August 13th, 2015, 5:47 pm
2013Quote Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH): OCHA has reported an acute shortage of fuel to power standby generators at all 291 water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in Gaza. One quarter of the population living in Gaza City, Rafah and Jabaliya now receives fresh water only once every four days, for six to eight hours at a time. Overall water consumption in Gaza has fallen from 90 to 40 litres per day per capita. In addition, the increasing inability to operate generators has resulted in the flooding of sewage and the release of 90 million litres of untreated wastewater into the sea every day. Tens of thousands of untreated sewage have been spilled in various locations. This has affected at least 3000 people who are exposed to increased public health risks, including diarrhoea.- Hospitals are also suffering from a lack of fuel, as they are struggling to keep generators running and are postponing surgical operations in order to save energy. Meanwhile, as a result of the frequent closure of the Rafah border crossing by the Egyptian authorities the number of patients crossing the border to Egypt since July 2013 has decreased dramatically.- In addition, other basic services such as transport, availability of cooking gas and the provision of educational services have also been affected by the fuel crisis. Garbage-collection vehicles are running at half capacity, exposing the civilian population to increased public health impact of the accumulation of solid waste.As a result of over-abstraction of water from the aquifer ? the principal water source in Gaza ? the groundwater level has been sinking. This causes salty seawater to seep in, rendering 90% of the aquifer?s water unsafe for drinking without treatment. According to a UN study, the aquifer may become unusable by 2016 and damage to it may be irreversible by 2020.
Last edited by
Cuchulainn on August 12th, 2015, 10:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.