Madrid., The UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation, Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, has warned that water pollution in the Gaza Strip is a “silent bomb with less visibility than those that destroy buildings.”
“Israel has blocked 70 percent of the dual-use materials needed to build and operate wastewater treatment plants, preventing proper treatment of wastewater, leading to progressive fecal contamination of groundwater,” he said at a press conference.
Arrojo-Agudo said that the Gazan population lives with an average of 4.7 litres of water per person per day, with the average being 100 for “daily needs”. In fact, the World Health Organisation (WHO) sets 15 litres as the essential amount for survival in emergency situations.
Accessible water is also “often contaminated with faeces”, which causes “serious health problems, especially in children”. “The lack of drinking water has caused 1.7 million cases of infectious diseases, mainly diarrhoea, dysentery and hepatitis A,” he added.
The rapporteur noted that the population of Gaza – 1.7 million displaced – has been “forced to pump three times more water than the aquifer receives through natural replenishment, which during the blockade, which has lasted for a decade and a half, has caused intense marine intrusion and salinization.”
He also referred to the “militarization of water” in the West Bank and to policies of “territorial apartheid.” “They do not have access to the Jordan River and cannot build wells or water infrastructure in their own territories,” he added.
He also stressed that Palestinians in the occupied territories have only 70 litres a day – in rural communities it is close to 20 – compared to the Israeli population, which has “four times more.”
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– 2024-09-24 07:21:20
