Severe water shortage and the poor quality of available water are also exacerbating the inhumane conditions, due to the Israeli occupation and its discriminatory water policies. Needless to say, the if the five year blockade on the Gaza Strip will not be lifted anytime soon, the results for the 1.7 million inhabitants could prove to be catastrophic.

Under international humanitarian law, the occupying power is responsible for the welfare of the civilian population and is obliged to provide them with basic needs, including water.

Furthermore, Israel ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights (ICESCR) where the right of water is enshrined. However Israel’s policies prevent Palestinian access to adequate clean water, and supplies less than 3 percent of Gaza’s water needs through pre-existing pipelines.

Controlling water resources and supplying it to the Palestinians is part of the Israeli occupation strategy, and characteristic of an Apartheid state. Palestinian water infrastructures were on more than one occasion the targets of the Israeli army raids and bombings.

Over 30 kilometers and 11 wells were destroyed by the Israeli army during Operation Cast Lead in 2008/2009. The UN fact finding mission regarding this massacre, the Goldstone Report, deemed this destruction as "deliberate and systematic."

Water Supply in Gaza

Currently, 91% of households in Gaza are connected to the municipal water infrastructure. However as of May 2012, 40% of Gaza residents living in Gaza city, Rafah and Jabalia receive water once every four days, while 35% of the other residents receive water once every three days. In addition, the water supply is intermittent due to power cuts, where water is unable to be pumped to the building pipes and taps run dry.

Even though this large majority should be able to have running water for four days, the water itself is not safe to drink. Because Gaza is under land, air and sea blockade, the inhabitants are dependent on the Coastal Aquifer (the only natural acquifer in Gaza), which is their only access to freshwater and is heavily polluted with seawater and sewage. An aquifer is an underground layer of water bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated materials from which groundwater can be extracted.

The Coastal Aquifer is estimated to have a natural recharge at 50 to 60 million cubic meters (MCM) annually. Wadi Gaza, a natural wetland in the middle of the Gaza trip, is unfit to utilize because of the heavy pollution by sewage. Due to the prohibition to import additional water, the aquifer is overused.

Currently, Gaza extracts 160 MCM per year, which is three times the aquifer yearly recharge. The Palestinian Water Authority’s latest report explains: "The massive over- pumping has led to increased saline intrusion as seawater from the adjacent Mediterranean enters and contaminates the aquifer, while the infiltration of raw sewage from sewage collection ponds on the surface further adds to the aquifer’s rapid deterioration."

If extraction from the aquifer will not put to a halt, the United Nations Environments Programs prospects that the aquifer becomes unusable in 2016. The demand for water will increase tremendously during the coming years, due to Gaza’s high birthrate of 3.43%,the sixth highest in the world.

The table below shows the population, demand and resource prospects for the coming years. This table assumes a decrease in the use of the aquifer and an increase of the supply of desalinated water and a steady water supply by the Israeli national water company Mekorot.

Gaza risks disease epidemic due to lack of sanitary water

The level of nitrates and chloride in the water exceeds the allowable level for safe drinking water standards set by the World Health Organization (WHO). The water in the aquifer is heavily polluted due to poor storage and treatment of sewage and fertilizers which adds nitrites to the drinking water. These nitrites are dangerous for human health.

The vast majority of the Coastal Aquifer contains nitrates ranging between 100-800 mg/liter and chloride ranging between 500-3,000 mg/liter. The acceptable level for nitrates in drinking water is 45 mg/liter, and respectively 250 mg/liter for chloride.

According to a report by Save the Children and Medical Aid for Palestinians, the number of children treated for diarrhea has doubled in the last five years since the beginning of the siege on Gaza:

"Sanitation-related diseases with serious implications for child mortality, such as typhoid fever and watery diarrhea in children under three years of age, have increased at clinics serving refugees in the Gaza Strip."

Currently only 10% of the water from the Aquifer is safe to drink. The other 90% should receive treatment before distributing it as drinking water. With an average use of 70 to 90 liters per person a day the supply of safe water is very limited. Moreover the daily water usage in Gaza does not meet the recommended WHO standards of 100 liters, which is in sharp contrast to the Israeli use of at least 300 liters per person per day.

Desalinated water

90 % of the people in Gaza are now dependent on desalinated water purchased from private vendors which is unmonitored and unregulated. Thus there is the risk of bacterial contamination and poor water quality.

Household desalination units in Gaza, according to the Ministry of Health, extract vital minerals from the water such as magnesium. The rest rely on private and agricultural wells which are likely to be polluted by chemicals as well as microbiological contaminants. UNICEF and UNWRA do provide desalinated water, but only to schools.

However desalinated water is quite expensive, with the price set at 30 NIS for 1,000 liters of water–approximately 8 US dollars. Considering the fact that most families consist of 5 members with an average use of 80 liters a day per person, with an income of $2 a day for 80% of the population, a lot of people have no other option than drinking tap water. Only people with good incomes can effort to buy bottled water or tanked water. A 1.5 liter water bottle costs 2 NIS ($0.5).

Restrictions on the import of necessary materials and equipments prevent reparations and development of the water and sanitation infrastructure. The capacity of the existing sewage treatment plants is too little and suffers from poor maintenance. The result of this is that on a daily basis around 60 to 80 million liters of sewage is flowing into the Mediterranean Sea. This does not only contaminate the underground aquifer but also pollutes the seawater where fishermen derive their livelihoods from.

Recently the Palestinian Water Authority signed a funding agreement with the European Union for the Mediterranean organization to build a desalination plant in Gaza which could provide clean water to approximately 50 thousand people in the south of Gaza. The plan of UNICEF to build a desalination plant has recently been criticized for offering tenders to two Israeli companies.

Lifting the blockade on Gaza would not immediately bring water to Gaza. It would however allow the implementation of WASH (Water Sanitation and Hygiene) projects without delays, such as maintenance, rehabilitation and upgrading of the water and sanitation infrastructure in Gaza which in turn would alleviate the contamination of the Coastal Aquifer.

As it stands, the Palestinian Water Authority is buying 4 million cubic meter water a year from the Israeli national water company Mekorot for Gaza. Recently Israel and the Palestinian Authority reached an agreement that would allow Israel to provide an additional 5 MCM to Gaza as per obligations under the 1995 Oslo Interim agreement. However, despite previous cost agreements, Israel wants to increase the price which will costs the PA millions of extra dollars.

Limited options for solutions

Israeli policies and practices limit Palestinians’ access to the water that they are entitled to under international law. Although Gaza has access to the coastal aquifer, it is their only resource and as a result is overused.

Furthermore, due to the siege on Gaza, the required maintenance and development of the sanitation and sewage infrastructures is not possible. Desalinated water seems to be a good although quite expensive solution. However it will take a while before the planned desalination plants will supply enough clean water for all of the citizens of Gaza.

One thing is for sure: if the water and sanitation in Gaza does not improve quickly, the situation will deteriorate for the worse and it will only be a matter of time for Gaza’s 1.7 million inhabitants to witness a breakout of contagious diseases.