CMWU discusses winter season preparedness plans and reviews seawater desalination projects in Deir al-Balah and northern Gaza.
CMWU Discusses the Plans and Budgets Necessary for the Winter Season and Reviews Seawater Desalination Projects
Eng. Monther Shoblaq, CMWU's Director-General, chaired a monthly meeting including the directors of the Utility's various departments and specialized engineers, and attendees discussed during the meeting numerous topics and matters related to projects and their progress, the most important of which was operating the seawater desalination plant south of Deir al-Balah, which will supply the western areas of Rafah and Khan Younis cities, and the desalination plant northwest of Gaza city, and the problems and difficulties facing sewage water treatment were also reviewed, the most prominent of which was the continuous, long electricity outages, which negatively affect the operational efficiency of all water and sanitation facilities without exception.
The engineers in the Sanitation and Rainwater Operation and Maintenance Department also reviewed the plans and proposed works to prepare for the winter season and the efforts made to secure the necessary budgets for their implementation and to facilitate the entry of spare parts and equipment due to the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip, with the plans including cleaning and preparing rainwater collection ponds and about 8,000 sewage and rainwater manholes, cleaning sewage treatment plants, and maintaining sewage pumps in many governorates of the Strip, and also included providing and distributing additional quantities of fuel for sewage treatment plants and rainwater collection ponds and replacing and maintaining some generators depleted as a result of continuous operation due to the repeated, long electricity outages.
CMWU had already begun implementing some works related to preparing for the winter season according to its available capabilities, having distributed 17 pumps after inspecting them and carrying out the necessary maintenance for them, for use in areas threatened with flooding in the event of heavy rainfall, with 3 fixed pumps distributed at the Jemeza Al-Sabeel, Al-Najili, and Tal Al-Sultan Rafah pumping stations, and the rest distributed at other sites in the various governorates, with the Utility retaining 7 mobile pumps for use in emergencies.
It is worth noting that CMWU had completed, at the end of last winter season, several important works in this context, including widening and cleaning the Wadi Al-Salqa channel over a length of 3 kilometers, laying networks over a length of 3,000 meters, and installing 170 manholes.
