Beginning to pump desalinated water from the Central plant to Deir al-Balah's reservoirs after raising production capacity to 6,000 m3 daily, funded by the Red Cross.
CMWU Begins Pumping Desalinated Water from the Central "Al-Bassa" Seawater Desalination Plant to Water Reservoirs in Deir al-Balah City
Gaza / CMWU
CMWU began pumping desalinated water from the Central seawater desalination plant to water reservoirs in Deir al-Balah city, central Gaza Strip, after completing the installation of the automatic operating program for the second production unit (3,400 cubic meters/day), funded by the International Committee of the Red Cross in cooperation with the Palestinian Water Authority, bringing the Central desalination plant's total production capacity to 6,000 cubic meters/day, with this quantity to be mixed at reasonable ratios with water from some medium-quality wells and then pumped into the city's water distribution network, which leads to improving the quality of water provided to residents of Deir al-Balah city.
This came during a visit by Deir al-Balah Municipality's Mayor — member of CMWU's Board of Directors — Mr. Diab Al-Jarou to the Central desalination plant, accompanied on this visit by his assistant Eng. Abdullah Nasrallah and the Director of CMWU's headquarters in the Central Governorate Eng. Radwan Abu Karim.
The visiting delegation was received by CMWU's Director-General Eng. Monther Shoblaq, his Deputy for Technical Affairs Eng. Omar Shatat, Eng. Marwan Al-Bardawil and Eng. Tawfiq Hamad from the Palestinian Water Authority, the plant's Director Eng. Mahmoud Al-Hims, and Eng. Ahmed Al-Rubai, the plant's Operations and Maintenance Director.
Eng. Monther Shoblaq welcomed the visiting delegation and affirmed the importance of operating this unit to increase the quantity of desalinated water produced and supply most residents of Deir al-Balah city with high-quality water, which will have a positive impact on the lives and health of Deir al-Balah's residents, also affirming the spirit of cooperation between CMWU, the Water Authority, and Deir al-Balah Municipality in order to serve the city's residents, and the importance of residents' commitment to paying their water bill in order to continue operating this plant and thereby sustain the improvement of water services for residents.
In turn, Eng. Marwan Al-Bardawil, representing the Water Authority, thanked all the parties participating in implementing this project and the spirit of cooperation and coordination that contributed to operating this unit to serve the residents of Deir al-Balah city, particularly the Red Cross, which funded this program, as well as the contractor's distinguished performance during the project's implementation, calling for continued cooperation between all parties in order to improve the collection rate through joint awareness programs for the residents of Deir al-Balah, in order to be able to secure the operating expenses of the desalination plant, particularly amid government support for the desalination plant's electricity consumption through the Palestinian Water Authority.
At the end of the meeting, the Municipality's Mayor thanked CMWU, the Water Authority, and the donor body for their efforts toward improving the quality of water for the residents of Deir al-Balah, affirming his municipality's keenness to work seriously to improve collection in order to pay the cost of producing desalinated water in cooperation with all relevant parties.
It is worth noting that CMWU oversaw and participated in constructing the three seawater desalination plants located along the Strip's coastal strip, in cooperation and coordination with the Palestinian Water Authority, as those plants effectively work to ease the water crisis and improve the water service provided to residents in various areas of the Gaza Strip, in addition to contributing to easing the burden on the groundwater aquifer, which represents the sole source of water in the Strip.
