4 million Euros for Gaza Wastewater Treatment Plant

A financial agreement for an amount of 4 million Euros was signed on the 17^th of October by Ministry of Planning, Mr Dov Zerah, CEO of the French Development Agency (AFD), Dr Ali Jarbawi, Minister of Planning and Administration Development (MOPAD) and Mr Frederic Desagneaux, French Consul General in Jerusalem. The agreement concerns the construction of a regional wastewater treatment plant in North Gaza.

The current plant operates at over four times its nominal capacity. In 2005, AFD, the World Bank, Belgian and Swedish Development & Cooperation and the European Union mobilized USD 46 million for the implementation of a two-phase project. The first phase provided for the construction of a pumping station in Beit Lahia and the implementation of infiltration basin to transfer the sewage to the new site at East of Jabalia to avoid any new flooding of the surrounding areas of Beit Lahia.

The second phase of the project aims to build a biological treatment plant in Jabalia with a capacity of 35,600 m3/day and is expected to meet all the needs of the North Gaza by 2015.

To recover and reuse the treated wastewater an agricultural system will also be set up. With this 4 million Euros grant, additional to the 12 million Euros provided in 2005, AFD will be the main contributor of the second phase.

Source: Aljazeera.com , 19/10/2010

IDF destroys West Bank village after declaring it military zone

 The Israel Defense Force’s Civil Administration destroyed a Palestinian village Monday morning that had earlier been cleared out when its water supply was cut off. The IDF demolished about 55 structures in the West Bank village of Farasiya, including tents, tin shacks, plastic and straw huts, clay ovens, sheep pens and bathrooms.

These structures served the 120 farmers, hired workers and their families who lived in the Jordan Valley village. The Civil Administration said they had declared the area a live fire zone and posted eviction orders for 10 families in tents on June 27. “Since no appeal was filed in the following three weeks, and given the danger posed by the location of the tents, they were removed,” they said in response.

Since 1967, Israel has prevented Palestinian communities in the Jordan Valley from growing, whether by cutting off their water supply, declaring large areas as live fire zones or banning all construction.

The families had recently been forced to leave the village when the Israeli authorities cut it off from its water sources, said the popular committees’ coordinator in the valley, Fathi Hadirat.

The villagers were forbidden to use the water wells the Mekorot Water Company had dug in the area.

Related site : IDF – Israel Defense Forces 

Source: Haaretz.com, 21 July 2010

Palestine: Japan, Palestinian Water Authority and UNDP/PAPP sign a 6.2 million dollar agreement to manage wastewater

The Government of Japan, in partnership with the Palestinian Water Authority and the United Nations Development Programme/Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People signed a US$6.2 million agreement on Monday, 16th March 2009, to launch the cross boundary wastewater management project in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). [...] The project will include the construction of three wastewater collection systems in the Jenin, Tulkarem and Qalqylia Governorates [serving 16,500 people], in addition to building the capacities of the service providers and the Palestinian Water Authority regarding waste management issues. [...] This project [...] will also bring new jobs to the Qalqylia, Jenin, and Tulkarem areas and create a platform for cross boundary cooperation between Palestinian and Israeli municipalities on environmental problems.

[...] “The Palestinian Water Authority has put in place with the Israeli Authorities a coordination mechanism were the wastewater generated by these three governorates is treated by Israeli water systems inside the Green Line and are following up on it with the Joint Water Committee”. Said Mr. Ahmad Al Hindi, Director General of Water Council.

[A]pproximately 35% of the population of the West Bank has access to wastewater network collection systems and there are only three treatment plants located in the Ramallah, Jenin, and Tulkarem districts. Due to old existing collection systems, sewage leakage reaches up to 50% in the areas of Tulkarem and Qalqylia. Poor wastewater management and lack of infrastructure development are one of the leading causes for environmental pollution and degradation of natural resources in the oPt.

Source: UNDP / Reliefweb, 16 Mar 2009

Palestine: water authority opposes construction of desalination plant

Israel has recently reconfirmed its intention to implement the decision of the Local Israeli Assembly for Organization and Building to give a piece of land from the Hadera area to build a desalination plant for the benefit of the Palestinian Authority. This decision was made based on a recommendation from the American, Israeli and Palestinian Joint Committee on Water. The news was first published by the Israeli media and then republished by Al-Quds on page 2 of its February 8, 2006 issue.

The Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) [...] states that the Palestinian side is unwilling to purchase water at such a high cost from sources that are on the Mediterranean Coast and Jordan River, knowing that this water in fact partially belongs to the Palestinians but is inaccessible for them.

[In addition the PWA states that]:

• The Palestinian side has refused to discuss the issue in tripartite meetings and the issue has not come up in meetings of the American, Israeli and Palestinian Joint Water Committee.
• The Palestinian side refuses to resort to alternative water supplies, such as desalination, before regaining its rights to the water from the aquifers and the River Jordan.
• Israel’s desalination plans do not deal with the issue of Palestinian water rights.
• The PWA is astonished that Israel is publishing this news at the same time as its ongoing attacks on Gaza , which are an attempt to wipe out the Palestinian population living there, have demolished or cause extensive damage to building infrastructure, and have destroyed a number of water pipes.
• The PWA claims that the two desalination projects, one in Hadera and the other in Caesarea, are part of the Israeli strategy to cut back on its water use by approximately 380 million cubic meters by the end of this year and by 700 million cubic meters by 2015.

The PWA has requested that the American side comment on what has been published in the news on this issue, since it has been given the approval to do so by the Israeli, Palestinian, American committee.

Source: EMWIS, 16 Feb 2009

The above news story confirms one of conclusions of a December 2008 case study by Annika Kramer titled “Regional water cooperation and peacebuilding in the Middle East” that  “peacebuilding efforts involving Palestinians, Jordanians and Israelis soon hit a road block when it comes to actual cooperation in water resources management. This is mainly because water issues are characterised by major inequalities among the three parties and are highly
politicised”.