CMWU and the Water Service Providers Union organize a three-day technical workshop for a delegation of West Bank water service providers, including field visits to Gaza projects.
CMWU and the Water Service Providers Union Organize a Technical Workshop in the Gaza Strip
CMWU, together with the Palestinian Water Service Providers Union, organized a technical workshop, the first of its kind, lasting three days in the Gaza Strip from 10-13/10/2016. The workshop was attended by Eng. Raed Samara, Executive Director of the West and South Bethlehem Services Council, Eng. Ra'iq Hamad, representing the Water and Sanitation Department at Tulkarm Municipality, Eng. Akram Nassar, Director-General of the Bethlehem Water and Sewage Authority, Eng. Hashem Nour of the Water and Sanitation Department at Anabta Municipality, and Eng. Ghazi Ayyad, representing the Water and Sanitation Department at Jericho Municipality.
The technical workshop began on its first day with a visit to the Sheikh Radwan reservoir, which has a capacity of 5,000 cubic meters of water and of which about 80% of the works have been completed, with the remaining part not yet begun due to strict measures by the Israeli side on bringing in the materials necessary to complete it, such as pipes and insulating materials, with CMWU having waited for the entry of these materials for more than three months.
The participating delegation then headed to CMWU's main headquarters in Al-Zahra city in the middle of the Strip, where they were received by Eng. Monther Shoblaq, Director-General and Chairman of the Board of the Water Service Providers Union, and the delegation was accompanied through the corridors of the recently opened building, where the smooth distribution of offices was noted, and the delegation was introduced to CMWU's crews and its various departments.
On the second day, the delegation was accompanied by Eng. Mo'taz Abu Al-Qumbuz, Head of the Design and Sanitation Section, and Eng. Zaidan Dahman, Director of the Subscriber Services Department, on a field tour during which a number of projects implemented by CMWU were visited, with the tour beginning with a visit to the main sewage pumping station for the middle area in Al-Nuseirat and the temporary treatment plant in Wadi Gaza, which operates using biological treatment basins, after which the delegation headed to visit the seawater desalination plant, which aims to produce 2,000 cubic meters of desalinated water daily to serve the western areas of Khan Younis and Rafah, after which the site of the rainwater collection and filtration basins project in Al-Amal neighborhood in Khan Younis was visited, where a meeting was held with the project's director, who gave the delegation a detailed explanation of the project's components, stages, and most important elements, and Eng. Mo'taz Abu Al-Qumbuz explained the project's importance in terms of working to save low-lying areas in Khan Younis city from rainwater accumulation, in addition to benefiting from rainwater and injecting it into the groundwater aquifer and working to raise its level and benefiting from the collected water. The delegation concluded its field visits with a visit to the sewage treatment plant in Rafah city and CMWU's headquarters in the city, and a meeting with the headquarters director Eng. Mohammed Al-Abwaini, who gave the delegation a detailed explanation of CMWU's method of operation in the city and the most important problems facing the development of the service, foremost among them the energy problem and its recurring outages, and the large quantities of diesel consumed by water and sanitation facilities as they operate almost continuously relying on electrical generators, in addition to the difficult economic situation resulting from the siege and the closure of crossings, which greatly affects billing collection rates and significantly increases indebtedness.
On the third day, the union held its second session at CMWU with its Director-General, discussing a number of topics of common interest. After ending the session, CMWU completed the workshop, where Eng. Maher Al-Najjar, Deputy Director-General for Planning Affairs, gave a presentation on CMWU's projects and the Utility's strategic plan for the coming years, then Eng. Ashraf Mushtaha, Director of the Environmental Affairs and Geographic Information Systems Department, gave a lecture on developing geographic information systems at CMWU and the mechanism for handling data related to water and sanitation facilities and CMWU's subscribers and how to link it with external data related to water and sanitation, with these efforts published on a website that allows the public to benefit from them in this field, which is gis.cmwu.info, allowing any employee, resident, donor, or institution to access this information. In conclusion, Eng. Zaidan Dahman gave a lecture on the mechanisms for developing the relationship between CMWU and the municipalities of the Gaza Strip, and Dahman spoke about the technical, administrative, and financial relationship between the Utility and the municipalities, and addressed the story of the complete transfer of the water and sanitation department of Rafah Municipality from the Municipality to CMWU, and the Utility's plan to preserve and make this experience successful, in preparation for extending it to the rest of the municipalities.
Dahman addressed the challenges facing the Utility from electricity outages, the continuous change in mayors, and the lack of funding, and spoke about CMWU's general goal, which is achieving financial sustainability through enhancing collection efficiency and increasing the Utility's financial resources.
At the end of the visit, the union's delegation expressed its happiness at visiting the Gaza Strip and its thanks to CMWU, represented by its Director-General and all its employees, for the warm welcome, hoping for the repetition of such visits and more cooperation between water service providers in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank to develop water and sanitation services in Palestine.
