Date : 21/3/2010

RAMALLAH, March 21,2010 (WAFA)- The Palestinian Central Bureau of
Statistics (PCBS) said in a press release on the occasion of World
Water Day, March 22, that the quantity of Water Purchased From the
Israeli Water Company (Mekorot) for Domestic Use in 2009 was 47.4
Million m3.

World Water Day 2010 will be celebrated by the UN to highlight issues
concerning water quality, reflecting its importance alongside water
quantity in water management.

In 1978 Israel was able to control the waters of the Hasbani River,
which feeds Lake Tiberias, and established settlements in the
Palestinian Territory located directly above the water basins in the
West Bank, especially in the Jordan Valley. Israel has prevented the
Palestinians from accessing their additional water allotment which was
established in the Oslo II agreement, amounting to 80 million m3.

Perhaps the strangest of these actions made by Israel is that, at a
time when water is withdrawn from the Palestinian Territory to provide
Israeli cities, Israel sells the surplus to the Palestinians. The
preliminary data from the Palestinian Water Authority indicated that
the amount of water purchased for domestic use from the Israeli Water
Company (Mekorot) in 2009 amounted to 47.4 million m3 in the West Bank
(excluding those parts of Jerusalem which were annexed by Israel in
1967). An additional issue is the excessive depletion of groundwater
in the Palestinian Territory.

The results of the Domestic Environment Survey 2009 showed that 88.4%
of households in the Palestinian Territory live in housing units
connected to a public water network, distributed as 84.5% in the West
Bank and 95.8% in Gaza Strip. This indicates that there is an increase
in the proportion of households living in housing units connected to
the network, compared with 84.8% of households in 1999. The percentage
of households in the Palestinian Territory in 2009 depending on
household water wells reached 5.7% of households.

The future of water resource management must be in the shared
management of a large part of the water sources, but the fact is that
water resource management in the Palestinian Territory is under
Israeli occupation.

The majority of Palestinian water resources are shared with one or
more neighboring countries. There are five countries sharing in the
Jordan River Basin: Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the
Palestinian Territory, which has been the subject of lengthy
negotiations which has lasted for decades.

In 1964, Israel began to use the waters of the Jordan River without
taking into account the rights of the countries sharing in the Jordan
River Basin, draining Lake Hula, and diverting the Jordan River. In
1967 Israel took control of the southern part of the Jordan River, to
the detriment of Arab agricultural land along the sides of the river.

Data of the domestic environment survey 2009 revealed that 48.1% of
the households in the Palestinian Territory consider the water quality
as good. This percentage was higher in the West Bank at 72.2%,
compared to Gaza Strip at 6.8%. In contrast 28.2% of Palestinian
households (7.4% in the West Bank and 63.8% in Gaza Strip) consider
the water to be of bad quality because of the high salinity in water
and water pollution due to wastewater contamination.

According to the Water Statistics Report 2008 the annual available
water quantity in the Palestinian Territory (excluding those parts of
Jerusalem which were annexed by Israel in 1967) was 308.7 million m3.
Data also show that the quantity of water supplied for domestic use in
the Palestinian Territory was 185.5 million m3 in 2008, and that the
daily allocation per capita of the supplied water for domestic use in
the Palestinian Territory was 132.9 (liter/capita/day). It reached
only 45.5 (liter/capita/day) in Jenin Governorate.

Connection of Economic Establishments and Health Care Centers to the
Public Water Network The results of the economic environment survey
2009 showed that 92.0% of the establishments in the Palestinian
Territory obtained their water from the public water network; these
establishments consumed about 3.1 million m3 of water.

In contrast, 96.6% of the health-care centers obtained their water
from the public water network; these centers consumed about 208
thousand m3 of water
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