Reporting of Federici Studies Center
Thirsty Palestine
Having running water at home in the Palestinian Territories is not at all obvious or normal.
Neither in the West Bank nor in the Gaza Strip. For multiple reasons. Some testimonies from Bethlehem.
Observing the landscape around Beit Sahour, urban center east of Bethlehem, the cisterns on top of the houses allow Palestinian homes to be distinguished from buildings that are part of Jewish settlements. This is explained by the locals who every day deal with the problem of water shortage. The tanks on the houses are useful, Indeed, to conserve water or collect rain, but not all homes need it. In the West Bank, water is distributed differently from house to house, at a distance of a few meters from each other. To overcome the inconveniences of the water emergency, the population does its best, but the problem of resource management remains an open wound that shows no signs of healing, indeed it is "an obstacle to peace", as the BBC defined it.
According to the Palestinian Water Authority, il 95 percent of Palestinian water supplies are found in aquifers (there are three underground basins). Surface water, that could theoretically be available, instead it comes from the floods of the wadis (seasonal streams), from the possible desalination of the waters of the Dead Sea and the Jordan River. None of these resources, However, it is in fact usable by the Palestinians.
Dal 1967, Indeed, they are prevented from taking water from the Jordan, while for the Dead Sea (which is shrinking), even if water could be drawn, desalination plants should be provided, currently non-existent. The use of water resources coming from the flooding of the wadis is also problematic, due to the high costs and lack of permits from Israel, which occupies the Territories. Permits are also essential for Palestinians to build aqueducts, which also suffer limitations with regard to the construction of wells (they cannot dig beyond the 140 meters deep).
To date, water management is almost completely centralized and under the control of Mékorot, the Israeli company that also manages its distribution in the West Bank. 80 percent of the resources are controlled by Israel, that from 1995 has progressively privileged, in the water supply, the Jewish settlements present in the Territories.
The Palestinians operate a secondary water network, which is, but, obsolete and has a lower water carrying capacity; it is inefficient to the point that more than 40 percent of the liquid is lost or becomes polluted. An important source of water supply remains, At that time, that of rainwater collection, to which is added the purchase of water transported by tankers, often very expensive.
The situation in Gaza is even more difficult, given that the Strip can only use the water reserves present on its territory and the 97 percent of groundwater is not drinkable, due to very high pollution rates.
The effects of this dramatic emergency are numerous inconveniences for the population and serious damage to agriculture, which represents the main economic resource of the Palestinians.
The difficult climatic situation creates wider-ranging inconveniences, not only in the Territories, but throughout the region. Over the last four years of drought, the level of Lake Tiberias has progressively fallen, in Israel. Even underground aquifers, source of fresh water, they are slowly increasing in salinity. The situation is so worrying that the Israeli government had envisaged cuts of more than 50 percent on water consumption for 2018, but strong protests from farmers led him to back down.
For any Westerner, having unlimited water available is not considered a privilege, but normality. In Bethlehem, Instead, water is received in shifts: once or twice a month, or one day a week, more in winter than in summer or vice versa. It depends on the progress of the season and various other factors. It follows that, if the inhabitants want to have the opportunity to drink, washing and cooking, must use cisterns to collect and store rainwater. These systems obviously require maintenance and interventions, which not everyone has the ability to support financially. The result is that today many use polluted water, stored in rusty cans or are forced to ask family or neighbors for help to do laundry or for everyday needs. They are stories of daily hardship. Like Leila's, that for 38 years he hasn't had the opportunity to have hot water in the house. Sitting on the sofa in her small apartment in Bethlehem, with walls and ceilings stained by humidity, Leila talks about her life: six children, economic difficulties and her husband's long illness. The days – recalls Leila – they all started the same way: boiling a large pot of water to wash the children. And in the family the water from the cistern, even though it wasn't clean, they all drank it anyway, because they had no money to buy any. Then the children grew up, her husband has passed away and the time of old age has arrived for Laila too. «Lately I couldn't lift the pot of water up the steps that lead to the bathroom. So I asked for help and for a few months it's been much better", explains. Two solar panels and a tank to heat water have changed his morning routine. He will continue to go to the senior center he frequents, he will welcome his grandchildren into his home, but he will no longer have to boil water in the pot every morning.
It was Naila who responded to Leila's request for help, empathetic woman, with patience to spare and extraordinary listening skills. Naila is a social worker who has worked among the people of Bethlehem for years: that's why when she passes everyone greets her. «I was very surprised that Leila, which I already knew, had never had hot water for all those years – says Naila -. How could this happen?».
It's a question that often comes up here, if you think of other uncomfortable situations. There are those, come Shereen, she has no water to wash clothes or for her child to drink. This young Christian, who lives in the historic center of Bethlehem, not far from the Church of the Nativity, He describes his situation to us, while the son sleeps in the next room. Inside her there are two more twins on the way. «In the past years our neighbors have helped us a lot – explains Sheeren -. We asked them for water, because it only comes to us every twenty days in winter and once a month in summer". The situation was so critical that Sheeren was forced to take them to her parents' house to wash her clothes. After some maintenance work, the possibility of using a well, built in the 1950s under his home, it made things better. Also helping Shereen further were two solar panels and a jerry can, recently installed to allow you to have hot water.
What it means to live for years with undrinkable water from the taps in your home, Joseph and Renée also know this well. The two elders, who live in the historic center of Bethlehem, they have lived in the same apartment for thirty years. Two new cisterns and solar panels for hot water have recently simplified the couple's life. Running water comes from them in summer every two weeks and in winter about every ten days. The cistern they had installed thirty years ago was now completely rusty. «If you saw what's in that cistern, you'd be scared" reveals Joseph. Renée explains how they kept going: «We bought water for drinking and cooking. Transporting the bottles was not easy". The problem was that the two elderly people could not face the financial commitment necessary to change the tank, having spent all their savings on Joseph's heart operation. Today the elderly couple has access to drinking water and their quality of life has improved. Thanks to an intervention by Ats Pro Terra Sancta, the NGO of the Custody of the Holy Land.
And: Echo of the Holy Land, n. 3 of the 2018, May-August, http://www.terrasanta.net/
