CMWU completes its preparations for the winter season with support from the Norwegian Refugee Council, UNICEF, and the Red Cross, through network maintenance and distributing emergency equipment.
Supported by the Norwegian Refugee Council, UNICEF, and the Red Cross
CMWU Completes Its Preparations to Receive the Winter Season..
CMWU - Gaza Strip
As part of its continuous efforts to provide the best services to residents, CMWU is completing its preparations to receive the winter season, with the Utility's Director-General Eng. Monther Issa Shoblaq meeting with a number of members of the committee specific to following up on the winter season preparedness file, which includes a number of specialized engineers and department and division directors at CMWU.
Eng. Monther Shoblaq affirmed the Utility's keenness for the coming winter season to be better than previous seasons, by mobilizing efforts to avoid any problems that might lead to harming residents as a result of rainwater during the winter season, reviewing the plan set by the Utility through its various crews, which includes numerous mechanisms and procedures for dealing with rain and how to confront the risks that might result from it, by benefiting from the experiences of previous years, and working to provide and increase the capabilities, materials, and equipment needed for that, and exerting maximum effort to protect residents from any potential damage.
Eng. Mohammed Al-Abwaini, Director of the Utility's regional headquarters in Rafah, also explained that CMWU has, thank God, succeeded in solving most of the problems resulting from rainwater accumulation in most areas of Rafah governorate, particularly the areas most prone to those problems, such as Al-Jineina, Ubaida, and Jamizat Al-Sabeel areas, and other areas that used to be damaged by rain in previous seasons, with all maintenance works for the networks and pumps completed and the efficiency of the vehicles used during the rainfall period ensured, with the Utility having made strenuous efforts during the past year and the current year to complete these projects and plans, with support and funding from numerous donor bodies such as the World Bank and under the supervision of the Palestinian Water Authority.
While Eng. Firas Abu Nqira, Director of the Sewage and Rainwater Department at the Utility's headquarters in Rafah, noted that the specialized crews are continuing their work to the fullest in all areas of Rafah governorate, and continuing night with day to carry out the routine and emergency relief interventions, and following up on the progress of work on all the projects that serve the rainwater drainage system and its re-filtration to strengthen groundwater, to prevent residents' homes from being damaged as a result of rainfall, ensuring a safe winter for all residents of the governorate.
In turn, Eng. Omar Shatat, Deputy Director-General for Technical Affairs, noted that the Utility's crews continue to complete all the procedures needed to receive the coming winter season, in cooperation with numerous supporting bodies such as the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), which supported the project to distribute winter emergency equipment and clothing to workers in the water and sanitation sector in all the Gaza Strip's municipalities, considered one of the necessary projects to ensure workers carry out their role to the fullest during work in the winter season amid difficult weather conditions, and ensure the availability of the equipment needed to continue providing the service in all governorates of the Strip.
In the same context, Eng. Mahmoud Al-Qudra, Director of the Sanitation and Rainwater Department at CMWU, affirmed the continuation of the procedures specific to inspecting and maintaining water and sanitation networks and preparing all stations and pumps, as well as maintaining and distributing mobile pumps and vacuum trucks to all the Strip's municipalities, which are used to pump out water that might cause the transmission lines to become blocked during the fall of large quantities of rain in the winter season, with this coming as part of the winter season preparedness project funded by UNICEF and the International Committee of the Red Cross, with the Utility also distributing sufficient quantities of diesel fuel used to operate the backup electricity generators and the rest of the other vehicles.
