Dec. 19, 2017
SALFIT (Ma’an) — The Union of Agricultural Work Committees held a workshop titled “the water reality of Salfit, challenges and horizons”, in cooperation with the Municipality of Salfit, to maintain water resources and facilitate access to it.

Forty representatives of all members in the water sector in Salfit and the Palestinian Water Authority attended the workshop.

Speakers pointed out the importance of cooperation between all parties to promote the water sector that is considered the base of the conflict with the Israeli occupation aside from the land.

Engineer Omar Zayid from the Water Authority clarified that the nature of the water crisis that the water sector in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is facing and the extent of the Israeli dominance over the sector condemning that the occupation does not allow digging artesian wells in the Salfit district that lies over a big water zone.

The Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture, represented by engineer Labib Obeid, spoke of the agricultural water and the importance of expanding the agricultural zone in the district.

Engineer Saleh Affaneh from the Municipality of Salfit spoke of the water crisis that the district suffers from, especially that the infrastructure of water networks in Salfit goes through areas under Israeli control which obstructs maintenance to these networks, therefore increases the amount of lost water due to damaged networks.

Environmental specialist Ashraf Zuhd spoke of environmental pollution that is caused by Israeli ordnance pointing out that the district faces two types of pollution; one caused by the largest Israeli industrial zone in the West Bank the “Barkan settlement”, and the second is caused by sewage water.

Engineer Muhammad Mutawe of the UAWC spoke of the civil institutions’ role of promoting and managing the water sector in Palestine.

Recommendations were taken then, which all agreed on the importance of joining efforts of private and public institutions to promote and develop the water sector in Palestine.

These activities come under the frame of a project for improving the living conditions of small-scale farmers in Salfit by facilitating their access to water resources in the district; the project is funded by the Municipality of Madrid and is executed by the UAWC and the Fundacion Promocion Socialand in cooperation with the Palestinian Ministry of Agricutlure and the Salfit Municipality.

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