A decade of struggle: Gazans still denied access to clean water

Abo Ahmed, 70, a Palestinian resident of the besieged Gaza, suffers from kidney failure and requires dialysis thrice a week.

According to his doctor, Ahmed must drink clean water to keep his kidneys from collapsing, but he hasn’t been able to do that as clean water is "rare to non-existent" in Palestinian territories.

"People in Gaza are getting poisoned by water for more than a decade every single day," he told TRT World.

Regardless of the recent cessation of Israeli hostilities in the region, Palestinians in Gaza grapple with a critical issue that continues to persist: the scarcity of clean water - exacerbating their already challenging circumstances.

Despite international standards recommending a minimum of 100 liters per day per capita, the average Palestinian's water consumption (drinking, washing) falls well below this threshold due to Israeli control over more than 85 percent of the region's water resources.

Reports indicate that approximately 90-95 percent of the water supply in Gaza is considered polluted and unfit for human consumption.

The Israeli blockade prohibits the transfer of water from the occupied West Bank to Gaza, leaving the aquifer as the primary source of freshwater for the population.

However, the aquifer fails to meet the growing needs of the people and is further depleted by overuse, sewage leakage, and seawater intrusion.

"The water we have is not usable, as the UN announced years ago. So now, people living there are forced to buy bottled water because the local water supply is excessively salty and contaminated," Mohammed Alkahlout, a resident of Gaza, told TRT World.

Yasser al Shanti, an official from the Water Authority in Gaza, reported that the salinity rate in the groundwater exceeds 95 percent, surpassing international standards for water quality.

The high concentration of nitrate compounds in the aquifer, resulting from wastewater leakage, poses serious health risks to the population.

Furthermore, the Gaza Strip faces an annual deficit of approximately 140 million cubic meters of water, exacerbating the scarcity issue.

Health issues

The dire situation in Gaza is not new. Studies dating back to 2010 have revealed that 90 percent of the water in the region is polluted and unfit for drinking.

Furthermore, Israeli authorities have been accused of seizing more than ten million cubic meters annually from Gaza's freshest water sources, further jeopardising the region's water reserves.

"All utensils in my house have rusted, including the sewage pipes. The biggest problem is that all members of my family suffer from skin and eye irritation and hair fall because of the contaminated water. This is the reality for 2.3 million people in Gaza," Tasnem Auid, another resident of Gaza, told TRT World.

The blockade and ongoing Israeli occupation have severely hampered Gaza's economy and turned the region into what Human Rights Watch refers to as an "open-air prison".

Despite international recognition of the human right to water, Gazans, including 70 percent of stateless refugees, struggle to access clean and sufficient water.

The health consequences are dire, with a rising prevalence of cancer, kidney disease, parasitic infections, and anemia among the population.

According to the United Nations, Israel extracts 66 percent of the coastal aquifer's water, Gaza extracts 23 percent, and Egypt removes 11 percent.

The aquifer's overuse, crumbling infrastructure, and pollution have left Gazans with less than 5 percent of the water suitable for consumption.

In recent years, Israeli airstrikes have further worsened the situation.

For example, in May 2021, airstrikes damaged 13 water wells, three desalination plants, and 250,000 metres of water pipes, including the main pipeline supplying water purchased from Mekorot, the national water company of Israel.

Subsequently, in August 2022, another airstrike damaged parts of the water system, causing a temporary fuel shortage that resulted in a more than 50 per cent reduction in water production and delivery.

Despite international laws prohibiting the exploitation of resources in occupied territories, Israel continues to control and restrict Palestinian access to water, according to the rights groups, adding that the Israeli authorities impose stringent regulations, preventing Palestinians from constructing new water infrastructure, drilling wells, or accessing fresh water springs.

Even in areas connected to the water network, water taps often run dry or deliver inadequate supply, according to Environmental Resources Management Consultant Tamer al Najjar.

"About 97 percent of the aquifer water is non-potable due to pollution, including untreated sewage and direct seepage from the sea," Al Najjar said.

"As Palestinians continue to suffer the devastating consequences of discriminatory water policies and the ongoing occupation, the world must come together to address this pressing issue and ensure access to clean water as a basic human right."

For young and countless others, who are bearing the burden of this ongoing crisis, washing and cooking have also become daily obstacles.

"I dream of a day when we can drink clean water without worrying about falling ill," Alkahlout told TRT World.