Gaza: Unclean water supplies sicken youth

Nine-year-old Hadeel is a World Vision-sponsored child directly affected by the ongoing conflict in Gaza, which has made potable water supplies increasingly scarce in the region.
© 2008 World Vision staff

Right now, increasingly unclean water supplies in the region are to blame for the children's suffering. Hadeel's father, Abdel Salam, says tainted water is the reason he has taken his children to the local clinic several times in the past few weeks to be treated for diarrhea, nausea, and worms.

Deepening crisis

Water is delivered to homes just two hours each week in Gaza because of strict water rationing. Continuing fuel shortages render pumping stations inoperable, unable to supply households with sufficient supplies. It is just one of the effects of the tight blockade that prevents the free movement of goods and people to and from this embattled region, whose land mass is roughly twice the size of Washington, D.C.

"We are looking at a deepening health crisis in the Gaza Strip if a clean supply of water remains unavailable," says Charles Clayton, World Vision's national director in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, Gaza's water authority has warned the region's population to not use untreated water, says Mohammed El Halaby, World Vision's North Gaza area manager. Yet much of the drinking water is still contaminated since chlorine to treat it is becoming scarce.

Humanitarian blockade

• Chlorination units
• Water quality testing kits
• Construction materials to maintain water networks

Meanwhile, Gaza's population is in critical need of humanitarian assistance. According to latest polls, 81 percent of families in Gaza live beneath the poverty line of $2.70 per day, and the unemployment rate is an alarming 40 percent.

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