Gaza water increasingly polluted and expensive

Gaza, Palestinian Territory (The Media Line) – Gaza’s population is increasing, and the water supply is not keeping pace according to Oxfam, the British human rights organization. In a new report, the group asserts that Gazans are spending as much as one-third of their household income on drinking water, and are facing growing health risks.

“The infrastructure has been deteriorating rapidly because we are not able to repair and maintain it,” Karl Schembri, a spokesman for Oxfam in Gaza told The Media Line. Referring to action as far back as Operation Cast Lead at the end of 2008 and start of 2009, “Israeli military attacks have had a severe impact on the civilian infrastructure and particularly on the water network.”

Gaza’s main source of water for its dense population of 1.6 million people is the coastal aquifer. Ghada Snunu of EWASH, a non-governmental organization that deals with water quality, says that 95 percent of the water in the coastal aquifer has dangerous levels of nitrates and chloride, often ten times what the World Health Organization recommends.

“Drinking this water is causing diarrhea among children and ‘baby blue syndrome’ in which it is difficult to transfer blood into tissues, making the baby blue,” she told The Media Line. “Children in refugee camps have an increase in water-born diseases because of the poor quality of the water.” more

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