Gaza Coastal Municipal Water Utility engineer Majed Ghannam said: “By 2014, we will have reached a level in the aquifer where the water will not be suitable for human use.” The poor quality of the groundwater, due to over-extraction, has allowed seawater to infiltrate leaving tap water undrinkable.
Gaza’s water infrastructure is also in need of repair if the reality of the warning is to be avoided. Households unconnected to wastewater networks use cesspits which are not properly emptied and most raw sewage goes to lagoons and the sea or reaches the aquifer through the soil.
Other factors contributing to the decline in usable water include an increasing population, climate change, wastewater seepage, agricultural fertilisers and the drilling of unlicensed wells.