|
|
15 March 2006.Jamal Abu Hatab is the driver of a small truck in Jenin. He tankers water to people’s homes. The man who owns the water well that Jamal uses is Aref Abboushi, and he is selling the water for 33 cents for one 1 cubic meter. Jamal charges $ 1.52 per cubic meter to cover the cost of transportation. If village councils in the area were to deliver water, the price will drop to $ 1.09, but in many cases the needed water pipe system is either non-existent or very old. Each tankering truck will hold 4 cubic meters, enough for an average household. The water well of Aref Abboushi goes back to 1960. Jamal drives his truck in the narrow streets of Jenin and water is dripping. When Khitam Abu El-Rub sees the truck approaching her home, she comes out and she gets a ladder so she can climb to the rooftop. Khitam said: “we have no well and we need to drink. This is tiresome, of course, when I have to carry water all the time. Ten people live in the house, including 8 children ranging from less than 1 year old to 17 years old. The tanker costs $ 6.52 and this is expensive.” The truck carries enough water to supply Khitam’s family for 10 – 12 days for everything: showers, washing, and cooking, etc. The family has been living that way all their lives. Sometimes they have little money, so families in the area purchase one truck-load of water and they share it. In Jalboun, a small village of 2,200 people, rain water is harvested on rooftops, channeled to wells, then it goes to containers on rooftops. The Head of the Village Council, Mohammad Abu El-Rub, says there is ground water in the area, but it is taken by the Israelis. Now, he said, there is only some water shortage during the rain season, but “we have to tanker water all the time during the summer.” People tell him they cannot pay their water bills because they are so poor. There is a school for boys and another school for girls in Jalboun, and when they run out of water the Village Council comes to their rescue. The village clinic opens three days per week, and it receives water from the nearby kindergarten that has a well. Abu El-Rub said: “We try to conserve water, and people are not planting trees in their gardens.” In order to help the people, the Jalboun Village Council is selling water at $ 15 for a tank of eight cubic meters. The commercial cost is $ 22. In Jalboun the family of Imad Fayez lives in a one room home that is 150 years old, and they rely on the water in their cistern for two months during winter. The rest of the year they have to buy water. There are 7 people in the home, and Imad has not been working for almost one year now. He is bedridden and he has no money to pay his water bills. He has amassed a bill of $ 870 during the years, an impossible sum for him to pay. Imad lost his land of 10 dunums behind the separation Wall Israel is building in the West Bank, where he used to grow wheat and he had some olive trees. In Jalboun unemployment is 60%. There are 18 persons working for the Palestinian Authority, 10 – 12 persons have permits to work in Israel, and 20 persons are drivers and shop owners. Ali Khatib was visiting Imad. Ali said: “I am married and I have four children. I am 51 years old. I live inhumane conditions and I want the opportunity to go and work.” The smell of cowsheds from Mirav settlement is reaching Jalboun. There are three settlements on the land of Jalboun. Sabah Raddad, 33, in the village of Saida, near Tulkarem, has 30 members in her family and they are drinking from one cistern. Sabah’s husband is a construction worker but he is rarely employed. During military closures the tanker truck is not allowed, so the family runs out of water. In such cases Sabah has to carry water from the neighbors. Sabah has kidney problems and migraine headaches, and her elderly mother-in-law is dependent on her for bringing water. The family’s water cistern needs repair. Sabah hopes that one day there will be enough water in Saida and everybody will be happy and saving money. 3,500 people are living in Saida. There is 40% unemployment. Those lucky to find a job are working in agriculture and poultry. People used to work in Israel. Sometimes the people go to nearby villages and rent a piece of land where there is water and they grow vegetables. There is an old water well in the fields, so the people go there on donkeys during the summer to bring water to Saida. There are military incursions almost every day, and the people are saying that sometimes the soldiers throw explosives in the wells. CARE is carrying out a project that will bring water to Saida. Sufian Shadid, Head of the village Council of Allar, Tulkarem, said that since the Wall was built unemployment went up to 70%. There are 7,500 residents in his village and for some 40 years now they are suffering because of the water shortage. Approximately 20 children go to the clinic per month because of water pollution, because rain water is collected from open area that is subject to dust, animals, and bird manure. Allar has a high rate of diarrhea and ameba among children. Sometimes the people have to go to the clinic in Tulkarem 18 kilometers away. Sufian Shadid is saying that “CARE’s work is making the people here very happy. The municipality is working with CARE to dig wells for collecting rain water. 20 wells for approximately 200 families have been dug. This is making our living conditions much easier after we lost our livelihood, Shadid added, and he said that “we are located over the western aquifer but we are not allowed to dig.” For Fatmeh Samara, 70 years old, better known as Un Tawfic, she is saying that before the water well was dug through CARE in Allar, she had to borrow water from the neighbors. 15 family members benefit from the well in Un Tawfic’s home, including her children and grandchildren. The water well in the home of Um Tawfic is enough for six months during winter, so she has to purchase water during the summer. She has to buy the load of two tanker trucks per month for a total of $ 70. Un Tawfic is thankful to CARE for the well in her yard. Now the children can shower, and we can wash clothes, cook, and clean, she said. In the village of Ateel the problem is somewhat different. There is a water network but it is 28 years old, and 35% of the water is lost to leakage. The Head of the Village Council, Abdallah Kreineh, has on his desk a rustic piece of water pipes from one part of the network that was replaced. Kreineh is saying the number of leaks from the system was reduced to 5 or 7 leaks per day. In 1999, he said, there were 200 cases of ameba in one month, but now we have 5 to 10 cases after some of the leaks were repaired and the water is somewhat clean. Ateel needs a sewage system but no funding is available. The Ministry of Health sent a letter to the village council asking that the contaminated water well be closed. According to Dr. Husam Madi from the Tulkarem Health Department, “we have a very serious problem in Ateel because the ground water is becoming contaminated. We have one well entirely polluted with harmful bacteria. Now we are worried that other wells will be contaminated too and Ateel will have no drinking water. Also we are afraid because of the rusty pipes.” Dr. Madi added that “it is very difficult to get rid of ameba once it gets in people’s bodies, and it keeps creating problems as they grow up.” Perhaps Madhat Abu El-Fayyeh is suffering the most from the leaking sewage in Ateel. Sewage from his neighbor’s septic tank is leaking right beneath his home, so the walls are saturated and smelly, and there is no way his children can play in the garden. Madhat has five children and they are suffering from fever repeatedly. The family has been living that way for almost eight years now and they cannot afford to move. “Our drinking water is contaminated,” he said, “and I’m worried that my house will collapse.” According to Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Tamimi, head of the Palestine Hydrology Group, a local NGO, the problem is that water is managed politically, and not socially, economically, environmentally, or technically. On 7 June 1967, one day after the Occupation, military order number 92 was issued and it considered all water resources as governmental, and water information was classified as top secret. Al-Tamimi added that now, more than 30% of Palestinians do not have running water, 18% have pipes but there is no water, and more than 60% are water insecure. Average water consumption is 140 cubic meters per capita for all purposes, including agriculture and industry. Tamimi concluded his remarks by saying “that water can be the main factor for peace. Peace can lead to more water. You need goodwill to solve the water problem.” |
   |