QUALITY OF WATER

Monitoring and Treatment

 Problems that occur in the JWU water system that reflect on water quality and thus health issues are ordinary and of low occurrence - such as contamination of lines due to back pressure and possible infiltration from sewage disposal tanks or tankers. Only two isolated incidents of water contamination from factories have occurred to JWU; one was backwash from a detergent factory and the other was animal blood from a slaughtering facility. JWU - Quality Of Water

There is no unit for water quality measurement within the administration of the JWU. In fact, there is currently no water utility or water department in the Palestinian Territory that has a water monitoring laboratory. A laboratory and water monitoring section is in the short term plans for the JWU. Currently, the JWU does have a pilot water monitoring system with the sample analyses being done at Birzeit University by contract.

JWU periodically samples the water for testing and analysis to determine water quality and safety. Also, water samples are taken from different locations in the network to detect any bacteriological pollution. In order to cover all areas and locations, each town or village or camp is divided into 20 - 40 sectors and samples are taken from each sector and tested for chlorine content and pollution.

The aim of JWU is to ensure the supply of clean and safe water to its consumers and to stay vigilant in case of any changes of the contents at the source.

TYPES OF TESTS

Chemical Analysis

These tests are performed once a year, a sample result is indicated in the table below:

Table 13 Chemical Analysis of the Water Sources (mg/l)

SourceHARDNESS Ca Mg Na K Cl F SO4 NO3

CACO3 GER. DEG.







Shu'fat Connection 329 18.5 72.5 31.0 55.8 2.96 75.2 0.35 14.8 15.3
Ramallah Station 331 18.6 72.7 31.0 53.7 2.82 79.2 0.38 14.4 16.4
Ein Samia 1 275 15.4 63.8 21.5 15.5 3.90 23.5 0.36 15.9 21.2
Ein Samia 2 265 14.9 58.0 21.2 16.5 2.62 35.1 0.35 13.2 16.72
Ein Samia 3 338 18.9 63.1 30.9 15.6 1.54 21.6 0.48 12.6 12.1
Ein Samia 4 275.9 15.5 65.3 32.6 18.5 1.73 29.8 0.42 14.6 8.6

*** Evaluation of hardness in terms of German degrees of hardness:

0 - 4 degrees very soft

4 - 8 degrees soft

8 - 18 degrees medium - hard

18 - >30 degrees hard

Physical Test

This test is performed once or twice every year as shown in the table below:

Table 14 Physical Test

SITETURBIDITY
NTU 		CONDUCTIVITY
Us		 TOTAL DISSOLVED
mg/l		 pH
Shu'fat Connection
0.10
762
409
7.48
Ramallah Station
0.13
823
414
7.47
Ein Samia 1
0.45
524
265
7.50
Ein Samia 2
0.08
509
254
7.48
Ein Samia 3
0.09
571
289
7.65
Ein Samia 4
0.24
602
304
7.15

Bacteriological Tests:

These tests are performed on daily basis. Each sector of the area is tested 4 - 6 times every year. The actual number of tests depends on actual needs and is adjusted accordingly as in the case of older or worn sections of the network. These tests are:

At the present time, all of these tests are performed at the Center for Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at Bir-Zeit University. A trained employee collects the water samples and deliver them to the lab where the tests take place and the results are put into the computer and compared with standards and previous results and draw conclusions from such data.

Additionally, the West Bank Water Department performs from time to time its own tests on samples of drinking water taken from JWU wells. The Government Health Department also performs same tests on samples taken from consumer's dwelling.

Water produced from JWU wells has proven to be safe, clean and in no need for treatment. Its salt contents and PH value are considered normal. Nevertheless, JWU continuously treat the water with chlorine gas to ensure that it conforms to recognized safety standards.

JWU is in the process of establishing its own well equipped laboratory to make daily testing more readily available.