Gaza Strip of Palestine and their socio-economic and environmental impact

One of the major options for the remedy of water shortages in the Gaza Strip of Palestine, and the protection of its coastal aquifer from either depletion and/or becoming saline, is the utilization of desalination technology for brackish and seawater in that region. Other effective options for water supply may become feasible after a comprehensive peace prevails in the region. As a means of an immediate remedy to fresh water shortages in cities in central and southern Gaza and water conflict resolution, the donor countries have funded 3 relatively small brackish water reverse osmosis (RO) desalination plants, each of which produces between 45 and 75 m³/h. Two private Palestinian water investing companies also established two similar RO plants. Several other much larger seawater RO desalination plants are planned to cover the overall shortages in the whole Gaza Strip and allow time to restore and rejuvenate the polluted and saline Gaza aquifer. The Gaza Strip with its low rainfall and sandy soils depends greatly on its intensive agriculture production on irrigation resulting in an over utilization of the underground water resources. The high water withdrawal through about 4000, mostly unregulated, private farm wells with a capacity of 20–80 m³/h and 95 municipality wells of 60–100 m³/h, and lack of sufficient natural recharge is causing a deterioration of the valuable coastal aquifer system in the Gaza Strip. Discussion will entail the USAID many faceted assistance programs to rehabilitate the Gaza aquifers and investigate the options for alleviating the water shortages in the Gaza Strip. USAID allocated and began collaboration with the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) on a USA grant of US$10M yearly, over 5 years, which is currently being implemented through the USA consulting firm of Metcalf and Eddy. Currently, desalination by RO of the abundant supplies of brackish water around the cities in central and southern Gaza, which may be appealing as an emergency alternative water source, is causing through the brine disposal, long range environmental problems, and through intensive underground water withdrawals, a lowering of the water table and encroachment of seawater and other brackish water intrusion into the fresh water aquifer. Furthermore, the brine disposal from the private desalination plants and the small private RO water vendors are a menacing and uncontrolled environmental problem in the Gaza Strip.

Among the many options for providing a long lasting solution to the water shortage problem and deteriorating water quality of water resources in the Gaza Strip is to allow natural recharge over time to restore and cleanse the aquifer from pollution and increasing salinity. This can be achieved by having to depend for at least one decade on a strategy of obtaining the urgently needed desalinated water from the sea using appropriate seawater desalination technology. Among the many methods that have been summarized and tabulated by Quteishat [29] is the RO method which is the most appropriate and most economic for the precarious situation in the Gaza Strip. The definite but costly and badly needed solution of implementing large-scale seawater and brackish water desalination projects in the Gaza Strip requires substantial technical and financial aid from the donor countries interested in promoting peace in the Middle East. While small brackish water desalination projects for the Gaza Strip are done out of necessity in urgent situations and are comparatively cheaper than seawater desalination, they do create many environmental and socio-economic problems in that densely populated, low-income, semi-arid area. Whether a seawater desalination system will be set-up in the Gaza Strip on a large scale is dependent upon establishing an economic power generation source expected from the success the Palestinian Authority may realize from a contract with British Gas in obtaining enough gas from the newly discovered gas fields off the shore of Gaza in order to build a combined power plant with an RO plant on the same site. A model for a set-up like this with a BOO (build, own and operate) contract was constructed on the Florida coast in the USA with a cost for the fresh product water of only $0.6/m³ [10]. This discovery of gas reserves off the Gaza seashore, along with the establishment of a seaport, will truly improve the living conditions of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and encourage a viable economic Palestinian linkage, especially with the other West Bank region of Palestine and also with many countries, including Israel, following the prevalence of a just and lasting peace in this area.