More and more Gazans are falling ill from their drinking water, highlighting the humanitarian issues facing the Palestinian enclave that the UN says could become uninhabitable by 2020.
The situation has already reached crisis point in the war-scarred, underdeveloped and blockaded territory, said Monther Shoblak, general manager of the strip’s water utility.
“More than 97 percent of the water table is unfit for domestic use because of salinization never before seen,” he said.
Photo: AFP
The UN puts scarcity and pollution of water resources at the forefront of Gaza’s scourges.
“If the catastrophe does not arrive this year, it will surely be here within three years,” said Zidane Abu Zuhri, who is in charge of water issues at the UN Children’s Fund.
DILAPIDATED SYSTEM
Almost all of the narrow coastal strip’s 2 million people depend upon its water table for their private or commercial needs, reaching their taps through a dilapidated public system or pumped privately from the ground.
The health of Gazans is suffering as a result.
“Each year we see a 13 to 14 percent increase in the number of patients admitted with kidney problems,” said Abdallah al-Kishawi, head of nephrology at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
These kidney problems have “previously known origins, such as tension, diabetes and hereditary diseases, but there is no doubt that water pollution also plays a role,” he said.
High salinity, for example, can cause kidney stones and problems in the urinary tract.
In 2012 and in 2015, the UN listed the threats that could render the enclave uninhabitable by 2020.
It spoke of the ravages of three wars since 2008 and the decade-long Israeli blockade, an unemployment rate of almost 44 percent and food insecurity.
UN officials have called for the blockade to be lifted on the territory run by Hamas.
However, Israel says it is needed to keep Hamas from obtaining weapons or materials that could be used to produce them.
In a territory on the edge of the desert, bounded by Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, where watercourses are reduced to mainly dry gulches, the water table is overexploited.
The level drops and seawater seeps in, raising salinity. Brackish water is then used for cooking, showers, laundry and irrigation.
Well-off Gazans dig their own wells, pumping water from dozens of meters below.
Sami Lubbad, in charge of environmental issues at the Gaza health ministry, said pollution is of two kinds: chemical and microbiological.
At the deepest part of the water table, these pollutants combine and raise the chloride and nitrate levels.
They can cause congenital cyanosis in babies “and also play a role in the development of cancers,” university professor Adnan Aish said. “The prevalence of cancer is higher among people living near water treatment plants,” he said.
Microbiological pollution is caused by bacteria of fecal origin, mainly from wastewater and agriculture runoff.
Chemical pollution is caused by pesticides, but also by the toxic remnants of ammunition fired during wars, experts say.
Lead and sulphur can cause kidney problems, Kishawi said.
UNTREATED WASTE
Gaza’s wars have severely damaged the area’s already-lacking infrastructure.
Much of the wastewater is not treated, allowing it to seep back into the soil and pollute water supplies.
“Around two-thirds of Gazans buy their water in the private sector,” often in bottles sold for 2 shekels (about US$0.53) per 16 liters, litres, UNICEF in the Palestinian territories head June Kunugi said.
However, such water, often produced only by desalination, can also be polluted.
“Many children have parasites and worms and suffer from diarrhea and malnutrition,” Kunugi said.
At the edge of the Mediterranean, desalination of sea water is one potential solution.
In January, the largest desalination plant in Gaza partially opened with the help of international aid. It will supply 75,000 people with safe water, a number that will rise to 150,000 when a second phase is opened. Other plants are planned.
However, a radical changes in behavior is also needed, including storing rainwater and reusing water, Kunugi said.
Experts said it is crucial to allow the water table to be reconstituted without touching it.
“If no solution is found by 2020, disaster will occur and man will be solely responsible for it,” Shoblak said.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese