In this dissertation, the current situation of the sanitation and wastewater treatment in the Gaza Strip was revealed. It was found that 35-40 % of the households in the Gaza Strip are connected to sewerage systems. The cities in the Gaza Strip are served by well-functioning sewerage systems, while the refugee camps – with exception to Jabalyia – have no access to any sewerage system. The wastewater in the camps is discharged through open channels and thus constituting severe hazards to the public health and the environment.
It was found that currently there are three major wastewater treatment plants in the Gaza Strip; Gaza wastewater treatment plant serving the governorate of Gaza, Beit lahia wastewater water treatment plant serving the North governorate, and Khan Younis wastewater treatment plant serving the Governorate of Khan Younis. All these plants are old, continuously overloaded and suffer from mechanical failures due to the lack of sufficient electricity and mechanical spare parts. The wastewater produced form the two other governorates are discharged to a lagoon or a wade from which the effluent is discharged to the Mediterranean Sea. Consequently, large amounts of untreated wastewater or partially treated wastewater are discharged to the surrounding environment, including the Mediterranean Sea which is the only recreational feature in the Gaza strip; and the groundwater which is the only main source of water in the area. The improper collection of wastewater in some parts of the Gaza Strip and the improper treatment of Gaza strip’s wastewater have a significant contribution in increasing the acuteness of the water shortage, that country has suffered from for a long time, through their continuous contamination to the groundwater.
The building layouts, population densities, socio-cultural aspects, living situations in the refugee camps of the Gaza Strip were reviewed as well as the institutional capacity of those involved in the wastewater collection sector in the Gaza Strip. The applicability of simplified sewerage – which is characterised as unplanned, low-income and very densely populated areas – thus was investigated so as to solve the intractable sanitation problem in these areas. It was found that simplified sewerage is an institutionally feasible, a socio-culturally acceptable and a technically appropriate sanitation option to be introduced in these camps. Simplified sewerage would also be a finically attractable sanitation option from which funds
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from international donors can be more easily raised; or reasonable cost recovery programme that is affordable to camps’ residents can be established. A simplified sewerage network for a part of one of the Gaza Strip’s camps was designed so as to provide a practical design example which can be followed for future works. It is thus recommended to disseminate the knowledge related to simplified sewerage through training the local engineers in the Gaza Strip in the detail design of simplified sewerage; training the local contractor companies in the construction of simplified sewerage; and training the wastewater municipal departments in the operation and maintenance of simplified sewerage and how to establish sewerage maintenance programmes as illustrated in Chapter 2. It is also recommended to plan for community education schemes which aim at explaining to the camps’ residents how simplified sewerage work and what their responsibilities would be towards the system so as to build an effective partnership between the municipal departments and the camps’ communities and which can motivate the camps residents to contribute in excavating the sewers trenches as this significantly reduces the construction costs.
The applicability of natural wastewater treatment in the Gaza Strip was investigated; six natural wastewater treatment plants, configured differently using the treatment units illustrated in the literature review related to natural wastewater treatment, were designed to treat a proportion of Gaza’s wastewater and to produce an effluent that is considered to be safe in relation to public health once used for crop irrigation. Monte Carlo – Quantitative microbial risk analysis and a tolerable DALY loss of 108 pppy were used in the purpose of defining the microbial characteristics of the effluent that is considered to be safe once used for irrigation purposes. It was found that natural wastewater treatment is applicable in the Gaza Strip in term of land area requirements and climate required. The six natural wastewater treatment plants were also compared to find out the most suitable one for the Gaza Strip; it was found that waste stabilisation ponds is the most suitable natural wastewater treatment option for the Gaza Strip in term of construction costs and requirements, O&M costs and requirements, and that it has the ability to produce energy as the other systems. It is recommended that courses about natural wastewater treatment systems to be held for the decision makers in the Environment Ministry, which aim at showing that; natural wastewater treatment systems are more preferable to other conventional wastewater treatment systems particularly in such a country that suffers from insufficient electricity and difficulties in importing spare mechanical parts; and that the money spent in lands for the natural wastewater treatment plant is an investment rather than wasting it in electricity ( if available)
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thus any reluctance to use natural treatment systems can be mitigated. It is also recommended that the Palestinian Environment Ministry to orient its efforts to ratify the framework convention climate change and the Kyoto protocol so that the country can be considered eligible for clean development mechanisms projects. Once this is achieved, the Gaza Strip can sell the carbon emission reductions - if for example anaerobic ponds are covered for collecting the biogas produced and utilised afterwards for electricity generation - to an industrialised country and thus offsetting the operational and maintenance costs of the treatment plants or enhancing the budget of the related municipalities.
Wastewater reuse in agriculture in the Gaza Strip was investigated as well as its contribution to solve the water shortage problem in the Gaza Strip; it was shown that treated wastewater can provide the agricultural sector with half of its annual demand and thus conserving 50 million cubic meter – approximately equivalent to the estimated water deficit - of potable water for domestic and industrial purposes. This would also result in economic benefits to the farmers and may create more jobs in the country. It is thus strongly recommended to upgrade the existing treatment plants in the Gaza Strip to produce effluent that is safe in relation to the public health once used for irrigation and to introduce other low-cost wastewater treatment plants for the governorates having no plants for the same purpose. A guide or practical example for ensuring that the risk of using treated wastewater in agriculture is within an acceptable level was provided; this is recommended to be followed for the purpose of defining the microbial quality of the effluent considered to be safe in relation to public health. It is also recommended to widely disseminate the fatwa that islamically permits the reuse of wastewater so as to gain the acceptance of the Gazan people and farmers to reuse wastewater and thus ensuring the success of such scheme. For successful wastewater reuse schemes, the design engineers should be familiar with FAO recommendations concerning the physiochemical quality of the effluent to be used for irrigation; it is thus recommended to disseminate these recommendations to the local engineers in the Gaza Strip.
It thus can be concluded that proper collection of wastewater, well treatment and reuse of wastewater in the Gaza Strip can highly contribute; to solve the water shortage problem; to improve health level; to gain economic benefits and most importantly to give the community its right to live in dignity.
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