Improvement of Technically Applicable Aquifer Management Plan in Gaza Strip

Abstract

The water situation in Gaza strip is disastrous. The only source of water is the ground aquifer, where the water level is decreasing, with increase in water demand for different uses, which reflects seriously in the water quality and quantities in the aquifer. The problem also includes the distribution networks which face deterioration, leakage and illegal connections. The study aims at developing a technically applicable aquifer management plan for Gaza Strip, based on the current water situation. The assessment of the situation is significant at this stage, taking into consideration not only the water systems and resources conditions, but also other socio-economic and environmental factors that affect the situation indirectly. Also, this study aims at assessing the effect of un-implementation of the different water plans. The assessment process is based on internationally used Water Poverty Index (WPI) and its approaches: Simple Time Analysis, Conventional composite and Holistic approaches. Other indicators are also used in this research: Falkenmark Water Stress indicator, and Human Development Index. From comparison between approaches, it was found that the most effective and representative approach was the Holistic approach, which was selected to assess and represent the water situation. Holistic approach consists of five components: Resources, Access, Capacity, Use and Environment, where each component consists of number of subcomponents. The assessment of the water situation indicated that the WPI score was 36.98, Which reflects a very bad water situation in Gaza Strip comparing to 55.5 in Israel, 51.8 in Jordan, 61.7 in Egypt and 79.9 In Finland , the best water situation in the world. The water situation was evaluated for the last ten years (between 2000-2010), the WPI score was decreased from 42.49 in 2000 to 40.30 in 2005, and after that decreased to 36.98 in 2010, which indicate serious deterioration in the water status in this ten years. Sensitivity analysis of WPI showed that the most sensitive components were Resources and the subcomponents affecting WPI are agricultural consumption and water quality. Based on that future scenarios of water situation in Gaza Strip was estimated. These scenarios were Do-nothing scenario, GETAP scenario, PWA 2035 scenario, and GETAP Improved scenario. Do-nothing scenario indicated that in year 2015 the WPI will drop to 35.64 reflecting the continuous worsening of the water situation. In GETAP scenario and by year 2016 the WPI score is 53.10 indicating a good improvement of the water situation. In PWA 2035 Plan and by year 2035 the WPI score is 64.29 which indicate a very high improvement in the water situations. In GETAP updated scenario (GETAP with utilization of storm water and run off quantities) and in short term period with WPI score is 59.05. This scenario seems to acceptable and might be recommended., Finally, suggested aquifer management plan was developed based on WPI components. In the suggested plan the most critical projects were determined which will increase the WPI value and consequently will improve the water situation in Gaza Strip. In addition, effective monitoring and evaluation system was set for future planning and studies.