Gaza Emergency – IASC WASH (Water, sanitation and health) Cluster – Weekly situation report (No. 4)

General situation

According to figures from CMWU/PWA on the 9th of February 50,000 persons were completely without access to water and an additional 150,000 – 200,000 were virtually without water, receiving water only every 5 or 6 days.

3,000 litres of fuel is reported to have leaked into the wastewater infiltration basin in the North Gaza Emergency Sewage Treatment Plant. The clean up costs for this was not included in the original assessment done by CMWU and will add to the cost, although currently no cost assessment has been done. It is also still unclear how this will affect the ground water quality at this point.

WHO reported that there was one positive sample (12 faecal coliforms) from the water surveillance data that they received from MoH. This is thought to be an isolated incident, with the surveillance of supplies continuing.

Conducted assessments

The final report of the PHG damage assessment has been released. Maps of water and solid waste related needs and damaged house water connections can be found in the annex. For further information about the assessment, please contact PHG (subha@phg.org).

WASH cluster humanitarian response

Drinking and domestic water

Oxfam, ACF and PHG continue with their water distributions and CARE has started water distributions, focusing on communities in northern Gaza and around Gaza City, where they are distributing water to 56,000 beneficiaries in total. Oxfam distributed approximately 2,9 m³ between February 4^th and 11^th, in total supplying 471,000 persons with approximately 6 litres of water/day. ACF has increased their distribution due to an increased number of tankers and have distributed 1105 m³ between February 4^th and 12^th.  

Global Medic has installed water purification units in Gaza City Jabalia and Jabalia Camp, An Nuserait Camp and Beit Lahyia.

Sanitation

CMWU/PWA have published a report about the repairs that have been conducted until February 5^th according the fast track plan of emergency repairs. So far over 335,000 dollars have been spent on emergency repairs. The majority of the repairs have been done to water wells and network facilities and the areas were most repairs have been completed are Gaza, Beit Hanoun and Khan Younis. The full report can be found on the WASH cluster web site (http://www.ochaopt.org/cluster/clusters.php?domain=6).

CARE is repairing household connections for 425 households and rehabilitating internal water networks in Beit Lahyia.

ACF is continuing their work with cleaning the Beit Lahia Wastewater Treatment Plant and Gaza City wastewater treatment plant.

Solid waste

COOPI continues with solid waste collection in Gaza City. CARE has started working with removing solid waste and rubble in Beit Lahyia.

Hygiene and NFIs

Between 9^th and 13^th February, 155 hygiene kits, sponsored by Unicef, were distributed in Gaza. Premier Urgence is distributing hygiene kits in Gaza City for 308 beneficiaries. CARE is distributing hygiene kits in Gaza City, Beit Hanoun, Al Mughraqa, Al Qarara, Al Fukhkhari and Khuza'a to a total number of 550 beneficiaries.

WASH cluster activities

The WASH Cluster had a joint meeting via video link with Jerusalem and Gaza teams on February 11^th. DFID has approved the WASH cluster proposal for the Gaza response coordination mechanism. The structure will include a WASH Cluster Coordinator based in Jerusalem supported by an Information Manager, and a Gaza Cluster lead and information manager from WASH partners. The Palestinian Hydrology Group (PHG) will support the Cluster with needs assessments, monitoring and mapping activities. The Gaza Cluster lead is expected to be in place already next week and recruitment for the Gaza information manager is ongoing.

The WASH cluster now has its own web page, provided by OCHA, where all situation reports, meeting minutes, maps, etc will be published. The page can be found at http://www.ochaopt.org/cluster/clusters.php?domain=6.

Constraints

The problems with getting material into Gaza are continuing, causing major problems with repairs. The WASH Cluster is working together with the Logistics Cluster in order to get material in. Currently the different agencies are creating further lists with their top priorities for submission to CoGAT. Further means for exerting pressure on the Israeli Authorities are also being discussed.

CMWU have confirmed commitments for 2.5 million dollars, for repairs to damaged water and sanitation infrastructure. Other donors are currently finalising their commitments to ensure CMWU is fully funded for major infrastructure repairs. Further funding is however still required for organisations working at household level, including repairs to water storage tanks, small pumps, household connections and internal plumbing. Funds are also required for small neighbourhood desalination schemes to improve drinking water quality.

For more information, please do not hesitate to contact:

Tim Forster

WASH Cluster Coordinator

tforster@unicef.org 054 47787682

Subha Ghannam

e-WASH Coordinator

subha@phg.org 059 9644868

Nina Odling

WASH Information Manager

nodling@unicef.org 054 7787683