Narratives Under Siege (5): There’s Something in the Water: The Poisoning of Life in the Gaza Strip

[ConsAreLiars]

Thursday, 05 August 2010 00:00 More at:
http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6888:narratives-under-siege-5-theres-something-in-the-water-the-poisoning-of-life-in-the-gaza-strip-&catid=65:narratives-under-siege&Itemid=209

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The intimate relationship Palestinians in Gaza share with the sea thus makes the current state of Gaza's beaches and sea all the more disheartening and disconcerting. Due to the effects of the total closure imposed by Israel in 2007—principle among them a complete lack of construction materials to build new wastewater treatment facilities or spare parts to repair existing ones, as well as an acute lack of fuel and electricity to run necessary waste treatment cycles—an average of 20,000 cubic meters of raw sewage is dumped directly into the Mediterranean Sea every day, estimates Monther Shoblak, Director General of the Coastal Municipality Water Utility, although in some areas this figure reaches 70,000-80,000 cubic meters per day.<2>



Beyond tarnishing Gaza’s once pristine shores, the noxious consequences of the deterioration of the wastewater treatment operation in Gaza resulting from the closure hold much more grave implications: the Gaza Strip is, quite literally, being poisoned. 90% of the water available in Gaza from its only source—the coastal aquifer—is undrinkable, and nitrate and chloride levels reach six and seven times the international safety standards put forward by the World Health Organization (WHO). As the director of the operation to keep the water in Gaza clean, it is Monther's job to cure this poisoning, but, like a doctor without medicine, there is little he can do while the tools he needs are denied to him and his operation under the policy of closure, which has been practiced on Gaza by Israel in various forms since 1991.



Like all Palestinians in Gaza, Monther and his staff at the Coastal Municipalities Water Utilities are forced to improvise, to make do with very little; few others, perhaps, must do so much with so little. Monther is tasked not only with disposing of the wastewater created by the 1.5 million people in this tiny strip of land but also with ensuring that they have access to safe, clean drinking water. That approximately 80% of Gaza’s population lives in refugee camps, some of the most densely populated areas on earth where adequate infrastructure is rare and the conditions for waterborne disease are rife, is the least of Monther’s concerns: for more than three years now, Monther has been forced to conduct his efforts while being deprived of the resources needed to do so, with perseverance in place of concrete and ingenuity instead of a supply of clean water. Monther analogizes the plight of Gaza's wastewater treatment facilities with an old car that is forced into continual use despite being denied the spare parts needed for upkeep: eventually the car falls into disrepair and begins to spit plumes of jet black, highly polluted smoke—a highly relevant image in Gaza, where adulterated gasoline is the normal input into cars due to sharp restrictions on fuel under the Israeli closure.



Compounding the challenge facing Monther and his staff is the fact that they must also adapt Gaza's deteriorating wastewater treatment facilities for a rapidly increasing population which, accordingly, produces a rapidly increasing volume of waste. Gaza’s current wastewater treatment facilities were constructed with an operational capacity of 32,000 cubic meters of waste a day. With a growth rate that is one of the world’s highest—an estimated 3.6% annually—Gaza’s surging population has overwhelmed the capacity of the waste treatment facilities, and Monther estimates that the facilities are now receiving at least 65,000 cubic meters of waste daily. Unable to handle more than half of its intake, much of the sewage is directly transported to the sea, where it is dumped completely untreated. Much of this sewage washes back onto Gaza's shores, polluting the beaches and creating toxic swimming conditions for the countless children and adults seeking escape from the intense summer heat.
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This is the intended and fully thought through consequences of the policy of those who control state power in Israel. It is no different than the intentional devastation of Iraq and Afghanistan by the murderous psychopathic monsters controlling the US government although the two histories differ. The US incorporated Gehlen ( http://www.amazon.com/General-Reinhard-Gehlen-CIA-Connection/dp/0913969303 ) into its apparatus, and the most frightened and cowardly in the nascent state of Israel won out and adopted the same outlook and strategies of their tormentors.

[aquart]

1. Construction material can't come through Egypt?

Why don't the wealthy Saudis, pals of America, come in and build the water treatment plant? Who would the US listen to, the ones with oil or the ones without?

"denied by Israel the resources with which to address it" seems to say that Israel is supposed to hand Hamas some huge amount of money for ....building a water treatment plant. Golly, I do so wonder why that wouldn't be on Israel's To Do list.

The Israelis don't like people who want to kill them. So it's ridiculous to expect them to hand money over to people who may or may not use it for the purpose intended but FOR SURE will squeeze bomb money out of it. Pretending this is not the case.....come off it.

If the Palestinians want good water let them get their international champions to pay for it. Israel is easy enough to pressure. Guarantee that ONLY a water treatment plant will be built with the money. That none of the construction materials will go to other purposes. GUARANTEE IT.

It's a tragic, sad tale. The remedy is not in Israel's hands. That belongs solely to Hamas. They can have bloody endless revenge or water.

[Igel]

2. I should look up a link for this claim. I'm not going to.

But I seem to recall a dick-wagging contest a year or two ago in which Israel agreed to let the materials for a sewage-treatment plant to be imported into Gaza on condition that the money and materials be controlled by some international organization, and that this organization do the construction.

It might have been a drinking water-treatment plant.

In any event, Hamas turned down the offer: Either they had a large part in managing the project and controlling the funds and materials or it wasn't going to happen.

The nitrate contamination of the aquifer is a slightly different story. Some activists say it's because of the explosives used by the Israelis. Others point to the leakage and disposal of human waste combined with overmanuring of agricultural lands. Of course, seawater contamination might add a little to it. Chlorides would probably come from seawater incursions into the aquifer as they suck the aquifer dry, combined with an issue affecting the potential use of yellow water on poorly drained grasslands--we humans eat too much salt, and it winds up in the wastewater.

[peacetalksforall]

3. The leaders of Israel and their enablers ARE PATHETIC!