Gaza, December 5, 2009 ( Pal Telegraph ) - Naji , six , before going to school in the morning , he goes to the water station to fill some bottles of fresh water . He alternates with his sister Marwa, 12. Because of the salinity of water in their home, they have to daily suffer the hardship of going to obtain water, as they come from a distant place.

They usually wait for three hours or more, so sometimes they are late to school. And if they were home without bringing any water, their mother couldn't be able to cook.

" We can't drink water because of its over salinity; and because I'm too small, I can't fill the bottles with water, so some people help me out of sympathy", he said.

Naji is one of million and a half Gazans who are suffering from water crisis, especially after the recent war and Israeli depletion of water during the occupation of the Gaza Strip for several years.

Engineer Munther Shoblaq, the director of the Coastal Municipalities Water in Gaza, said:" The current water situation in Gaza reached a critical stage as the decrease of water reservoir was more than 80 million cubic meters last year." If the situation continues, the current sources of fresh water will soon be consumed, he added.

Gaza Strip suffers from high level of water pollution resulted from the meagerness of water and poor sanitation. During the war, the occupation had bombed the sewage infrastructure, and thus this led to a mixture of wastewater with water fit for drinking.

One of the women who were in that water station said that in Khan Younis city, when the electricity is off, water doesn't reach the houses, especially the upper floors. She gets undrinkable water once every three days."I can't fill more than ten bottles a day, which is not sufficient for my14 family members", she added.

In Gaza Strip, Al Dameer Foundation for Human Rights with support of international experts checked the environment immediately after the war. The results showed that Israeli occupation used internationally prohibited weapons during the war destroying wells and wastewater systems .Besides, the siege which has been imposed on Gaza prevents entering any materials to repair water systems.

The Siege, due to the lack of basic materials for maintenance, has disrupted many projects that could help in the improvement of water,thus reducing the efficiency of water from 70% to 50%.

There are over three private desalination plans which the experts suggest as a solution to this crisis. Setting up sea water desalination is a proposal which would be impossible because of the siege, as the Israeli occupation hinders any development project in Gaza Strip.

By Salem El-Rayyes