Publication Date
September 10, 2012
RAMALLAH, WEST BANK -- Water tanks are a hot commodity here. Homeowners cram as many tanks as they can afford onto their rooftops, so when the water is running – just a few hours each week when things are good – they can store enough water to survive until it flows again.
But in refugee camps, like the Dheisheh camp, residents often go without water for 30 days at a time. “I risk my life and my family’s lives by having so many extra water tanks on my roof,” says Yasser, a man living in Dheisheh. “But it ensures I have water and the neighbors also come for water. But one of these days the roof might collapse over our heads and then what?”
For the nearly four million Palestinians living in the West Bank, water shortages have become a way of life. Daily water access is far below international standards and water resource strategies are nascent and have yet to be fully developed. Despite a recent international investment in the development of the water sector, technical problems, mismanagement and theft continue to plague water supply and distribution systems in the region. To complicate matters, the contentious politics of land ownership here have created conflict over several key wells.
Water Management Strategies in Nascent Stages
According to the World Bank, minimal daily water needs are 100 cubic meters per person. In California, for example, the average person uses 500 cubic meters per day. In Israel, the average person uses 240 cubic meters. But in the West Bank, average daily use is just 75 cubic meters per person, a number far below World Bank standards.
Population increases and poor water management strategies are two reasons for the limited water supply. “The amount of water available is much lower than the needs of the people. The gap is estimated at nearly 400 million cubic meters per year,” confirmed a researcher and water negotiator from the House of Water and Environment, HWE, in Ramallah, who requested anonymity due to political circumstances. “All [of] our water resource management strategies are based on how to shorten the gap between water available and water needs,” he said.
Currently, those strategies include redirecting more water to the people in the West Bank by reducing water supplies for the agricultural sector, which currently claims 60 percent of the total water supply here. The water manager says plans are underway to use treated wastewater for agriculture, allowing more fresh water to be available for household use.
But, to date, there are no wastewater treatment plants in the West Bank. Some of the sewage systems in place were constructed by the municipalities, but many were built by local people in areas where neither the PWA nor municipal water authorities operate. For example, in Jalazone refugee camp, the sewage network was built by the people of the camp, however, the waste flows down the hill to a village called Jifna, just outside Ramallah. Waste from hilltop refugee camps, villages, or Israeli settlements often flows down into the towns and villages below, polluting the land and water sources there.
In January, a new investment by the German company KFW Bank, known as Kreditanstalt Fur Wiederaufbau BankenGruppe, which is heavily invested in the Palestinian water sector, is funding of the creation of several treatment plants in the West Bank, two of which are currently under construction and should be completed by 2012. According KFW’s website, “On behalf of the German Government, KFW is actively helping to improve the living conditions of the people in the [Palestinian Territories].” The group is focusing on “improving water supply, sanitation and solid waste disposal as well as on promoting sustainable economic development and good governance.”
Although KFW’s plans appear beneficial to the West Bank’s water problems, technical issues and mismanagement continue to plague water supply and distribution systems in the region.
Old Pipes, Illegal Use and the Politics of Land
More than 30 percent of all water is estimated stolen here. Illegally tapping pipes and wells is a source of income and survival for many.
People who steal water say they do so because they cannot afford to pay for water while others say water is a good source of income — particularly in Gaza.
Representatives from refugee campus here say the cost of water is prohibitive and current debt to the Nablus municipal water authority from three camps in Nablus -- Balata, Ein Beit al-Ma’, and Askar -- currently exceeds $33 million shekels, approximately $8.5 million USD. Mahmoud Subuh, a representative from Balata refugee camp, says unemployment is high in the camps and people are extremely poor. The Nablus municipal water authority did establish monthly payment plans based on individual earnings, but since some residents do not pay their water bills, more are now refusing to pay. “They think that if their neighbor doesn’t pay, then why should I?” Subuh says.
Water theft has become increasingly easy thanks to the 40-year old pipelines that have become susceptible to leaks and illegal tapping. The Palestinian Water says loss of income due to theft is the primary reason they cannot afford to renovate the old system.
But other developments are in the works. In January of this year, the city of Nablus, in the northern West Bank some 40 miles north of Jerusalem with a population of 50,000, secured a development contract with Arabtec Construction, funded by KFW. The contract will increase domestic water connections and should reduce waters cost for consumers.
Additionally, Imad Masri, head engineer of the Nablus Water Municipality, says he has designed a system specifically for Nablus’ hilly topography in order reduce leakage and provide water to the city every three days instead of once a week. Masri says he is also working to establish high-pressure zones so that water pressure will increase in high elevation areas. This adjustment could potentially reduce water leakages below 20 percent. Leakage estimates were 55 percent in 1990.
But the political nature of the borders here have created additional conflict over several key wells and pipelines.
The Palestinian Water Authority is charged with maintaining wells, but they have just one maintenance rig and six trained workers. If there is a problem with a well in Hebron, Palestine’s largest city, a problem in Jenin, the third largest Palestinian city, will have to wait for months before the rig becomes available.
Disputes over well ownership are also common. In 2009, a new well became available for use in Sebastia, a village just outside the city of Nablus. The Palestinian Water Authority took control of the well, though the land the well is on belongs to the Nablus Municipality. To complicate matters, the location of the well straddles Area B and Area C. Area B, under the Oslo Accord, is controlled by both the Palestinians and Israelis while Area C is controlled solely by the Israelis. The only object separating the jointly controlled land from the Israeli controlled land is a pipe.
Residents, experts and advocates agree that the immediate future of water security in Palestine looks grim. From political turbulence to lack of infrastructure, water has become the second most contested commodity in the region. Amidst the drought, decreasing water levels in the wells, and the high likelihood of increased water pollution and contamination, Masri says, “It is going to be a very tough 20 years.”
