Water: The Occupation

Since 1967 the water resources have been controlled and managed by the Israeli military authority through a number of military orders. These orders have deprived the Palestinians from participating in the planning and management of water resources and supplies and deprived them from developing their local resources in parallel to their growing water needs. This in turn has negatively influenced the social, economic, and environmental situation in the West Bank and Gaza.

Moreover, the Israeli water policy has created a large gap in water use between Palestinians and Israelis. Currently, Israel uses 80 percent of the water resources originating in the West Bank and Gaza. The remaining part of 20 percent, however, is utilised by the Palestinians through wells drilled prior to the 1967 occupation and springs.

The average Palestinian per capita water use for domestic purposes reaches 30m3/year. This figure include 40 percent of losses. Total water use is estimated at 140 cubic meter/year compared to 100m3/year for domestic use and a total per capita water use of 580m3/year. However, the use is much less in the Palestinian rural areas that have no access to piped water (about 37 percent of the population in the West Bank) and still depend on collecting rainwate.

Regarding the situation in the Gaza Strip, the percentage of water contamination is very high. Approximately 75 percent of the total available water for drinking purposes is unsuitable for human use. Nitrate levels found in water is 450 mg/l. This level is 10 times more the recommended WHO standard for drinking water. As a result of this poor water quality the hygiene conditions of the community has been substantially threatened. The latest studies show that more than 45 percent of the children living in Gaza suffer from water borne disease. This situation is a real reflection of the existing poor sanitation, sewege disposal and water distribution infrastructure in Gaza. Notheless, the situation has improved largely during the past four years due to large investments of the Palestinian Authority in the rehabilitation and development of major infrastructure in the cities iof the West Bank and Gaza. Yet areas in the West Bank and Gaza are lacking any sewage collection and disposal systems.

The water issue has been deferred to the final status negotiations. This situation might become more complicated in the future (during the final status negotiations) where population is naturally and unnaturally growing rapidly. The natural growth in the WB (2.1%) and Gaza (3.9%) while the number of Palestinian returnees as well as Jewish new immigrants are not known. However, additional water will be required to satisfy their demand which estimated to reach 700 mcm by the year 2020. This in turn will put more pressure to the existing scarce resources and will complicate the determination of the final status of the joint water resources.