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STORY: UNICEF / GAZA CLEAN WATER SHORTAGE
TRT: 2:41
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNICEF ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 01 AUGUST 2024, GAZA
01 AUGUST 2024, DEIR AL-BALAH, GAZA STRIP
1. Various shots, in Al Korban camp in Deir al-Balah, people are gathered around a UNICEF water truck to get clean drinking water. Internally displaced people in the camp use jerry cans and other containers to fill up with water and carry it back to their tents.
2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Nehal Al-Fayoumy, 28 Years Old, Mother:
“The situation here is horrible; this is not normal living. We don't have clean water, enough food, or proper drinking water. We can't even sleep properly like normal people do. This is not a life, as you can see with your own eyes. We are very exhausted."
3.SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Nehal Al-Fayoumy’s spouse:
“Can you see the rashes on my child's skin? They are from living in the camp. We have large worms and bugs inside the tent because of the lack of clean water, and the accumulated waste near us. We are living in very bad conditions here.”
3. Med shot, Nehal's child inside their tent in Al-Korban camp, shows signs of rashes on her cheeks and feet due to the lack of clean water.
4. Various shots, uncollected solid waste in Deir al-Balah area
In the Gaza Strip, about two-thirds of water and sanitation facilities, have been destroyed or damaged in the bombardment. A Solid Waste Management Task Force is currently in the process of formation, co-led by the WASH Cluster and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The task force’s immediate priorities remain consistent with last week’s update, focusing on developing the Terms of Reference, Key Asks, and specific action plans for temporary solid waste collection sites
5. Various shots, sewage water accumulated in the Deir al-Balah area. Sanitation infrastructure and facilities to dispose and treat sewage and wastewater are insufficient to meet people’s needs, causing the contamination of groundwater and increasingly posing public health threats
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Salim Oweis, UNICEF Spokesperson.
“I'm now in front of UNICEF's desalination plant. This plant produces clean water, for all these people and beyond. This plant before the war has been producing over 20,000m³ of clean water. It was reduced to only 2000 and 500m³ after the war. It's a good thing that it's still working, but it's just working, with a fraction of its capacity. As you can see, people queue to get their water.”
7. Various shots, people are gathered around a UNICEF supported desalination plant to get clean drinking water. People are using jerry cans and other containers to fill up with water and carry it back to their tents
8. Various shots, inside the UNICEF desalination plant in Deir al-Balah
To improve access to safe water, the EU funded the Gaza Strip’s largest seawater desalination plant to date, along with the Gaza Strip’s largest solar field. UNICEF continues to work on innovative solutions to make the supply of safe water more sustainable and cost effective, including installing a new desalination prototype in Gaza through a partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that operates through solar power, is much less energy intensive than conventional technologies, and transforms some 90 per cent of the water it extracts from the aquifer into drinking water.
There has been a significant reduction in clean water production across the Gaza Strip affecting access to water supply service to around 500,000 people. Two out of three water pipelines from Israel are now operational - up from one a few months ago – but they are only operating at between 63 percent to 83 percent capacity.
Just two of Gaza’s three water desalination plants are operational. But they are operating below capacity and risk stalling due to a persistent lack of fuel. In addition to the immediate impact, the ongoing lack of fuel risks the long-term loss of assets and water production. Lack of use results in irreparable damage to water membranes and other WASH assets which, to date, have been consistently denied entry. In June, an agreement was reached with the Israeli authorities to reestablish the power line for the Southern Gaza Desalination Plant. This is an important milestone. It can provide clean water to up to 1 million displaced people. We are very much looking forward to seeing the water flow.
From July 8th to July 14th, the Coastal Municipal Water Utility/Palestinian Water Authority (CMWU/PWA) have reported water production of about 89,000 m3/day for safe drinking and domestic purposes across the Gaza Strip.
UNICEF appeals to all parties to the conflict to adhere to their obligations under international humanitarian law. That includes taking the utmost care to spare civilians and civilian infrastructure, to meet civilians’ essential needs and facilitate rapid, safe, and unimpeded humanitarian access.
