The water and sanitation sector has suffered heavy losses and damages as a result of the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip for a year, as water and sanitation systems have either stopped working or are working partially, due to the destruction of most vital facilities and infrastructure to varying degrees as a result of direct and indirect Israeli targeting.

The power outage was one of the difficulties in the water sector, in addition to the severe shortage of fuel needed to operate the backup generators for water facilities, the halt in the supply of necessary maintenance parts and essential materials, the difficulty resulting from the accumulation of rubble and the great destruction of the infrastructure, and the complexity of the process of obtaining the necessary coordination for the safety of crews and equipment at work sites.

“The Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip has affected the infrastructure, and more than 85% of water and sanitation facilities and assets have been completely or partially out of service and need comprehensive rehabilitation, including sewage treatment plants, desalination plants, pumping stations, wells, water tanks, main transmission lines, water and sanitation networks, and others,” said Ziad Al-Faqha, acting head of the Water Authority. “It is worth noting that most of the facilities that are being restored to operation after emergency maintenance work is not operating at the required efficiency due to the severe damage to the system as a whole.”

He added that the aggression affected the three water sources in the Gaza Strip, and initial estimates indicate that as a result of the current aggression, the production of these sources has decreased to approximately 30-35% of what it was before the aggression.

He added that water sources include groundwater, through 300 wells distributed throughout the Strip, with a total supply of 262,000 cubic meters per day for all purposes, most of which have sustained severe damage, and as a result of the interventions that have been carried out, the amount of water produced from them currently reaches approximately 93,000 cubic meters per day, in addition to desalination plants: including the North Gaza station (with a production capacity of 10,000 m3/day), the Central station (with a production capacity of 5,500 m3/day), and the South station (with a production capacity of 20,000 m3/day). Currently, the North station is completely out of service, while the Central and South stations are currently operating with a production capacity of 5,000 cubic meters per day.

The jurists confirmed that the "Mekorot" connections were targeted during the aggression, including the northern connection (Al-Mantar), the central connection (Bani Saeed), and the Bani Suhaila connection in the south. The amount of water supplied from these connections before the aggression was (52,000 m3/day), and currently it is operating partially and produces a total of (37,500 m3/day), as it stopped completely with the beginning of the aggression.

He discussed the repercussions of the aggression on the sewage systems, which include the existing sewage system of facilities and integrated infrastructure (from the collection and pumping stage to the transportation and treatment stage), as the system covers about 73% of the population of the Strip, with an infrastructure that includes a network of different diameters estimated in length at about 2,250 km, 79 pumping stations, and 29 rainwater collection basins linked to 8 rainwater pumping stations, in addition to five treatment plants with a design capacity of up to 154,600 m3 per day.

As a result of the aggression, all sewage services stopped, which led to the discharge of wastewater into the sea and another part leaking into populated areas, in addition to most of the rainwater collection ponds being filled with wastewater, which had serious repercussions on health and the environment.

Interventions to mitigate water disaster

The jurists explained that the Water Authority implemented several interventions to mitigate the water disaster; by continuing the maintenance and repair work of the three "Mekorot" connections and their main lines, as they were targeted and destroyed more than once, which caused them to stop completely at the beginning of the aggression.

He pointed out that the pumping process for these three connections was resumed after repairing the damaged main and branch lines, and restructuring them in order to expand the distribution scope to cover the western areas of Khan Yunis and the central areas of Deir al-Balah and Gaza City, which have become densely populated. Currently, the "Mekorot" water source represents about 30% of the total water supply in the Gaza Strip, after the pumping process was reactivated.

He explained that work was done to support the operation and continuous maintenance of the central and southern desalination plants, including providing fuel, purchasing spare parts, generators and solar panels in cooperation with the Coastal Municipalities Water Authority, as the production of the two plants today reached approximately 5,000 cubic meters per day, which is 30% less than the quantities produced before the aggression.

The jurists pointed out that the Water Authority in the northern Gaza Strip continued to transport and distribute fuel to water and sanitation facilities to operate about 65 wells and 4 critical pumping stations for rain and sewage, which led to improving the total water production capacity in Gaza and northern Gaza to about 50,000 cubic meters/day (20,000 m3/day from the Gaza “Mekorot” connection, 30,000 m3/day from well water).

He stressed the need to coordinate the necessary work to transport and distribute fuel to water facilities in the southern and central Gaza Strip, which contributed to the operation of 90 wells and the provision of about 63,000 cubic meters of water per day to the residents of the southern and central governorates, in cooperation with the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility, noting that the production capacity of the wells in the Gaza Strip rose to 93,000 m3/day after it did not exceed 14,000 m3/day at the beginning of the aggression after organizing the process of entering fuel and distributing it to all wells.

Al-Fuqaha said that the Water Authority worked on rehabilitating and activating a group of central and important wells that had been partially or completely damaged, as more than 10 wells were rehabilitated and re-operated in Gaza and North Gaza and 25 wells in the central and southern regions, in addition to 15 limited-quantity desalination plants, in cooperation with service providers and the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Cluster.

He added that in coordination with partners, work is underway to monitor the quality of water sources (wells and micro-water) in addition to water networks, as the first round of quality tests has been completed in the Gaza and North Governorates, and work is underway to monitor the quality of water sources in the southern and central governorates through the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility, and to support and operate most of the existing water and sanitation facilities as much as possible in the entire Gaza Strip, which include 160 wells, 12 water tanks, and 15 groundwater desalination plants, in addition to 16 pumping stations for rainwater and sewage, in cooperation with service providers.

Al-Fuqaha explained that work and coordination are underway with international partners to establish filling points and supply "Mekorot" water in Gaza to be transported to displacement and shelter centers, and to follow up on the needs and requests of municipalities received by the Water Authority on a daily basis, and to provide what is possible, including fuel, spare parts, equipment, and coordination to implement maintenance operations and operate its water facilities.

He pointed out that the Water Authority has implemented a number of other relief interventions, including: providing water through tanks, working to purchase hundreds of water tanks with a capacity of 5 cubic meters, purchasing desalination units that operate on solar energy, in addition to purchasing diesel-powered generators to ensure the continuous operation of desalination plants and providing personal hygiene kits to approximately 250,000 citizens.

Interventions in the sanitation sector

The jurists talked about interventions in the sewage sector; by following up on the damage to the sewage infrastructure as a result of the Israeli occupation bombing in all governorates of the Gaza Strip, and coordinating the necessary maintenance operations for the municipalities and the Coastal Municipalities Water Authority, in addition to coordinating the direct entry of materials needed for operation and maintenance of water pipes, parts and materials.

He said that a share of fuel was allocated to operate a number of main sewage pumping stations to drain stagnant wastewater from residential areas and treat floods, to prevent the spread of serious diseases, especially among children. These stations include the Sheikh Radwan, Al-Baqara, and Asqoula pond pumps in Gaza City, the Abu Rashid pond pump in Jabalia, and the Al-Amal pump in Khan Yunis.

The jurists pointed out the preparations for the rainy season, including the necessary emergency maintenance and repairs to sewage lines and rainwater flows, updating maps of critical areas most vulnerable to flooding throughout the Gaza Strip to take the necessary measures to reduce the risks of flooding, in addition to assessing the damage to the sewage treatment plants in Khan Yunis and Al-Bureij, and developing a plan to rehabilitate the two plants. Work is underway to complete the assessment of the remaining plants.

Preparing an emergency action plan and recovery roadmap for the water and sanitation sector in Gaza

The jurists stressed that the "Emergency Action Plan and Recovery Roadmap for the Water and Sanitation Sector in Gaza" were prepared, with the aim of providing the necessary support for humanitarian aid and urgent interventions at this stage; ensuring timely support in the early recovery phase to restore basic services after stopping the Israeli aggression and the war of extermination against our people in the Strip; and starting to implement a number of urgent interventions; by reallocating a total of 25.6 million euros from the European Union grant in April 2024, and reallocating a total of 9 million euros from the World Bank as well to implement a number of other interventions within the plan, in addition to submitting technical proposals by the Water Authority to various donors in order to benefit from current grants in carrying out emergency interventions; including submitting a proposal to the Kuwait Fund in order to benefit from the current grant.