Palestinian water boss reduced to "crisis management"
The
occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) continues to suffer from drought,
but the head of the Water Authority said that there was a limit to what
he could do to help.
"Crisis management is the only strategy
that I am able to apply," Shaddad Attili, the head of the Palestinian
Water Authority, told IRIN while attending World Water Week in
Stockholm (13-23 August).
He said he did not have the power to
plan properly for his constituents, the 3.5 million Palestinians in the
oPt, as the Oslo Accords left too much control in Israeli hands.
"We
have to go to the Israelis to get permission to do projects, like
drilling, building reservoirs or laying pipes," Attili said this week
after attending a round of negotiations with his Israeli counterparts
as part of the 2007 Annapolis peace process.
"It is a very complex procedure," he said, noting that projects have been delayed for over a decade.
Even
in the autonomous parts of the oPt, the Palestinians must still bring
project proposals before the Joint Water Committee, where Israel can
veto plans.
"We suffer the worst"
"We
are all suffering from climate change in the region; Israel and Jordan
are also affected," said Attili. "But we suffer the worst, because we
don't have control over our own resources."
According to an
agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians, details of the current
talks are kept under wraps so as not to impede progress, but water
resources are one of the key final status issues being discussed.
In the south of the West Bank, in Hebron District, where herders and
other residents have been harshly affected by the lack of water, some
aid groups like the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
have stepped in.
"We conducted emergency water trucking for 10
communities in southern Hebron," said Matteo Benatti, the ICRC head in
Hebron, adding that the agency was also looking at long-term solutions.
Gaza
While the West Bank situation was bad, the plight of the Gaza Strip was deemed "catastrophic" by Attili.
Uncontrolled pumping from the aquifer in the enclave as well as problems
in handling waste water - stemming from financial constraints, historic
mismanagement dating back to before the existence of the Palestinian
Authority and the impact of the sanctions on Gaza since Hamas seized
control - has left the territory with polluted water, most of it
undrinkable.
Louay Froukh, a senior water consultant, told IRIN
during World Water Week that Gaza was facing an increasing health risk
due to the lack of well-functioning sanitation systems.
Many people in Gaza rely on leaky septic tanks, he said.
While the tanks can flood into the streets, they also seep into the groundwater, adding to the pollution.
Contact information |
Irin News - © IRIN 2008.
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News type | Inbrief |
File link |
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80044 |
Source of information | Irin News - © IRIN 2008. |
Keyword(s) | drought, pollution, flood, groundwater |
Subject(s) | DRINKING WATER , DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION : COMMON PROCESSES OF PURIFICATION AND TREATMENT , FINANCE-ECONOMY , HYDRAULICS - HYDROLOGY , INFRASTRUCTURES , POLICY-WATER POLICY AND WATER MANAGEMENT , PREVENTION AND NUISANCES POLLUTION , RISKS AND CLIMATOLOGY , SANITATION -STRICT PURIFICATION PROCESSES , WATER DEMAND , WATER QUALITY |
Relation | http://www.emwis.net/countries/fol749974/country608613 |
Geographical coverage | Palestine, Israel |
News date | 28/08/2008 |
Working language(s) | ENGLISH |