international organisations who work for water and sanitation issues in the OPT. Before the recent hostilities, the situation was already dire for the population of Gaza. 1.8 million were forced to rely on water from the coastal aquifer, which was already salt contaminated, over exploited and considered unfit for human consumption. Therefore 90% of the population relied on desalinated water for consumption and salt water for hygienic purposes. The Israeli blockade meant that the municipality of Gaza had a limited ability to treat water and sewage, so 90 million litres, some of it partially treated, would flow into the Mediterranean sea every day. Since the aerial bombardment of Gaza, the water supply and sewage infrastructure has been impacted in an unprecedented way and urgently requires reconstruction. Despite a ceasefire being agreed and a negotiated lifting of the blockade to allow building materials to enter Gaza, observers on the ground see no change. Statistics provided by UN OCHA, based on input from engineers and organisations on the ground, indicate the type of wells, water supply and waste water infrastructure that has been destroyed or damaged. The data was used to estimate the water flow from the wells and those unable to access it. (Please see photo of attached slide for further information) Damage to the waste water infrastructure has caused streets to flood with sewage, including entire areas of north Gaza. Damage to the water supply infrastructure, much of it underground and unseen, means that the population often doesnt receive water, even if the municipality pumps it through the pipes. There is also a danger of mixing and contamination leading to the associated health risks, so fast reconstruction is essential to deliver stable water and sanitation benefits to the population. On the 29th July 2014, the Gaza power plant was bombed leading to a complete shutdown, with no pumps for fresh water and sewage able to operate. However, most of the facilities are now running on fuel which is obviously unsustainable and very expensive. In terms of the consequences of this conflict, 300,000 IDPs are living in shelters, 100,000 people are without homes and currently 450,000 people have no access or limited access to municipal water. This is a huge challenge to service providers to access these people and provide just the basics, such as 3 litres of drinking water per day. Now turning to the West Bank, there is a discriminatory permit regime in place in Area C, which was mentioned in the earlier presentation by Itay from ACF. There is an abundance of underground fresh water here, however it is not equally shared and settlers in the Jordan Valley and Dead Sea are allocated 75 times as much water as the average Palestinian in the West Bank. All construction and repairs in Area C requires a permit from Israeli authorities and over the last 3 years almost all Palestinian applications have been refused. In 2013, a third of all demolished wash structures were funded by international aid. The impact of these restrictions and demolitions is the displacement of families, forced lower consumption of water per person and higher costs to have water delivered by truck. if Palestinian businesses were permitted to develop this fertile land, it could add billions to the Palestinian economy. (please see photos of attached slides for further information) Finally in summary, WASH has made a number of recommendations. (Please see photo of attached slide for further information)
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 21:10:36 +0000
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