Water supply and sanitation in the Palestinian territories

Palestinian territories Palestinian territories The Palestinian territories comprise the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988, the region is today recognized by three-quarters of the world's countries as the State of Palestine or simply Palestine, although this status is not recognized by the... : Water and Sanitation

Data
Water coverage (broad definition)	92%
Sanitation coverage (broad definition)	73%
Continuity of supply (%)	62.8 %
Average domestic water use (2005) (l/c/d)	West Bank: 50 Gaza strip: 76
Average urban water tariff (US$/m3)	1.20
Share of household metering	n/a
Share of collected wastewater treated	West Bank: 15% Gaza Strip: 62% (2001).
Non-revenue water	44%
Annual investment in WSS	n/a
Share of self-financing by utilities	low
Share of tax-financing	n/a
Share of external financing	high
Institutions
Decentralization to municipalities	No
National water and sanitation company	No
Water and sanitation regulator	Palestinian Water Authority
Responsibility for policy setting	Cabinet of ministries/National Water Council
Sector law	Yes (2001)
Number of urban service providers	4 utilities
Number of rural service providers	n/a

Compared to other countries in the Middle East and North Africa

MENA

The term MENA, for "Middle East and North Africa", is an acronym often used in academic, military planning and business writing.The term covers an extensive region, extending from Morocco to Iran, including the majority of both the Middle Eastern and Maghreb countries...

, water supply and sanitation in the Palestinian territories is characterized by severe water shortage, which is exacerbated by the effects of Israeli occupation. According to the WaSH Monitoring Programme, Israelis use 85% of the water available from the mountain aquifer in the West Bank, and 82% of the water from the coastal aquifer under Gaza.

Generally, the availability and quality of services is considerably worse in the Gaza strip

Gaza Strip

thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...

when compared to the West Bank

West Bank

The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...

. A 2008 survey shows that 64% of households in the West Bank

West Bank

consider the water quality to be good, while the share in the Gaza Strip

Gaza Strip

is only 14%. The lasting blockade of the Gaza Strip and the 2008-2009 Israel-Gaza conflict have caused severe damage of the infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.

About half of the delivered water in the Palestinian territories is unaccounted-for water (UFW)

Non-revenue water

Non revenue water is water that has been produced and is “lost” before it reaches the customer. Losses can be real losses or apparent losses . High levels of NRW are detrimental to the financial viability of water utilities, as well to the quality of water itself...

because of losses and billing deficiencies. With a share of 70%, agriculture is the sector which uses most of the scarce water resources. Concerning wastewater, the existing wastewater treatment plants do not have the capacity to treat all the produced wastewater, causing severe water pollution. The National Water Policy of 1995, the Water Resources Management Strategy of 1998 and the Water Law of 2002 aim at developing and improving the management of water resources. Furthermore, a new water pricing policy is being prepared. The development of the sector highly depends on external financing.

Access

According to the Joint Monitoring Program (JMP) of the World Health Organization (WHO)

World Health Organization

The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...

and UNICEF, 92% of the Palestinians had access to an improved water source

Improved water source

According to the Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation by the World Health Organization and UNICEF the following are considered as "improved" water sources:* household connections* public standpipes* boreholes* protected dug wells...

in 2004, while 73% had access to improved sanitation

Improved sanitation

According to the Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation by the World Health Organization and UNICEF the following are considered as "improved" sanitation:* connection to a public sewer* connection to a septic system* pour-flush latrine...

. Unlike other MENA

MENA

countries, the JMP does not provide figures for the share of sewerage connections according to urban and rural areas in the Palestinian territories.

Access to Water and Sanitation in the Palestinian territories (2004)
		Urban (72% of the population)	Rural (28% of the population)	Total
Water	Broad definition Improved water source According to the Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation by the World Health Organization and UNICEF the following are considered as "improved" water sources:* household connections* public standpipes* boreholes* protected dug wells...	94%	88%	92%
Water	House connections	88%	64%	81%
Sanitation	Broad definition Improved sanitation According to the Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation by the World Health Organization and UNICEF the following are considered as "improved" sanitation:* connection to a public sewer* connection to a septic system* pour-flush latrine...	78%	61%	73%
Sanitation	Sewerage	n/a	n/a	46%

A 2008 survey carried out by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) reports similar figures. According to the survey, the number of households in the Palestinian territories connected to the water network increased from 85% in 1999 to 88% in 2008. In the West Bank, 84% of the households were connected while the connection share in the Gaza Strip was 97%. Concerning sanitation cesspit

Cesspit

A cesspit, or cesspool is a pit, conservancy tank, or covered cistern, which can be used to dispose of urine and feces, and more generally of all sewage and refuse. It is a more antiquated solution than a sewer system. Traditionally, it was a deep cylindrical chamber dug into the earth, having...

s were used by 54% of households, while access to the sewer network increased was 46% in 2008, up from 39% in 1999.

The Heinrich Böll Foundation reports low service levels especially in small villages and refugee camp

Refugee camp

A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees. Hundreds of thousands of people may live in any one single camp. Usually they are built and run by a government, the United Nations, or international organizations, or NGOs.Refugee camps are generally set up in an impromptu...

s. The gap between urban and rural areas concerning water supply house connections may be due to the fact that available water resources are not accessible for the Palestinian actors in many cases.

Effects of the occupation of the West Bank

In the West Bank Israeli settlers access water from 42 deep holes which provide them with enough water to fill swimming pools, water their gardens, and irrigate miles of crops and greenhouses. This also lowers the water table making it more difficult for Palestinians to access their own water. The Palestinians live under Israeli military rule, and are largely prevented from digging such deep wells. This limits their access to water to natural springs, shallow wells, and swiftly evaporating rainwater. When Palestinians run out of water sources they must buy Israeli water which sells for a dollar a cubic yard.

Effects of Gaza war and the Gaza blockade

Following the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict, the World Bank

World Bank

The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...

reported severe damages to the water and sanitation infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. Almost all sewage and water pumps were out of operation due to a lack of electricity and fuel. Spare parts and other maintenance supplies were in urgent need to be replenished. This situation resulted in a serious shortage of water and sewage overflows in urban areas, posing a threat to public health

Public health

Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...

.

The Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip impedes the provision of spare parts and thus contributes to exacerbate the problem. Several aid agencies and the top United Nations humanitarian official in the Palestinian territories therefore demanded the immediate opening of crossings. According to the United Nations, about 60% of the population in the Gaza Strip did not have access to continuous water supply in 2009.

Continuity of supply

The Euro-Mediterranean Water Information System (EMWIS) states that continuity in the Palestinian territories is 62.8% According a study by the Heinrich Böll Foundation, 42% of the localties get uninterrupted water supply and 19% receive it at least partially. Furthermore, about 40% of all served localities suffer from water shortages.

Drinking water quality

Data of a survey carried out in 2008 revealed that 46% of the households in the Palestinian Territories consider the water quality as good. The share is significantly higher in the West Bank (64%) than in the Gaza Strip (14%). Compared to an earlier study, the results indicate that the percentage of households which consider the water quality as good decreased from 67.5% in 1999.

Wastewater treatment

Gaza strip. Out of the 110,000 m³ of wastewater per day which is produced in the Gaza Strip, 68,000 m³ was treated, according to a study from 2001. 20% of the treated wastewater was reused. The World Bank reported in 2009 that the three existing wastewater treatment plants work discontinuously. Damaged sewage infrastructure can often not be repaired due to the ongoing Israeli blockade. It leads to delays in repairs and a lack of electricity and fuel which would be necessary to operate the wastewater treatment facilities. The United Nations estimate that per day 50,000 to 80,000 cubic meters of untreated and partially treated wastewater are discharged into the Mediterranean Sea

Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...

since January 2008, threatening the environment in the region.

West Bank. In the West Bank, only 13,000 out of 85,000 m³ of wastewater was treated in five municipal wastewater treatment plants in Hebron

Hebron

Hebron , is located in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judean Mountains, it lies 930 meters above sea level. It is the largest city in the West Bank and home to around 165,000 Palestinians, and over 500 Jewish settlers concentrated in and around the old quarter...

, Jenin

Jenin

Jenin is the largest town in the Northern West Bank, and the third largest city overall. It serves as the administrative center of the Jenin Governorate and is a major agricultural center for the surrounding towns. In 2007, the city had a population of 120,004 not including the adjacent refugee...

, Ramallah

Ramallah

Ramallah is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank located 10 kilometers north of Jerusalem, adjacent to al-Bireh. It currently serves as the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority...

, Tulkarem and Al-Bireh

Al-Bireh

al-Bireh or el-Bira is a Palestinian city adjacent to Ramallah in the central West Bank, north of Jerusalem. It is situated on the central ridge running through the West Bank and is above sea level, covering an area of...

. The Al Bireh plant was constructed in 2000 with funding by the German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

aid agency

Aid agency

An aid agency is an organisation dedicated to distributing aid. Many professional aid organisations exist, both within government , between governments as multilateral donors and as private voluntary organizations...

KfW

KFW

KFW may refer to:*Keith Fullerton Whitman , an American musician*KfW or Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau, a German public-sector financial institution...

. According to a World Bank report, the other four plants perform poorly concerning efficiency and quality.

Water resources

West Bank. At an average sustainable rate, the amount of renewable shared freshwater available throughout the entire Jordan Valley

Jordan Valley (Middle East)

The Jordan Valley forms part of the larger Jordan Rift Valley. It is 120 kilometers long and 15 kilometers wide, where it runs from Lake Tiberias in the north to northern Dead Sea in the south. It runs for an additional 155 kilometer south of the Dead Sea to Aqaba, an area also known as Wadi...

is roughly 2700 million cubic metres per year, out of which 1400 million cubic metres per year comes from groundwater

Groundwater

Groundwater is water located beneath the ground surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated deposit is called an aquifer when it can yield a usable quantity of water. The depth at which soil pore spaces or fractures and voids in rock...

and 1300 million cubic metres per year from surface water

Surface water

Surface water is water collecting on the ground or in a stream, river, lake, wetland, or ocean; it is related to water collecting as groundwater or atmospheric water....

. However, only a fraction of this can be used by Palestinians in the West Bank. Israel has denied Palestinians access to the entire Lower Jordan River since 1967. After the start of Israel’s military occupation in 1967, Israel declared the West Bank land adjacent to the Jordan River a closed military zone, to which only Israeli settler farmers have been permitted access. Groundwater resources include two main aquifers: The highly productive mountain aquifer that slopes towards the more rainy West, and the less productive Eastern aquifer located under the drier part of the West Bank. Palestinians are not allowed to drill wells into the mountain aquifer. Most of its water thus flows underground towards the slopes of the hills and into Israeli territory. According to different estimates, between 80 and 85% of groundwater in the West Bank is used either by Israeli settlers or flows into Israel.

Gaza. The only source of water in the Gaza strip is the coastal aquifer, which is heavily overexploited resulting in seawater intrusion. The aquifer is thus polluted by salt as well as nitrate

Nitrate

The nitrate ion is a polyatomic ion with the molecular formula NO and a molecular mass of 62.0049 g/mol. It is the conjugate base of nitric acid, consisting of one central nitrogen atom surrounded by three identically-bonded oxygen atoms in a trigonal planar arrangement. The nitrate ion carries a...

from wastewater infiltration and fertilizers. Only 5-10% of the aquifer is yielding drinking water quality.

Water use

Agriculture accounts for around 70% of total water use in the Palestinian territories, followed by domestic (27%) and industrial uses (3%).

West Bank. In 2009 the World Bank estimated residential water supply based on data from PWA and the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. In the West Bank it was estimated to be about 50 liters/capita/day after network losses, with large variations ranging from about 10-15 liters in parts of Hebron

Hebron

to almost 100 in Jericho

Jericho

Jericho ; is a city located near the Jordan River in the West Bank of the Palestinian territories. It is the capital of the Jericho Governorate and has a population of more than 20,000. Situated well below sea level on an east-west route north of the Dead Sea, Jericho is the lowest permanently...

. According to a 2009 report by Amnesty International

Amnesty International

Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...

, some 180,000-200,000 Palestinians living in rural communities have no access to running water and "the Israeli army often prevents them from even collecting rainwater". In contrast, Israeli settlers have irrigated farms, lush gardens and swimming pools. The 450,000 settlers use as much or more water than the 2.3 million Palestinians. Many Palestinians have to buy water, of often dubious quality, from tanker trucks at very high prices. Water tankers are forced to take long detours to avoid Israeli military checkpoints and roads which are out of bounds to Palestinians, resulting in steep increases in the price of water. According to Amnesty International, the Israeli army also destroys rainwater harvesting cisterns and confiscates water trucks.

Gaza. In the Gaza strip, the amount of water supplied is 152 liter/capita/day, but after taking into account water losses actual water use is estimated to be 76 liter.

History and recent developments

Since 1948, the development of the water and sanition sector in the Palestinian territories is strongly linked to the development of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Israeli-Palestinian conflict

The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The conflict is wide-ranging, and the term is also used in reference to the earlier phases of the same conflict, between Jewish and Zionist yishuv and the Arab population living in Palestine under Ottoman or...

. According to the Heinrich Böll Foundation, Jewish and Palestinian communities used similar quantities of water prior to the conflict. The first restrictions on the development of wells in the West Bank, which at that time was under Jordan

Jordan

Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...

ian administration have been introduced by Israel in 1949. Since then the water consumption gap between Jordanians and Israelis began to widen.

Upon the signing of the Declaration of Principles (DOP)

Oslo Accords

The Oslo Accords, officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or Declaration of Principles , was an attempt to resolve the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict...

and the 1995 Interim Agreement

Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip

The Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, also known as the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement, the Interim Agreement, Oslo 2, Oslo II, and Taba, was a key and complex agreement governing several aspects of the Palestinian territories of Gaza Strip and the West Bank.-History:It...

, the Palestinian Authority (PA) inherited an extremely weak water sector characterized by serious institutional fragmentation. Inadequate conditions in terms of water access and quality are still common, and the legal framework of the relevant institutions often remains unclear. The increasing demand for this valuable resource has obliged the Palestinian government to secure additional quantities of water, increase the efficiency of water supply systems, and attempt to solve the obvious technical limitations to achieve sustainable development. Accordingly, the demand remains constrained by water allocations specified in the 1995 Interim Agreement.

In 1995, the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) was established by a presidential decree. One year later, its functions, objectives and responsibilities were defined through a by-law, giving the PWA the mandate to manage water resources and execute the water policy.

Private sector participation

Two management contract

Management contract

A management contract is an arrangement under which operational control of an enterprise is vested by contract in a separate enterprise which performs the necessary managerial functions in return for a fee. Management contracts involve not just selling a method of doing things but involves...

s were awarded for Gaza in 1996 and for the Bethlehem area in 1999. In 2002, soon after the outbreak of the Second Intifada, the Bethlehem contract was terminated and the Gaza contract expired.

In Gaza, a four-year management contract was awarded to a joint venture

Joint venture

A joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...

of Lyonnaise des Eaux (now Suez) and Khatib and Alami in 1996. The contract was entirely funded by a US$ 25 million World Bank credit. According to a 1998 World Bank paper, water quality improved since the contract became active. Furthermore, water losses fell and water consumption and revenues rose. However, actual responsibility for service provision remained with municipalities. When the contract ended in 2000, it was renewed twice for one year until 2002. The World Bank reports that from 1996 to 2002, 16,000 illegal connections have been identified and more than 1,900 km of pipes have been observed for leakage. Moreover, 22,000 connections have been replaced, more than 20 km of pipes have been repaired and more than 30,000 water meter

Water meter

A water meter is a device used to measure the volume of water usage. This article provides an overview of technical aspects of water meters. The worldwide prevalence of metering as well as its economic benefits and costs are covered in the separate article on water metering.In many developed...

s have been replaced. The amount of non-revenue water (NRW)

Non-revenue water

decreased to about 30%. After the end of the contract, the Coastal Municipal Water Utility (CMWU) has been established to manage water and sanitation in the Gaza strip.

Another managemenent contract was awarded in 1999 covering water supply of about 600,000 people in the governorates of Betlehem

Bethlehem Governorate

The Bethlehem Governorate is one of 16 Governorates of the West Bank and Gaza Strip within the Palestinian Territories. It covers an area of the West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Its principal city and district capital is Bethlehem...

and Hebron

Hebron Governorate

The Hebron Governorate is an administrative district of the Palestinian National Authority in the southern West Bank. It extends south to, and includes most of, the Dead Sea....

, with a focus on the former one. The contract was awarded to a joint venture of the French Vivendi

Vivendi

Vivendi SA is a French international media conglomerate with activities in music, television and film, publishing, telecommunications, the Internet, and video games. It is headquartered in Paris.- History :...

and the Lebanese

Lebanon

Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

-Palestinian company Khatib and Alami. Among other things, it included the improvement of infrastructure and billing procedures. The contract was financed with a credit of US$ 21 million, while the European Investment Bank (EIB)

European Investment Bank

The European Investment Bank is the European Union's long-term lending institution established in 1958 under the Treaty of Rome. A policy-driven bank, the EIB supports the EU’s priority objectives, especially European integration and the development of economically weak regions...

provided US$ 35.7 million. Mainly due to the continuing hostilities and the premature cancellation of EIB support, the World Bank rates the total outcome of the project as unsatisfactory. According to the World Bank, non-revenue water was reduced from about 50% to 24% in Hebron and only 10% in Betlehem in 2004. Illegal connections were eliminated in Hebron and more than halved in Betlehem.

Relevant laws and strategies

The current sector legislation was established after the 1995 Oslo Accords

Oslo Accords

, with a by-law establishing the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) in 1996, a 1998 Water Resources Management Strategy and the 2002 water law. The Water Resources Management Strategy of 1998 had eight key elements: (1) secure the Palestinian water rights, (2) strengthen national policies and regulations, (3) develop institutional capacity and human resources, (4) improve information services and assessment of water resources, (5) regulate and coordinate integrated water and wastewater investments and operations, (6) enforce water pollution control and protection of water resources, (7) develop public awareness and participation, and (8) promote regional and international cooperation. The Water Law of 2002 clarifies the responsibilities of the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) and establishes a National Water Council (NWC) with the task to set national water policies. It also establishes "national water utilities".

Policy and regulation

General water sector policies are set by the Palestinian cabinet of ministries and the National Water Council (NWC). The council has the authority to suspend or dismantle the services of the board of directors of the regional water and wastewater services providers. The members of the council include the main Palestinian ministries. The Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) acts as regulatory authority, responsible for the legislation, monitoring and human resources development in the sector. The PWA is also in charge of water resources management. It has the mandate to carry out regular inspections and to keep a register of all water related data and information. The authority shares responsibility for irrigation with the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and for environmental protection with the Environment Quality Authority (EQA).

As part of the 1995 Interim Agreement, a Joint Water Committee (JWC) has been established between Israel and the Palestinian territories. The JWC was expected to implement the regulations of article 40 of the agreement which concern water and sanitation. The committee is composed of an equal number of participants by the two parties, which means that each side has a veto. The JWC is not independent from Israel and the PWA. Instead, decisions can be passed to a higher political level. Jägerskog reports several delays concerning the implementation of Palestinian project proposals within the committee, partly due to missing Palestinian funding, time-consuming approval procedures, hydrological and political reasons. However, it is valued that the JWC facilitates cooperation between the two parties, even in times of high political tension like the second intifada.

Service provision

The Water Law No. 3 provided the legal basis for the establishment of "national water utilities". The PWA's goal is to establish four regional utilities, one in Gaza and three in the West Bank (North, Center and South). However, in reality as of 2011 only the regional utility for Gaza has been established, while water services in the West Bank continue to be provided by municipalities, two sub-regional utilities and village councils.

West Bank. There are two regional utilities in the West Bank, namely the Jerusalem Water Undertaking (JWU) in the Ramallah area and the Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WSSA) in the Bethlehem area. In other cities such as Tulkarem, Nablus, Jenin and Hebron as well as in small towns municipalities provide water and, if existing, sewer services. Both utilities and municipalities depend to a varying extent on bulk water supply by the Israeli water company Mekorot

Mekorot

Mekorot is the national water company of Israel and the country's top agency for water management.Mekorot was founded in 1937. It supplies 90% of Israel's drinking water and 80% of its water supplies. The company runs 3,000 installations throughout the country for water supply, water quality,...

, which delivers about 80% of the water which is used by JWU. In rural areas, water is provided by Village Council water departments. In the North-Eastern Jenin area a Joint Service Council (JSC) formed by six villages provides water.

Gaza strip In all 25 municipalities in the Gaza strip, water provision is the responsibility of the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU). However, the utility is still in the process of being set up and exercise its legal tasks. The intended procedure is that the municipalities receive technical assistance by the CMWU and gradually transfer their staff and assets to it. According to the World Bank, this model led to some improvements like faster repair of leakage and economies of scale. However, the plan is far from being fully implemented. The model experienced serious problems which are mainly caused by the unstable political conditions in the Gaza strip since 2008, including differences between municipalities governed by Hamas and Fatah, so that some municipalities refused to transfer their assets and staff to CMWU.

Non-governmental organizations and universities

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are very active in the field of water and wastewater treatment and reuse. One NGO network is the Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network (PENGON) that was initiated after the 2000 al-Aqsa Intifada

Al-Aqsa Intifada

The Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada and the Oslo War, was the second Palestinian uprising, a period of intensified Palestinian-Israeli violence, which began in late September 2000...

. It has more than 20 membres, including NGOs, universities and research centers.

Efficiency

About half (44%) of the produced water is non-revenue water (NRW)

Non-revenue water

, water which is not billed due to leakage or water theft. The share varies widely from 25% in Ramallah

Ramallah

to 65% in Jericho

Jericho

. In the Gaza Strip, NRW is estimated to be about 45%, out of which 40% is caused by physical losses and 5% by unregistered connections and meter losses.

Tariffs and cost recovery

A water-pricing policy is under preparation. Currently, increasing block tariffs are applied in the Palestinian territories. There is no price differentiation according to the purpose (residential, commercial, industrial). The average cost of water supply is $22 per month ($25 in the West Bank and $10 in Gaza). The Heinrich Böll Foundation reports an average tariff of US$ 1.20 (5 NIS) per m³. In areas where piped water is not available, water is purchased from water tankers for prices five to six times as high as for piped water. The long term objective to recover water production costs, or at least operation and maintenance costs, is still not reached.

The following table gives an overview of the distribution of households in the Palestinian Territories by the cost of monthly consumed water in 2003.

Distribution of water consumption
Cost of monthly consumed water (US$)	%
Less than 25	69.4%
25–50	15.1%
50–75	5.9%
75–100	2.8%
more than 100	6.8%

Bill collection rates average 50% in the West Bank and only 20% in Gaza.

Investment and financing

The PWA issues periodic reports including information about projects and donor contributions. In the West Bank, the total investment cost of water projects from 1996 to 2002 amounted to about US$ 500 million, out of which 150 million were already spent in completed projects. The cost of ongoing projects were US$ 300 million, and the remaining US$ 50 million were committed to future projects. Out of the total cost of US$ 500 million, 200 million were invested in the water supply sector and 130 million in the wastewater sector. The remaining financial resources were spent in water conservation (80m), institutional and capacity building (30m), storm water, water resources and irrigation systems.

At the same time, the total investment cost of water projects in the Gaza Strip were about US$ 230 million, out of which most was spent for ongoing projects (US$ 170 mllion), while the remaining 60 million were implemented costs. About 90% of these investments were financed by grants and 10% by loans from the European Investment Bank (EIB)

European Investment Bank

and the World Bank

World Bank

The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...

. US$ 100 million were invested in the water sector and 40 million in the wastewater sector.

It is estimated that a future investment of about US$ 1.1 billion for the West Bank and US$ 0.8 billion is needed for the planning period from 2003 to 2015.

External cooperation

About 15 bilateral and multilateral donor agencies support the Palestinian water sector. In 2006, the PWA complained that coordination between PWA and donosr was "still not successfull" and that some donors and NGOs were "bypassing" the PWA. Donor coordination mechanisms in the sector include Emergency Water, Sanitation and Hygiene group (EWASH) regrouping UN agencies and NGOs as well as Emergency Water Operations Center (EWOC) led by USAID. Both were established to coordinate the reconstruction after the 2002 Israeli incursions into the West Bank.

European Union

The European Investment Bank

European Investment Bank

(EIB) provided loan funding for refurbishing water reservoirs and was expected to fund the construction of the south regional wastewater treatment plant and a section of the North-South municipal water carrier in Gaza.

Germany

German development cooperation has been engaged in the water and sanitation sector in the Palestinian Territories since 1994. It consists of financial cooperation through KfW

KFW

KFW may refer to:*Keith Fullerton Whitman , an American musician*KfW or Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau, a German public-sector financial institution...

and technical cooperation through GTZ, both working on behalf of the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

KfW is engaged in Nablus

Nablus

Nablus is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 126,132. Located in a strategic position between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a Palestinian commercial and cultural center.Founded by the...

, Tulkarem, Salfit

Salfit

Salfit also spelled Salfeet is a Palestinian town in the central West Bank. Salfit is located at an altitude of in the central Samarian highlands adjacent to the Israeli settlement of Ariel. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the City had a population of 8,796 in 2007....

, Ramallah

Ramallah

/ Al-Bireh

Al-Bireh

, Jenin

Jenin

and Gaza City. The water supply activities focus on the reduction of non-revenue water

Non-revenue water

so that the available water resources can be used more efficiently. One successful example of water loss reduction is the first phase of the KfW-supported program in Nablus: the frequency of supply for 8,000 inhabitants in the Rafidia neighbourhood was increased from every 4 days to every 2–3 days. This was achieved by reducing distribution losses from 40% to currently 30%. Sanitation activities include the construction of sewer networks and wastewater treatment. The town of Al Bireh had the only functioning wastewater treatment plant in the West Bank in 2009. The plant, which was funded by KfW, was commissioned in 2000 and operates in a satisfactory way despite the challenging environment of the West Bank. The construction of wastewater treatment plants in Gaza City, Western Nablus, Salfeet and the Tulkarem region, however, was substantially delayed as of 2009. Until 2008 new financial cooperation commitments were granted in the form of projects that identified specific investments at an early stage. This approach changed in 2008 with the approval of a new KfW-supported water and sanitation program for the West Bank and Gaza. This program is open for proposals from small and medium-sized towns if they comply with certain selection criteria. The program’s main focus is on water loss reduction.

Outcomes of technical cooperation include improved performance for the Jerusalem Water Undertaking, the utility serving Ramallah, as a result of capacity building and training. Employees of the municipality Al-Bireh were trained in operating the town's wastewater treatment plant. Wells have been drilled or rehabilitated in the Nablus and Ramallah area, supplying 120,000 people with drinking water. GTZ also supported the creation of the National Water Council in 2006. Furthermore, at least 6,000 schoolchildren have been taught water conservation measures.

Sweden

The Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) has participated in the development of feasibility and design studies for the north regional wastewater treatment plant and associated sewerage collection systems in Gaza.

United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

USAID is a leading development agency within the sector in the Palestinian territories. Their work includes the repair and rehabilitation of small scale water and sanitation facilities, rehabilitation of water and sewage networks as well as replacement of water pumps. In addition, they help communities without access to piped water through water supply via tankers. In rural areas, the agency provides water collection cisterns to poor families. USAID helps to connect households to water and to install rainwater drainage pipes.

On their official web page, USAID announces to provide more than 60 km of water pipes in oder to supply ten additional villages in the southern Nablus area with potable water. By 2009, USAID has improved water supply for more than 19,500 households while about 30,000 households gained improved sanitation and connections to sewage networks.

World Bank

Under the Second Gaza Water and Sanitation Project which is active from 2005 to 2010, the World Bank provides US$20 million. One objective of the project is to develop a sustainable institutional structure of the water and sanitation sector. This is planned to be achieved through supporting the establishment of a Coastal Water Utility which is owned by the local governments and through increased private sector participation. In addition, the project seeks to strengthen the regulatory and institutional capacity of the PWA. The second objective of the project is the improvement of the water and sanitation services through rehabilitation, upgrade and expansion of the existing facilities.

In January 2008, another US$5 million for the project have been approved by the bank. The additional funding will contribute to finance the institutional strengthening of the Coastal Municipal Water Utility, which has suffered from a very difficult security situation. Moreover, operation and maintenance costs of the water and sanitation facilities in the Gaza Strip for one additional year are covered. One aim is to reduce non-revenue water from 45% to 35%, accompanied by an increase of revenues and customer satisfaction. The funding also provides for water meter

Water meter

s, chemicals for water treatment and disinfection and the rehabilitation of water production wells.

In addition, the bank provides US$12 million for the North Gaza Emergency Sewage Treatment (NGEST) Project, which seeks to mitigate the health and environmental risks which arise from the Beit Lahia

Beit Lahia

Beit Lahia is a city located north of Jabalia, near Beit Hanoun and the 1949 Armistice Line with Israel. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the city had a population of 59,540 in mid-year 2006. Hamas, an Islamist party, took control of it during the 2005 municipal...

Waterwater Treatment Plant. Effluents of the treatment plant are discharged into a lake, putting the surrounding communities at risk. The objective of the project is to provide a long-term solution to wastewater treatment in the Gaza northern governorate. In order to achieve this, the lake is drained. New infiltration basins are built in another location, where the effluent of the lake will be transferred. A new wastewater treatment plant with improved quality standards will be built, covering the whole northern governorate.

External links

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Access

Effects of the occupation of the West Bank

Effects of Gaza war and the Gaza blockade

Continuity of supply

Drinking water quality

Wastewater treatment

Water resources

Water use

History and recent developments

Private sector participation

Relevant laws and strategies

Policy and regulation

Service provision

Non-governmental organizations and universities

Efficiency

Tariffs and cost recovery

Investment and financing

External cooperation

European Union

Germany

Sweden

United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

World Bank

See also

External links