Conditions continue to worsen day by day in Gaza as the war enters its sixth month. The situation for Palestinians in the strip is dire, with aid suspended at border checkpoints and occasional airborne aid penetrating Gaza’s atmosphere, filled with rockets otherwise.

Amidst all this, it is also hard to ignore the severe drought Gazans are experiencing. Since the second day of the war, Israel has cut off water supplies to the strip as a punitive measure. As the war escalates and the shelling increases, infrastructure has also been severely damaged, with the destruction reaching groundwater wells, which are the main source of water in the strip.

The quality of water in Gazan groundwater wells does not meet international standards, but it was the best that can be provided. Now, following the massive amount of explosives which have penetrated Gaza’s air and soil, the environment as a whole is contaminated with bomb remnants and phosphorus, making for even worse water quality. 

“We drink salty water”

“We are forced to get water from distant and dangerous areas, and the water is usually turbid,” Abdullah Al-Khatib, a Gazan from Deir Balah, tells Daraj, adding that he currently gets 45 liters of water from vendors on carts.

Before the war, moderately good quality water was intermittently available due to frequent power outages, which hindered Gazans’ ability to draw water from wells.

Al-Khatib complains that they have resorted to using salty seawater for washing clothes and dishes, and sometimes they are forced to cook with it due to the unavailability of desalinated and clean water daily, in addition to a lack of electrical equipment as a result of the shelling, which destroyed their homes and belongings, displacing them into tents. 

He adds that using primitive methods in tents consumes more water, as they use about 80 liters of water for washing and cleaning. He also notes that they suffer from diseases, gastrointestinal infections, severe inflammation, and diarrhea due to the polluted water they use.

“We get clean water every two weeks or so from the municipality, and it is pumped for about 3 to 4 hours, which is not enough time to fill a large quantity of water, so other sources of water are used, with the water being salty in nature. We use this to satisfy our cleaning and washing needs, as we need large quantities of water. The water undergoes a recycling process,” says Rafah-based Fatima Zarab. 

Fatima complains of her and her family’s suffering of severe infections and acute kidney pain as a result of drinking unclean water high in salt deposits. Furthermore, they haven’t been able to receive treatment because most medicines are not available.

Gaza relies on groundwater

Munther Shablak, the General Director of the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility in Gaza, tells Daraj that the sector relies primarily on groundwater, which constitutes 70 percent of Gaza’s water sources. However, most of this water is unsuitable for domestic use due to its salinity. This has led to the proliferation of desalination stations in all governorates, with tabout fifty small stations built on top of wells, in addition to three stations operating in the sector for desalinating seawater with high production capacity. The second source of water in Gaza is through the Israeli company Mekorot, from which water is purchased.

Shablak points out that most of the groundwater wells in the sector suffer from high levels of chloride and nitrates, exceeding international standards by three times, due to the infiltration of seawater into the aquifer. This water does not meet the qualifications and international standards approved by the World Health Organization, and this may be one of the main reasons for the spread of diseases among the citizens, such as various forms of cancer and kidney failure.

Shablak emphasizes that the water situation during the war has become more worrying and complex due to the contamination of the aquifer with explosives and rocket debris, and the destruction of most of the groundwater wells. The mixing of groundwater with sewage water further complicates matters. He confirms that the aquifer has been destroyed and has become more polluted than before, raising concerns about the increase in nuclear and carcinogenic substances used by Israel in their weaponry.

Nevertheless, Shablak holds on to a glimmer of hope after all the destruction, saying, “Our experience in dealing with post-war situations pushes us to deal and implement urgent solutions, despite the unprecedented course the ongoing war is taking. We are relying on mobile water tanks and non-traditional water methods due to the lack of electricity and the inability to treat water, all of which have increased the rates of diseases among Gazans.”

Shablak concludes by saying that the current reliance is limited to operating wells and two desalination plants for seawater in the central and southern regions, which are operated using generators for eight hours, while the third desalination plant located north of Gaza City was destroyed.

On the other hand, in the summary of his doctoral study prepared after October 7, Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Tamimi, a researcher in water engineering and the Director-General of the Palestinian Hydrologists Association, claims that there is no solution to the water crisis in Gaza under the current political conditions. Importing water from Israel or outside the sector is costly and cannot be borne by the Palestinian citizen. Desalinating seawater is not in line with the economic and institutional conditions, as poverty rates are very high and institutions are greatly deteriorated. The solution lies in connecting the sector to a water network from the southern West Bank after drilling groundwater wells in the western basin. This would be a national and economically feasible solution that would partially solve the water problem in the sector.

Water is a polluted right!

According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the individual’s water share reached as low as 26.8 liters per day in 2022, which is a low number compared to what the United Nations has previously expressed on the matter, recognizing that each individual must have the right to access 50 to 100 liters per day, including personal and household use. They also explain that it should be safe, affordable (the cost of water should not exceed 3 percent of total household income), available (not more than 1000 meters away from home) and not hard to access timewise (should not take more than 30 minutes to obtain).

According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, recent statistics indicate that Gaza is suffering from a severe water crisis. Before the aggression started in October 2023, the average water consumption per person in the sector was estimated at about 84.6 liters per person per day during 2022. With the outbreak of the war, estimates by the Palestinian Water Authority indicate that the residents of Gaza can only access between 3-15 liters per person per day. The quantities of water reaching citizens vary greatly depending on geographical location, the supplied water, the destruction of infrastructure, and the ongoing displacement.

Based on international reports and the Palestinian Water Authority, 97 percent of Gaza’s water is unfit for human consumption. The average person’s consumption is 22.4 liters per day, which is approximately 20 percent of the rate recommended by the World Health Organization for safe human consumption. 

In a statement released earlier this year, the Environmental Quality Authority exclaimed that the Israeli war on Gaza is not only a humanitarian disaster but also an environmental one, destroying all components of biodiversity, including plants and microorganisms. This has led to the contamination of water, air, and soil, and the burning of the land, turning the place into mountains consisting of tons of construction waste mixed with medical and household waste, sewage, and rainwater. This waste then makes its way to the sea, passing through the Wadi Gaza Reserve.