Water Resources
West Bank. At an average sustainable rate, the amount of renewable shared freshwater available throughout the entire Jordan Valley is roughly 2700 million cubic metres per year, which is composed of 1400 million cubic metres of groundwater and 1300 million cubic metres of surface water. However, only a fraction of this can be used by Palestinians in the West Bank. Israel has denied Palestinians access to the entire Lower Jordan River since 1967. After the start of Israel’s military occupation in 1967, Israel declared the West Bank land adjacent to the Jordan River a closed military zone, to which only Israeli settler farmers have been permitted access. Groundwater resources include two main aquifers: The highly productive mountain aquifer that slopes towards the more rainy West, and the less productive Eastern aquifer located under the drier part of the West Bank. Palestinians are not allowed to drill wells into the mountain aquifer. Most of its water thus flows underground towards the slopes of the hills and into Israeli territory. According to different estimates, between 80 and 85% of groundwater in the West Bank is used either by Israeli settlers or flows into Israel.
Gaza. The only source of water in the Gaza strip is the coastal aquifer, which is heavily overexploited resulting in seawater intrusion. The aquifer is thus polluted by salt as well as nitrate from wastewater infiltration and fertilizers. Only 5-10% of the aquifer yields drinking water quality.
Read more about this topic: Water Supply And Sanitation In The Palestinian Territories
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