Palestine, Gaza: Fact Sheet Water and Sanitation Situation

On 07 January 2009, the World Bank published a fact sheet on the watasn situation in the Gaza strip.

Overview

Data, collected by the Gaza Coastal Municipal Water Utility (CMWU) and the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA), on the current Gaza Strip water and sanitation situation indicate a severe public health threat to the population of Gaza:
(a) severe potable water shortages and escalating failure of sewage systems;
(b) potential threat to the structural integrity of Beit Lahiya Sewage Lake, which could cause massive drowning.

Read the full fact sheet here.

Yemen: recap of environmental issues in 2008

In 2008, water scarcity has remained Yemen’s most worrying environmental reality. Many areas in Yemen suffer a severe crisis in terms of drinking water supply, water for irrigating agricultural lands, and other vital needs. Most Yemenis have stopped drawing water from many wells, which have recently dried up.

[...] Experts have estimated that more than 60 percent of the water consumed in Yemen is used to irrigate qat crops.

While Yemen suffers from grave water shortages, specialists and officials keep on warning that the country’s water supply relies on limited groundwater. Only 125 cubic meters are available annually per capita, and the groundwater has been polluted and heavily overexploited for more than two decades, according to a German Technological Cooperation (GTZ) document.

[...] However, for the first time in its history, Yemen is making use of the ferro-cement technique to alleviate the water crisis [...]. The Minister of Water and Environment, Dr. Abdul-Rahman al-Eryani, launched two ferro-cement reservoirs to harvest rainwater in two schools in Sana’a on June 18, [2008].

Source: Thuria Ghaleb, Yemen Observer, 30 Dec 2008

Palestine, Gaza: water, sewage system “collapsing”, says official

The UN has warned that power networks were down in large parts of the Gaza Strip on 4 January [2009], with hospitals relying on generators. Without power for pumps, 70 percent of Gazans are estimated to be without tap water.

Israel has been blocking fuel supplies, and stocks are dwindling. [...] The Israeli Gisha organisation, an NGO [...] warned that the lack of power was causing sewage to flood into populated areas and farmland. There continued to be a risk of sustained flooding.

“The water and sewage system in Gaza is collapsing, cutting people off from the water supply and causing sewage to flood the streets,” said Maher al-Najjar, deputy director of Gaza’s water utility (CMWU). He also said 48 of Gaza’s 130 wells were not working at all due to lack of electricity and damage to pipes. “At least 45 other wells are operating only partially and will shut down within days without additional supplies of fuel and electricity,” al-Najjar said.

[On 05 Jan 2009, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that] over 530,000 people (approximately 400,000 people in Gaza and North Gaza, 100,000 people in Rafah, and 30,000 people in the Middle Area) [were] entirely cut off from running water, and the rest are receiving water only intermittently (every few days).

Insecurity [was] preventing the CMWU from repairing damage to the water networks. However, with sufficient
fuel/electricity the CMWU could redirect water to those in need through existing infrastructure.

The sewage situation [was] becoming very dangerous, posing a serious risk of the spread of water-borne disease. Five of Gaza’s 37 waste water pumping stations were shut down due to a lack of electricity and sewage [was] flooding into populated areas, farmland, and the sea. The remaining 32 stations [were] operating only partially and [would] shut down within three-to-four days without additional fuel supplies. The sewage level of the Beit Lahiya Lake [was]  rising [...] since there [was]  no fuel to pump out overflow sewage [it was expected to overflow within a week].

In March 2007 sewage reservoir floods in Gaza killed five people.

Source: IRIN, 05 Jan 2009 ; OCHA / Reliefweb, 05 Jan 2009