- Title: GAZA: Polluted water damaging crops and health in Gaza
- Date: 14th January 2013
- Summary: KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA (JANUARY 12, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FARMER WALKING ACROSS LAND VARIOUS OF DRY TREES VARIOUS OF MOHAMMED AL-MAJAYDEH, FARMER CHECKING TREES IN HIS FARM (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MOHAMMED AL-MAJAYDEH, FARMER FROM KHAN YOUNIS, SAYING: "Our groundwater aquifer is fully polluted because (the municipality) pushed the sewage water to our side. The water is undri
- Embargoed: 29th January 2013 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Gaza
- City:
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Topics: Disasters
- Reuters ID: LVARY7KCN9DE6WHBH9ZQUNLG3ML
- Story Text: Farmer Mohammed al-Majaydeh and his family built up mounds of sand at the edge of their land to protect their farm from dirty water, which comes from a nearby sewage basin in the southern Gazan town of Khan Younis.
Residents and farmers in Khan Younis say the waste water basins are polluting their groundwater.
"Our groundwater aquifer is fully polluted because (the municipality) pushed the sewage water to our side. The water is undrinkable and it isn't good for the trees, the trees have dried out due to the sewage water," al-Majaydeh told Reuters TV.
The sewage basins were established five years ago by the municipality of Khan Younis as a part of an international-funded project to deal with the waste water. But residents say contamination of clean water with sewage is affecting their farms and health.
The U.N. says only a quarter of Gaza waste water is treated. The rest, including raw sewage, goes into the Mediterranean Sea.
The Khan Younis municipality refused to comment to Reuters.
Adnan Abu Hasneh United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) spokesperson told Reuters the situation in relation to water and sanitation for Gaza is critical.
"The untreated waste water accounts to 90 thousands cubic meters. This leads to the leaking of the nitrates and other toxic material into the underground aquifer which then poisons it. There are huge pools in Khan Younis which can accommodate untreated sewage water."
With no perennial streams and low rainfall, the UN says Gaza relies almost completely on an underlying coastal aquifer for its clean water supply, which is partly replenished by rainfall and runoff from the Hebron hills to the east, with the recharge estimated at 50 to 60 million cubic metres (MCM) annually.
A recent report by UNRWA says a lack of clean drinking water is the enclave's greatest immediate concern. The report, released in August 2012, projects a 60 percent increase in Gaza's water needs, while urgent action is already needed to protect existing water resources.
The report said pollution is compounded by contamination of the aquifer by nitrates from uncontrolled sewage, and fertilisers from irrigation of farmlands. Today 90 percent of water from the aquifer is not safe for drinking without treatment. Clean water is thus limited for most Gazans with average consumption of 70 to 90 litres per person per day (depending on the season), below the global WHO standard of 100 litres per person per day.
Khan Younis residents have been filling up bottles with pure water from wells established by international funds as they say the water that they receive in their homes is not usable.
"I am here to get pure water because the water that we get from the municipality is polluted, it is unsuitable for drinking or cooking or anything else, so we have no option but to come here, sometimes we even have to buy it," says Hazim Kwajeh, resident of Khan Younis.
By 2016, Gaza's aquifer may become unusable, the U.N. says. Palestinians are already drilling deeper and deeper to reach groundwater and there is a need for more desalination plants. A seawater plant costing about 350 million U.S dollars is planned.
"The aquifer could become unusable as early as 2016, with the damage irreversible by 2020. UNEP [the UN Environment Programme] recommends ceasing abstraction immediately as it would otherwise take centuries for the aquifer to recover. Even with remedial action now to cease abstraction, the aquifer will take decades to recover," the report states.
The Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) expects demand for fresh water to grow to 260mcm per year by 2020, a 60 percent increase on current levels of abstraction from the aquifer, the report says.
With the Gaza population expected to increase by 500,000 within eight years, and nearly 25 percent of all illnesses in Gaza water-related, the issue is now urgent.
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