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Palestine: Conflict Keeps Supplies Scare and Polluted

Violet Qumsieh, Friends of Earth Middle East 

In Palestine, women constitute the largest group of direct users of water and are the would-be beneficiaries of improved water services. However, today and every other day, many Palestinian women struggle to find enough water to eke out everyday life. Because of their domestic roles, women are responsible for the provision of water to their families and are the most affected by problems with water services.

During the Intifada, water tankers have been denied access to many villages which are not connected to piped water systems and thus depend on such shipments. Instead women and children are forced to collect water from nearby springs and cisterns. They have to walk long distances and spend several hours each day to secure water for their families. This time could be better used to improve the income of their families. Some of these women are pregnant and old which may affect their health. These water sources are not controlled in terms of quality and often are contaminated. In some areas, like Hebron, people have resorted to using kerosene to disinfect the water. 

Even when the tankers are allowed access to their thirsty customers, the price is often prohibitive. Water obtained from tankers is several times higher in price than the price paid for water supplied by a water network. The price charged for water from a tanker fluctuates, the usual price being NIS 15-40 per cubic meter. The expense entailed in purchasing water has always placed a heavy financial burden on women and the residents of the villages without a water network, who generally are poor. 

Generationally, knowledge about water is in the female domain, and it is women who must pass on this knowledge to children. However, awareness programs for educating women about water issues, water-related diseases, and water conservation are lacking. Despite their everyday responsibility over water, women organizations do not have an active role in the water policies or in providing access to water.

The Mountain Aquifer is a system of groundwater basins shared between the Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank. This resource is the only water source available for Palestinians in the West Bank, so it must serve all of their needs: household, urban, industrial, and agricultural. The Israeli control of this aquifer allows the Palestinians to use only 20 percent of the capacity. The Jordan River should be the second shared resource. Palestinians have rights to this source because the West Bank is part of the watershed for the Lower Jordan River. However, since the occupation in 1967, the Palestinians have not benefited at all from the Jordan River. In fact, at that time, Israel imposed a strict set of military orders in the Palestinian Territories that have kept Palestinian water resources under Israeli control. Existing Palestinian institutions have been restricted from operating and participating in activities regarding water supply administration, including operation and maintenance. 

Domestic water supply is publicly owned by municipalities and water institutions, with Israel specifying the pumping quota for each water supply. Before the occupation in 1967, ownership of water resources was tied to the ownership of land, by the government, a community, or individual.  Therefore, there exists a group of agricultural wells which are privately owned by people. In some areas, these wells are used for domestic purposes for villages without a piped system. The pumping quota for these privately owned wells were specified by the Israeli Authority after the occupation.

Due in part to the Israeli appropriation of Palestinian waters, Palestinians routinely face severe water shortages. Approximately 62 percent of all Palestinian localities in the West Bank including Jerusalem have improved water delivery. In Gaza, 98 percent of communities have water pipes running into homes. However, in many of these communities, the pipes run dry for extensive periods, especially in the summer. In the Hebron District, people do not receive water through the network for more than four months during the summer. Such communities must depend on rainfall collection systems, water trucks and springs for their water use. Moreover, losses in the water distribution network are in the very high ranges, between 30 and 50 percent.

The domestic per capita water consumption in the Palestinian areas does not exceed   60-80 liters per day which is below the recommended WHO standards (100 liters a day with adjustments for climate). This shortage of water affects every function that water has in life - drinking, bathing and cleaning – and drastically affects the health and economic well-being of those living in the society.

The quality of water flowing in the West Bank is of high quality while in the Gaza Strip the water is very saline, between 250 and 3,000 ppm.   The price paid by a consumer for water from a water network varies – usually between NIS 2-5 per cubic meter.

Two hundred and eighteen communities in the West Bank are not connected to a water network. Approximately 197,000 residents have to seek alternative water sources. Residents rely on one or more of three water sources: collection of rainfall, collection of water from springs, and purchase of water from water tankers.

Unlike the water that flows through pipes, the Palestinian Authority does not control the quality of the spring water consumed by residents of the Palestinian areas, even though spring water is more likely to be polluted and brackish. This increased risk is due to the greater likelihood that sewage from nearby towns and villages, and pesticides and fertilizers used by local farmers, will flow into the springs.

The law states that water institutions can cut-off water supply from customers who do not pay for their water consumption. Cut-offs can happen only after the water utility has negotiated several times with the customer to settle payment disputes. Generally speaking, it is not an easy measure to take, but it is the last solution. 

The bad economic situation in the Palestinian areas during the Intifada has prevented many customers from paying their water bills. The water utilities take the economic situation into consideration and urge people to pay part of their debts. They usually do not cut the water supply.

In the West Bank the water quality of the deep groundwater aquifers is generally good although there are indications of increasing salinity in the Jordan Valley area. The quality of surface water supply and water from shallow springs varies depending on the flow of sewage. Sewage in rural areas disposed into cesspits and seeps into the groundwater.

The water in Gaza Strip is of high salinity. The continued consumption of such water is likely to increase dysentery, kidney failure, and cardiovascular diseases.

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