Post Conflict Report
Highlights Damage from Recent Hostilities
and its Contribution to Already Declining
Environmental Health
Nairobi/Ramallah/Jerusalem,
14 September 2009 - The underground water
supplies, upon which 1.5 million Palestinians
depend for agricultural and drinking water,
are in danger of collapse as a result of
years of over-use and contamination that
have been exacerbated by the recent conflict.
A report released today
by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) on
the environmental condition of the Gaza
Strip following the hostilities, calls for
the aquifer to be "rested" and
alternative water sources found.
"Unless the trend
is reversed now, damage could take centuries
to reverse. Since the aquifer is a continuum
with Egypt and Israel, any such action must
be coordinated with these countries,"
it says.
The report points to
increased salinity from salt water intrusion
caused by over-abstraction of the ground
water as a key concern, alongside pollution
from sewage and agricultural run off.
Pollution levels are
such that infants in the Gaza Strip are
at risk from nitrate poisoning.
UNEP estimates that
well over US$1.5 billion may be needed over
20 years to restore the aquifer back to
health, including the establishment of desalination
plants to take pressure off the underground
water supplies.
These are among more
than twenty recommendations made in the
Environmental Assessment of the Gaza Strip:
following the escalation of hostilities
in December 2008-January 2009.
The report, requested
in February 2009 by UNEP's Governing Council
- the annual gathering of environment ministers
- examines the direct impact of the recent
conflict and its contribution to existing
and persistent environmental problems.
The report also assesses
the likely economic costs of the hostilities
and recommends levels of investment needed
to secure rehabilitation, recovery and the
longer term sustainability of the Gaza Strip.
Some of the Direct Impacts
Strikes on buildings
and other infrastructure have generated
600,000 tonnes of demolition debris.
The removal and safe
disposal of rubble, some of which is also
contaminated with asbestos, is calculated
at over US$7 million.
An estimated 17 per
cent of cultivated land including orchards
and greenhouses was severely affected.
The report estimates
the costs in terms of damage to farmers'
livelihoods alongside clean-up measures
at around US$11 million.
Other impacts include
sewage spills as a result of power cuts
to treatment facilities- some of which is
likely to have percolated through the Gaza
Strip's porous soils into the ground water.
There has also been
an increase in the build-up of hazardous
hospital wastes at landfill sites generated
in part as a result of the numbers injured.
The report also underlines
factors such as the collapse of refuse collection
services as a result of the hostilities,
and the way this has exacerbated pressure
on existing landfill sites.
The estimated cost of
decommissioning existing landfills and establishing
new solid waste management facilities is
put at over US$40 million.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary
General and UNEP Executive Director, who
initiated the assessment during a tour of
the Gaza Strip in April this year, said:
"The assessments conducted and the
findings presented here identify and document
a serious challenge to the environmental
sustainability of the Gaza Strip."
"The hard facts
and figures, alongside the indicative investment
estimates presented in this report, should
assist all concerned parties to understand
the gravity of the situation in order to
provide transformative solutions. The international
community has indicated its willingness
to assist with providing technical, financial
and diplomatic assistance in order to turn
environmental restoration into an opportunity
for cooperation and restoration," he
added.
"Many of the impacts
of the recent hostilities have exacerbated
environmental degradation that has been
years in the making-environmental degradation
that does not end at the borders of the
Gaza Strip but also affect the health and
welfare of those living beyond," he
added.
The Key Findings and
Recommendations in More Detail
Water
The area receives 300
mm of rain annually, of which 46 per cent
of some 45 million cubic metres, recharges
the underground aquifer.
For many years now abstraction
levels of some 160 million cubic metres
annually have out-stripped the natural replenishment
levels.
The situation is causing
salt water from the sea to intrude into
these freshwater supplies, and the report
says salinity levels for most parts of the
Gaza Strip are now above World Health Organisation
guideline limits of 250 milligrams per litre.
In addition, the nature
of the soils in the Gaza Strip means that
sewage, irrigation water and 'leachate'
from overwhelmed and unsealed landfills
can easily percolate down into the aquifer.
Tests at nine private
wells found many with nitrate concentrations
exceeding WHO guidelines of 50 milligrams
per litre-one tested as high as 331 milligrams
per litre.
High levels of nitrates
can cause a form of anaemia in infants known
as 'blue baby syndrome'.
One study of close to
340 babies, published in 2007, found that
the proportion with worrying levels of the
blue baby indicator protein-methemoglobin-was
close to half of those studied.
There is concern that
levels of nitrates in water may have perhaps
become worse as a result of the recent hostilities.
Several recommendations
are outlined to deal with the long-standing
challenges and ones either exacerbated or
caused by the recent escalation of hostilities:
The provision of safe
water for infants and the carrying out by
the UN of a comprehensive study on 'blue
baby syndrome'.
The development of alternative
water supplies using desalination of sea
water
An entire restoration
of the current water supply network to reduce
losses from leakages equal to over 40 per
cent of the water being pumped.
Improved measures to
control sources of contamination to the
underground aquifer from sewage, agricultural
run-off and storm water run-off.
The establishment of
one or two new and modern sewage treatment
plants able to handle nitrates so that effluent
can be used for agriculture alongside treating
and composting facilities for sewage sludge.
Until new treatment
works are in place, all sewage should be
disposed of at sea in suitably deep and
far offshore locations.
Landfills and Waste
The recent conflict
has generated some 600,000 tonnes of construction
and demolition waste, of which over 200,000
tonnes is in Gaza city and 100,000 tonnes
is in Rafah.
The report calls for
the establishment of a new facility to handle
the debris and maximize the re-use and recycling
of the materials and the separation of those
that may be contaminated.
Some buildings, such
as the El Swaity juice and food produce
factory in the northern Gaza Strip caught
on fire after being struck by munitions
and there is concern that the burning may
have generated hazardous pollutants such
as furans and dioxins.
The report notes that
demolition here and at other similar sites
will require workers to wear personal protective
equipment which is not readily available
in the Gaza Strip.
It also underlines other
forms of contamination in need of action
such as those linked with fuels spilling
into soils as a result of strikes which
in turn has the potential to percolate into
the groundwater.
Analysis at the Az Zaitoun
poultry farm, a gasoline station and at
a cement factory at Rafah showed soil contamination
from petroleum-based substances often exceeding
internationally recognized limits. These
will need to be collected and stored in
secured facilities, currently not available
in the Gaza Strip.
The report also flags
up concern over the disposal of hazardous
healthcare wastes in the Gaza Strip in part
as a result of an increased level of casualties.
The UNEP team visited
several landfills and found items such as
needles and bandages that were openly accessible
and a risk to children and adults scavenging
off the tips at nearly every site.
The report recommends
that a dedicated, hazardous waste management
facility be established to deal with these
waste streams.
The capacity and management
of the Gaza Strip's existing landfill sites
and their impact on the environment is a
key challenge.
The report highlights
the old Tal El Sultan landfill close to
Rafah city which during and after the conflict
was re-opened as a temporary storage and
transfer station for solid waste.
The site, covering an
area of around six hectares and where the
nearest house is less than 50 metres away,
has no control systems to stop contaminated
water leaching into the ground or base lining.
"The site constitutes
a health hazard to people working on or
near it, as well as to the neighbouring
community. The slaughterhouse waste is a
particular problem as it attracts rats which
may transmit diseases such as leptospirosis
and meningitis," says the report.
It recommends that the
El Sultan site, along with all the other
landfills in the Gaza Strip with the exception
of a UN Development Programme storage facility,
be closed and decommissioned and the land
returned to alternative uses.
It estimates the costs
of decommissioning existing landfills and
establishing new solid waste management
facilities at over US$40 million.
Agriculture
Before 27 December 2008,
the cultivated area in the Gaza Strip was
recorded as 170,000,000 square metres.
During the conflict
an estimated 17 per cent of cultivated area
was completely destroyed, including orchards
and open fields.
The concern now is how
easy it will be to restore the lost agricultural
production in a region surrounded by sand
dunes and whose soils are fragile.
Destruction of vegetation
cover and compacting of soil by strikes
and tank movements has degraded the land
and made it vulnerable to desertification,
and it might for a variety of reasons be
difficult to revegetate.
The report estimates
that the costs in terms of damage to farmers'
livelihoods as a result of damage and contamination
of agricultural land, including ensuring
the land is safe to re-plant, is around
US$11 million.
Environmental Governance
The report points out
that critical to the future sustainability
of the Gaza Strip will be re-building the
institutions charged with managing the environment.
During the recent conflict
the Palestinian Environmental Quality Authority
building was damaged, resulting in the loss
of equipment and data.
Due to the internal
political situation many of the staff are
not attending the office. Consequently,
systematic environmental monitoring systems
are not currently in place.
Similar is the case
with the Palestinian Water Authority where
the licensing regime for new water wells
is not functional and private wells are
being drilled, further exacerbating the
groundwater crisis, without any control.
Water being used for drinking around the
Gaza Strip is also not systematically monitored,
which may be placing the community at risk.
The report calculates
that establishing groundwater and marine
monitoring systems, retraining staff and
restoring buildings and equipment might
cost close to US$20 million.
Notes to Editors:
Immediately following
the ceasefire in January 2009, UNEP deployed
an expert to the Gaza Strip to make an initial
assessment of the environmental impacts
of the hostilities, as part of the UN Early
Recovery Assessment mission. The findings
of the initial assessment were included
in the Palestinian National Early Recovery
Plan for Gaza that was presented at the
Donor Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt,
in March 2009.
In February 2009, the
Governing Council of UNEP, in its Decision
25/12, mandated the organization to initiate
a post-conflict environmental assessment
to examine the natural and environmental
impacts on the Gaza Strip caused by the
hostilities. UNEP was also requested to
conduct an economic evaluation of the cost
of environmental rehabilitation and restoration.
The fieldwork phase
of the assessment was carried out by a multi-disciplinary
team of eight UNEP experts, who spent ten
days in Gaza from 10 to 19 May. The main
sectors under investigation were waste and
wastewater, the coastal and marine environment,
and solid and hazardous waste management,
including asbestos.
Travelling extensively
across the Gaza Strip, the UNEP team undertook
walkover inspections of some 32 sites to
assess environmental impacts and collect
samples for laboratory analysis. The team
also collected data for an economic evaluation
of the cost of rehabilitation and restoration
of the environmental damage in Gaza.
Sites visited included
residential areas, schools, industrial areas,
sewage facilities, landfills and the coastline,
where detailed sampling of water and sediments,
bio-indicators, asbestos and waste water
was conducted. Samples collected on the
ground were analysed by an independent international
laboratory.
For More Information
Please Contact:
Nick Nuttall, UNEP Spokesperson / Head of
Media
Silja Halle, UNEP Communications Advisor
