A press statement warning of a decline in water and sanitation services due to the worsening electricity crisis and the discharge of about 110,000 m3 of untreated sewage to the sea daily.
Press Statement..
CMWU Warns of the Step of the Electricity Crisis on Water and Sanitation Services in the Gaza Strip.
CMWU announces that with the electricity crisis in the Gaza Strip returning to worsen again, coinciding with the shutdown of the sole generation plant, and the return to operating on a schedule of six hours of connection against twelve hours of outage, the electricity crisis, which casts its shadow over all aspects of life in the Gaza Strip, has begun to negatively affect its capabilities to continue providing the minimum level of water and sanitation services to residents in the Strip, and creates major crises such as water outages for long periods exceeding 4 days in numerous areas, in addition to the decline in the capabilities of CMWU and the municipalities to collect, pump, and treat sewage water.
In light of the worsening crisis, we affirm the following:
First: CMWU affirms that the renewed electricity outage crisis warns of a real crisis that will lead to a major decline in the quality of basic services provided to residents.
Second: All of CMWU's and the municipalities' facilities and works are primarily linked to electrical power, and the continuation of this crisis will lead to reducing the operation of numerous water wells and water pumping stations to 60% and desalination plants to 80% of their capacity, and near-total paralysis in the sewage collection, pumping, and treatment operations, amid the need for 400,000 liters of fuel monthly, in addition to the unavailability of spare parts for electricity generators, which warns of health and environmental problems that may have grave consequences.
Third: The inability to treat sewage water in general will lead to pumping about 110,000 cubic meters daily of untreated sewage water directly to the sea coast, which will lead to preventing swimming in the sea this season, the only outlet for the residents of the besieged Gaza Strip for more than ten years.
Stemming from our responsibility towards residents of the Gaza Strip and out of keenness to continue providing our services to the fullest, we affirm the necessity of combining all efforts, to find an urgent and permanent solution to this recurring crisis, given the environmental and health disasters it causes should it worsen.
We also appeal to all international humanitarian and relief institutions and UN-affiliated agencies for urgent intervention to provide appropriate quantities of fuel to ease the electricity outage crisis in the Gaza Strip and enable the Utility and the municipalities to continue operating their vital facilities and providing their services to residents and supplying them with the necessary quantities of water for all aspects of life, and preventing an imminent health, environmental, and humanitarian catastrophe from occurring.
CMWU
Gaza Strip - Palestine
