"Gaza Water" Facing A Deficit Of $11 Million

Gaza, 2 Jumadil Awwal 1437/10 February 2016 (MINA) – The Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) confirmed the continuation of efforts of reconstruction of water and sanitation facilities and infrastructure destroyed and damaged by the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2014.

It pointed out that until the end of last year a number of projects related to this file were implemented. These projects have contributed to the provision of water services to hundreds of thousands of citizens in the affected areas, The Palestinian Information Center (PIC) quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

The Water Authority explained in a report on the reconstruction of the water sector on Tuesday that despite the achievements that these efforts had accomplished during the last period, but it is facing delays and restrictions due to the Israeli siege on Gaza, including blocking the entry of materials and equipment needed for the water facilities and sanitation, as well as the difficulty in securing energy and fuel needed for the operation of these facilities.
Reconstruction in the water sector efforts also faces a shortfall of more than $11 million, according to the PWA.

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It said that, “we are working very hard in order to provide this amount of money for the financing of reconstruction, rehabilitation, maintenance of destroyed and damaged facilities, and for purchasing the necessary equipment. Furthermore, there is a need for $10 million a month to maintain a minimum of required services running.”

After the war, a series of projects were implemented aiming at the reconstruction and rehabilitation of various damaged and destroyed facilities, including full and partial repair of 23 out of 26 wells, as well as eight water tanks of the 12 fully or partially-destroyed tanks, and the rehabilitation of six small desalination plants and 34 km out of 46 km of the devastated water network.

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With regard to sanitation facilities, 14 km of destroyed sewage networks and three serving treatment plants have been rehabilitated, in addition to 10 sewage pumping stations, 2 of which were completely destroyed while 8 were damaged partially.

With regard to the rehabilitation of operation and maintenance equipment, six heavy machineries (out of 15 machineries) for the operations of the sewage facilities were purchased, but had not been functioning yet. 50 spare generators for the water and sanitation facilities were replaced, while 211 spare generators were repaired, in addition to the maintenance of 55 per cent of administrative buildings.

The PWA pointed out that spare parts for maintenance of various facilities for sanitation were supplied, diesel fuel to run them was purchased, as well as the supply of necessary quantities of chlorine for water disinfection, in conjunction with that, a plan to protect water sources was prepared, while a study on the assessment of the environmental impact of the war on water resources is under preparation.

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During the war, which lasted 51 days, more than one-third of the residents were deprived of water services as a result of the Israeli direct targeting of water facilities and infrastructure, and the power supply was cut off due to the Israeli direct targeting of power grids lines and the bombing of the only power station in Gaza.

The loss in the water and sanitation sector was estimated at about $34 million.(T/P008/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)