Fears of drinking water contamination in Jerusalem

Palestinian and Israeli residents in nine Jerusalem neighbourhoods were warned by Israel’s Ministry of Health and the Gihon Water Company on Wednesday to be cautious of drinking tap water because of fears it might be contaminated.

The nine neighbourhoods include: Abu Tor, Silwan, Zur Baher, Ras Al-Amud, the Old City, Musrara, Wadi Qadoum, Jabal Al-Mokabber, Im-Lison and Im-Tuba. About 150,000 people are estimated to be living in the affected areas.

Gihon and the Ministry of Health started testing the water on Wednesday and all residents living in the affected areas were instructed to drink bottled water until further notice.

According to Israel’s Channel 7 News, Gihon’s CEO Zohar Yanon said: “Gihon is running tests in coordination with the Water Authority, the Jerusalem Municipality and the Ministry of Health, in order to bring life back to normal as soon as possible.”

Residents of the affected areas reported the problem after they noticed unusual tastes and smells coming from the tap water.

Israeli media sources reported that preliminary results indicate the incident is not related to terrorism, but due to possible leakage of treated wastewater into the drinking water.

However, the exact cause has yet to be confirmed.