Electricity crisis in Gaza ushers in water, sewage crises

General Director of the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU) Munther Shublaq warned yesterday of a near water and sewage crises in Gaza due to the continuous electricity crisis, Safa news agency reported.

In a press release, Shublaq said that the situation in Gaza deteriorated as the fuel offered by OCHA, which is needed to run the water and sewage plants, is running out.

He warned this would lead to a severe lack of running water, as well as sewage flooding the residential areas across Gaza, which has been under a 12-year Israeli siege.

Shubaq warned that the situation had already moved from the state of crisis to the “edge of a disaster,” citing deterioration of the water and sewage facilities in different areas across Gaza.

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The Palestinian official also noted that water and sewage plants in Gaza need at least 400,000 litres of industrial fuel in order to keep running.

He added that the “amount of untreated sewage pouring into the sea has increased due to irregular operation of the sewage plants,” noting this causes high levels of pollution and negatively affects the public health of Gazans who have no other place to swim rather than the sea.

Concluding his conference, Shublaq appealed to all international humanitarian and relief organisations and UN institutions to urgently intervene and provide adequate quantities of fuel to ease the crisis of power cuts in the Gaza Strip and enable the CMWU to continue their work.