Israel’s decision to double its water allocations to Gaza is a positive step forward, environmental experts said, but agreed that it is still far from sufficient to satisfy the territory’s needs, The Jerusalem Post reported Friday.
Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Maj.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai announced that Gaza would soon receive 10 million cubic meters of water per year instead of the current 5 million. The additional quantity is expected to begin flowing within the next week, a spokeswoman subsequently told The Jerusalem Post.
While water experts and environmental activists are widely praising Israel’s decision, many argue the increase is simply not enough.
“We congratulate the Israeli authorities for this important decision to double the supply of water to Gaza and call on them to complement this important move by further enlarging the quantity of water to Gaza by an additional 10 m.cu.m., to match the full capacity of their existing infrastructure,” said Gidon Bromberg, Israeli director of the regional environmental organization EcoPeace Middle East (formerly Friends of the Earth Middle East).
Doubling the amount of water flowing to Gaza is “an important step that will help the 1.8 million Palestinian residents of Gaza to overcome the severe shortage of potable water,” but much more can be done, the organization argued. Also critical, Bromberg said, is treating the sewage that is currently running raw into the groundwater.