Sustainable water resources management of Gaza coastal aquifer, Palestine

The Gaza Strip is located on the extreme edge of the shallow coastal aquifer that borders the eastern Mediterranean Sea. There is little rainfall and no reliable riparian flow, hence water supply for Gaza resident (about 1 million inhabitants) is limited to that available from the part of the coastal aquifer that underlies its 365 km2 of land. Over exploitation of the coastal aquifer has resulted in continuous lowering of regional water levels and worsening of water quality. The greatest threats to existing water supplies are seawater intrusions and up coning of deep brine fossil water. Less than 10 percent of the aquifer’s yield is water meeting the WHO drinking standard. The population of the Gaza Strip will grow to over two million by 2020, and the demands for water will far exceed the sustainable capacity of the aquifer. Continuous urban and industrial growth will place additional stress on the aquifer system, unless appropriate integrated planning and management actions are instituted immediately. It is evident that drastic action must be taken quickly to save and sustain the aquifer. In recognition of this worsening situation, Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have jointly developed and begun implementation of an Integrated Aquifer Management Plan (IAMP). This paper presents overall guidelines for the management through year 2020, with associated investment requirements for infrastructure facilities to meet all goals and objectives. It has been estimated that a capital investment program of about US$ 1.5 billion is needed to finance the implementation of such plan. The engineering component of the IAMP were largely conceptualized and defined through the application of 3-dimentional coupled flow and transport model. It has been concluded that implementation of IAMP will have overall beneficial impacts on the Gaza coastal aquifer, and it is predicted that seawater intrusion and up coning can be significantly reduced and/or stabilized over the next 20 years.