Palestinian Water Authority Head Interviewed on “Tragic” Water Problem
Excerpt from report by privately-owned, pro-Fatah Palestinian daily newspaper Al-Quds on 6 May
[Interview with Dr Shaddad al-Atili, head of Palestinian Water Authority, by Muhammad Abu-Khudayr, date and place not given: "Water Situation in West Bank Is Tragic and in Gaza Strip It Is Disastrous; Israel Is in Control of Water Recourses and Proposes That We Buy Water Desalination Stations in Place of Our Water Rights"]
[Abu-Khudayr] Can you brief us on the water situation in the Palestinian territories? Let us start with the West Bank and then the Gaza Strip.
[Al-Atili] To tell the truth, it is no secret that the Palestinian water situation is a tragic one. The water issue is one of the final status issues. The Palestinian leadership pays as much attention to it as it does to the other basic final status issues in the negotiations on the settlements, borders, refugees, and Jerusalem – in addition to the water rights issue. As for our water situation, as long as there is no just solution by allocating water resources, whether surface or aquifer waters, the Palestinians will continue to manage a crisis, rather than manage the water resources. It is no secret that since its establishment, the State of Israel has controlled the tributaries of the Upper Jordan Valley. This was followed, after its establishment, in the early 1950s by the famous negotiations led by Eric Johnston, the envoy of US President Eisenhower. These negotiations were known as the shuttle negotiations and lasted from 1953 to1956. These negotiations were held between the Arab states, represented by the Arab League, and Israel via the US envoy. The negotiations focused on the water quotas in the basin of the Jordan Valley. As you well know, the West Bank was annexed to the East Bank of Jordan in 1950. The result of these negotiations led by Johnston was that the biggest share of water from the basin of the Jordan Valley was given to Jordan, including the Palestinian share of water. In the negotiations led by Johnston, the agreement on quotas was reached on a technical level. However, the Arab political leadership headed by Nasir did not endorse the Johnston Agreement because an Arab approval of the agreement would have meant recognition of the State of Israel, which was established on usurped Palestinian lands. During these negotiations between 1953 to1956, Israel proposed diverting the waters of the Jordan Valley from the Sea of Galilee to an area outside the basin, which was rejected by the Arabs. There was also talk about building two canals, the eastern valley canal and the western valley canal. When these negotiations failed, Israel started to take unilateral measures that included the diversion of the Jordan River waters by establishing its national diverter canal, which was completed in 1964. The work on it started in 1958 and it took six years to construct. The conflict over the Jordan Valley waters started when Israel diverted the Jordan Valley waters to the Negev under the pretext of irrigating the desert. The Arab states tried to divert the tributaries of the upper river, the Banyas River. This spurred clashes between Syria and Israel that ended in the 1967 war, after which Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Sinai, and the Golan Heights.
Full Israeli Control of the Water Resources
The current water situation is an off-shoot of the measures taken before 1967. Israel took control of the waters of the upper springs of the Jordan Valley and then built the national diverter canal after the failure of the Johnston mission. After that it occupied the Arab lands in 1967 and issued military orders dictating that the water resources are state property. During the first years of occupation, Israel issued these military orders, thus putting all the aquifers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip under its full control. It tightened its grip on the different water resources, cancelled the Jordanian and Egyptian laws referring to them, and annexed the waters to state-owned territories. In addition to this, the settlement activity started and the settlements began to spread into the occupied Palestinian territories. The settlers began to exploit the Palestinian waters and to build a water network to ensure the settlements’ continuity and consolidation.
As a result of this, the Palestinian side or the Palestinian people who were under occupation were not able to develop their water resources. If they wanted to dig a well, they had to go to the Israeli authorities to obtain a permit from the military governor. Thus, Israel controlled the natural water resources and did not develop the infrastructure during the years of occupation. Israel started its settlement activity as well as the building of a water network that included wells, pumps, and water networks to provide the settlements with water. Meanwhile, the Palestinian people experienced the tragedy of water consumption and scarcity as a result of the measures and constraints placed by the occupation. This situation continued until 1993 when the political situation changed following the reciprocal recognition between Israel and the PLO and the ensuing Oslo Agreement in 1995.
Recognition, But…
In 1995, Israel recognized the water rights of the Palestinian people in the West Bank. I would like to note here that it was good to snatch an Israeli recognition of these rights, but there was no mention either of the Jordan Valley or of the Gaza Strip. The latter was mentioned in one article only regarding supplying it with 5 million cubic metres of water during the transitional period. Article 40 of the Oslo Agreement on water and sewage water contains an Israeli recognition of the water rights, but the agreement stated that the current use of water should continue and that the Palestinians should be given the chance to develop a total of 80 million cubic metres during the transitional period and until the rights for water were negotiated. The allocation of quotas from the shared resources – the Jordan Valley and the joint aquifers – was postponed until the final status negotiations.
I am talking in the legal sense now when I say that the water resources are mutual. The international law states that when there are trans-border basins such as the Jordan Valley – which is a basin shared by Israel, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon – no party can take measures or build any projects without the agreement of the other parties. For example, diverting the water of the Jordan Valley resulted in the decrease of the water in the Dead Sea. After the building of the Daganiyah Dam on the Sea of Galilee, the Jordan River turned into a valley. After that Israel, as it is doing now, diverted the sewage water from the city of Tiberias down to the bottom of the lake, thus polluting the Lower Jordan Valley waters. In fact, there is no longer any water in that river, which is “the sacred river.” The water in it is saline because even the saline springs were diverted and hence the water in it is extremely salty. Sewage water has been diverted to the lower river since 1967. I only see this river when I cross the bridge to the Jordan River’s East Bank. As a result of the diversion, there has been a decrease in the amount of water in the Dead Sea. The other parties that have shores on the Dead Sea are negotiating with us on the reference conditions for a feasibility study on the benefits of the two-canal project, which we will talk about later.
I would like to return to the Oslo Agreement, Article 40, and what happened during the transitional agreement between the PLO and Israel that was supposed to last for five years and not 12, as the case is now. The Palestinians were given, as a temporary measure until the end of the final status negotiations, the right to use the amounts of water used during the occupation years – estimated at 118 million cubic metres in the West Bank – and to develop a total of 78 million cubic metres during the transitional period. Hence, the so- called Water Coordination Committee [WCC] was formed to implement Article 40 on the agreement’s third annex that focuses on water and sewage water. Israel hindered the implementation of the Palestinian projects in the West Bank by constantly vetoing the Palestinian water projects, so that Article 40 was not implemented as it was supposed to be, particularly with regard to providing additional quantities during the transitional period.
Stealing Money Too
We were supposed to be provided during the five years of the transitional period with close to 80 million cubic metres of water from the new wells. However, we went into complex procedures in the WCC. It is true that both sides have equal representation on the committee but when we look at its working mechanism, it becomes clear that it only focuses on Areas A and B as stipulated in the Oslo agreement. As for Area C, which constitutes 60 per cent of the territories in the West Bank, it falls under the control of the Israeli Civil Administration. Hence, the Palestinians have to first receive – after acquiring the money from the donor countries – a license for any project, for digging a well, or for building a network from the WCC if the project is implemented in Areas A or B. However, to start work on a project – such as wells, networks, pumps, pipelines, and so forth – in Area C, we need an agreement from the Israeli side. The same applies to sewage water treatment facilities, which is a big issue that we will talk about later. We had to go to Bayt Il to acquire licenses for the projects and in most cases the projects earmarked for Area C were turned down or they were approved after many years, [particularly after] 2003. Even then, they would put constraints on the design and delay the construction work.
Huge projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars – the cost of building one sewage water treatment facility and its networks costs between $10 million to $50 million – were rejected, which resulted in environmental and humanitarian problems with regards to water supply. We were supposed to build a sewage water treatment facility in Nablus and another in Tulkarm, in Wad al-Zawmar. The sewage water there pours in the direction of the Israeli territories across the Green Line. However, since there is no sewage water treatment facility, the sewage water pours into Israel, which then started holding us responsible for this. On the one hand, Israel rejected or hindered the building of the sewage water treatment facility, while at the same time it holds the PNA responsible for not treating it. Consequently, it started to deduct tens of millions of shekels – over 100 million shekels in total – from the custom taxes it collects for the Palestinians. This money was stolen illegally on the claim that the Palestinians are polluting the waters.
This will be one of the issues that we will follow up on with Israel, considering that there are funds allocated by the Germans to build the two facilities. We share the resources and Israel understood that these facilities should be built, but in 2003 Israel forced the Palestinians to commit themselves to the standards suitable to European and advanced countries, although these countries cannot comply with the standards and conditions to which Israel made us ourselves, which delayed the project. Germany allocated large funds, close to $45 million, to build these facilities but their standards were turned down by the Germans because even in Germany they cannot comply with the standards Israel imposed on us. This led to negotiations between the Palestinians, Germans, and Israelis. These negotiations between the Germans and Palestinians were concluded recently, at the end of last month [April], in Berlin. I was part of the Palestinian delegation, headed by Planning Minister Dr Samir Abdallah, that negotiated with the Germans. We discussed all the infrastructure projects, particularly the ones related to the treatment of sewage water in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. We agreed on the implementation mechanisms.
The priority for the Palestinian Water Authority [PWA] in this field will be to start the projects in Nablus and Tulkarm. All that is left is to sign the memorandum of understanding on this, based on what has recently been agreed with Israel regarding the amendment of the standards of the treatment facility in Nablus, which will allow Germany to start implementing the project. Some 10 million Euros were reallocated as additional aid to the funds already allocated in the past to start building the treatment facility in west Nablus. We proposed to the Germans two projects for building sewage water treatment facilities in Jenin and east Nablus and it was agreed that these will be projects for future cooperation. Now the implementation of the Wad al-Zawmar project and the other projects will begin. It was also agreed to start the rehabilitation the Shaykh Ajlin facility and Germany is committed to building a new and complete treatment facility when the situation allows this, as agreed.
Talking about the Palestinian-German negotiations, it was agreed to recommit 15 million Euros to implement water and sewage water network projects. The issue of the treatment facilities that the Germans are committed to support in Al-Birah, Ramallah, and Salfit was discussed in the meeting. Wad al-Zawmar and the sewage water that pours into it from the governorates of Nablus and Tulkarm is one of many issues. There are also the issues of the sewage water in Bir Nabala, Hebron, Jerusalem, and Wad al-Nar, which are similar to the situation in Tulkarm. This means that Israel, as an occupying power, did not develop the infrastructure in the occupied Palestinian territories although it collected taxes. It also prevents the Palestinians from developing the infrastructure in Area C using the aid given by the donor countries, because this area falls under the legal jurisdiction of Israel, which insists that no development of the infrastructure should be done there on the pretext that such development damages the settlement activity and that this should be negotiated in the final status negotiations.
Jordan Valley Is Military, Border Area
To return to the water situation, we said that we should get 80 million cubic metres of water based on the fact that we are developing the water resources and digging new wells. As for the Jordan Valley, it has been impossible for us to access that area since 1967, and I do not mean here only the PWA but rather the entire Palestinian people who are forbidden from reaching the Jordan River because it is considered a military and border area. An agreement on this area will be reached in the final status negotiations. In the meantime, we do not receive a single drop of the surface waters of the Jordan River. Now let us talk about the water resources from the aquifers. There are three major aquifers in the occupied West Bank, the most important of which is the western aquifer. From 1995 until this day, Israel has not allowed the Palestinians to dig a single well to use the waters of the western aquifer. It forced us to dig only in the eastern aquifer and in rare cases in the north-eastern aquifer, in parts of the governorates of Tubas and Jenin. Digging to reach this aquifer is expensive. To reach the water of the eastern aquifer – under the Governorate of Jericho and the Jordan Valley, and parts of the governorates of Tubas, Nablus, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Jerusalem, and Hebron – we have to dig 700 to 800 metres. The cost is high and the water is saline and requires treatment, which means that it costs the Palestinians a high price to receive the water. Israel forced us to dig in the eastern aquifer. So, what happened? We raised millions of dollars from the donor countries and started digging the wells. However, unfortunately now in 2008 – 12 years after the transitional period – we have not been able to develop the water resources and only receive 30 million cubic metres, which in the end did not give us anything extra – i.e., the new water resources that we developed have produced the same quantity of water we used to receive from the old wells and springs. This means that we receive the same quantity we used to receive from the springs and old wells. Whenever we dug a well to reach the water, Israel would dig deep wells that would affect our wells and dry up our springs, as was the case in Bardalah.
If the Israeli occupation was to allow us to dig in the area of the western aquifer, we would get purer and cheaper water. God willing, if we get our water rights, we will be in a good condition in the near and intermediate future. I would like to mention that, for example, the water of the western aquifer in Al-Latrun area is very different in quality. In addition, the cost of pumping the water out is lower than the water we get with great difficulty from the eastern aquifer. The water of the western aquifer is only 200 to 300 deep from the surface and has an artesian pressure, which means that merely by digging and reaching the aquifer, the water gushes out without needing any pumps and this water is of a high quality.
The Story of the Spring, Well
In 1995, in accordance with Article 40, we were given an average of 118 million cubic metres of water, but our share was supposed to be 118 million cubic metres in addition to 80 million cubic metres after the end of the transitional period. However, during the past 12 years and according to the statistics collected last year by the PWA, the quantity of water that the Palestinians consumed in the West Bank was 118 cubic metres only. We received money from the donor countries because we were forbidden to dig in the other aquifers, particularly in the western one. So we had to dig in the eastern aquifer. We have three explanations or questions about this. Where are the waters for which we dug and on which we spent large amounts of money? You go and see a large well, but in reality we receive from it the same amount of water we used to receive from the spring or well in its vicinity. The reason for this is that by digging the new well, we dried up this spring and received its waters from the well. Nonetheless, we call it a new well.
The second explanation is that there might be uncalculated numbers, i.e. the water pumped out from the illegal wells. As a result of the absence of a permanent solution to water, some people dug random or illegal wells of which the PWA has no knowledge and has no metres in them. This happens in Area C where the PNA has no control. As I have said before, we are managing a crisis rather than running the water sector. We have 118 million cubic metres of water that we want to distribute, but when someone comes and digs an illegal well in a town that needs water or illegally connects pipes to the network, we have neither control over this water nor knowledge of the quantities used. There are further water quantities that are either leaked or stolen. The third explanation for the fixed quantity that the Palestinians receive from the wells and springs is the changing climate and drought. The agreement was reached in 1995 but in 2005, 2006, and 2007 there was no heavy rain, which reduced the quantities of water pumped from the wells and received from the springs. This is the situation in the occupied West Bank. We need to note that the 118 cubic metres the Palestinians used in 1995 is the same quantity that they are consuming now, but the difference is that the population has increased and might have even doubled. This means that our water situation now is worse than it was in 1995 because if the available quantity then was supplied to 100 people, for example, it is now supplied to 50 people only.
Villages Without Water Networks
[Abu-Khudayr] How many villages in the occupied West Bank are not connected to water networks and do not receive water regularly?
[Al-Atili] The PWA reports show that around 220 population centres do not have access to water networks and depend on water tanks for water supplies. However, non-governmental organizations such as the Palestinian Hydrology Group, ARIJ, the House of Water and Environment, and others produced many reports on the population centres that do not have access to water services and those that do. The West Bank Water Department produces information on statistics and so does the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, which presents information on the population centres that have or lack water services. We in the PWA will work towards finding solutions as part of a strategy that will allow us to extend our water networks. However, we are seeking to find funding first so as to be able to provide the population centres with water.
Palestinian, Israeli Consumption
[Abu-Khudayr] If we were to compare the consumption rate of the Israelis with that of the Palestinians, what would the ratio be?
[Al-Atili] There are two matters. The first one regards the water quantity available to each side. The Palestinians have 118 million cubic metres available in the West Bank and close to 55 million cubic metres in Gaza. Despite this, we annually buy an average of 40 million to 45 million cubic metres from the Israeli water company Mekorot.
[Abu-Khudayr] If we were to compare the consumption of the Palestinian household to that of the Israeli one, what would be the ratio?
[Al-Atili] The average per capita consumption in Israel is four times greater than the Palestinian per capita consumption. The resources available to Israel are the Jordan River and the shared aquifers that are under its control. In both cases, there is the issue of the water rights to these two resources that is still unresolved. There are aquifers outside the West Bank and the Gaza Strip that Israel controls. In total there 2,500 million cubic metres of available water and Israel uses the 2,300 million cubic metres under its control. This quantity comes from the Jordan River, including the Palestinian share, and it currently uses water from the shared aquifers and the aquifers under exclusive Israeli control. There is also the treatment of sewage water, which is a resource that we do not forget. There is also the 130 million cubic metres that Israel desalinates, and it seeks to increase this to 380 million cubic metres by the end of the year, as reports produced by the Israeli Water Authority indicate. As for the water situation in Gaza, it is catastrophic. The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated areas in the world with 1.5 million people living on an area of 365 square kilometres. If we were to divide the numbers of the population into those 365 square kilometres, we would find that there are 4,000 to 5,000 people living on each square kilometre. In France, for comparison, 250 people live on each square kilometre. The people in Gaza are packed on top of each other and we as a Palestinian people double in numbers every 19 years.
Regarding the phenomenon of the illegal wells, there are more than 2,000 in Gaza. The reason that there are so many wells there is that it is easier to dig wells in Gaza than in the mountainous terrain of the West Bank, where it is necessary to dig to a depth of 700 metres. In Gaza, however, it is sufficient to dig down 30 to 50 metres. Thus, unfortunately, the phenomenon of random wells appeared. As the PWA in Gaza indicates, huge water quantities are pumped from these wells. What is happening is that the municipalities and the Coastal Water Department are provided with water from the 50 legal wells, the water in which comes from rainfall. However, when we continue pumping out water from the wells in an unorganized way and without any supervision, seawater starts to infiltrate and then mixes with the water in the wells, which increases its salinity. The water situation on the surface is catastrophic and we do not have any treatment facilities. Those that are there are not functioning, are too old, and need rehabilitation – which we discussed in Germany at the end of April, particularly with regard to the Shaykh Ajlin and Rafah facilities. According to PWA statistics, there is more than 30 million cubic metres of untreated sewage water that returns to the only basin in the Gaza Strip, the polluted Gaza Valley. This is the reason why diseases, particularly kidney and urinary tract-related illnesses, are very widespread in the Gaza Strip, because they are caused by the quality of water. We unfortunately remember the tragic incident that took place last year in Bayt Lahiyah, in the Bedouin village of Umm al-Nasr to be exact, when one of the sand barricades surrounding a sewage water collection pond – the little pond – collapsed, which caused the death of six people. We went to the World Bank, the Americans, and the Europeans who are all trying to prevent a catastrophe from happening in Bayt Lahiyah. Unfortunately, however, the current political situation, Israeli complications, and the ban on transferring the necessary material are threatening the people of Bayt Lahiyah with a catastrophe because there are 3 million cubic metres in the large pond and the sewage is leaking out of it. If the basin collapses, God forbid, a catastrophe will happen.
Freezing the US Projects
[Abu-Khudayr] Is Israel preventing the establishment of a water desalination facility in the Gaza Strip?
[Al-Atili] The United States has allocated $70 million for the building of a water desalination facility in Gaza and close to $30 million to establish the national water diverter canal in the Gaza Strip, but this was frozen in 2003, only to be unfrozen in 2005. Then the political situation changed and the projects in the Gaza Strip were frozen again. This is a tragic spiral that the world must help us solve. There are 1.5 million people and we need to resolve their water and sewage water problems. This solution should be based on our water rights in the Jordan River and the aquifers.
Originally published by Al-Quds, Jerusalem, in Arabic 6 May 08.
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