Assessment of the desalinated water used in household facilities in Gaza Strip
El Ramlawi, A. K.
Access to safe water represents one of the most important basic human needs of the people of Palestine and is vital to a growing economy and a healthy population. Groundwater is the major source of water to the Palestinians. Efficient management of this resource requires a good understanding of its status. This understanding necessitates a characterization of the utilizable quantities and the corresponding qualities. Nowadays, the water crisis in the Strip is multiplying. Groundwater contamination has become a major concern in the recent years. The available water resources in the Gaza Strip cannot meet the continuous increase in water demand without the employment of the non-conventional water resources. One of the major options for resolving the water problems is the utilization of desalination technology for both sea and brackish water. Desalination by reverse osmosis (RO) technology can substitute the deficit in domestic water requirements with comparatively acceptable and affordable costs. In the Strip, many private desalination plants had been established; a few plants were found in 1996 until the number reached about 89 private desalination plants (MoH, 2012). More than 90 percent of the population of the Gaza Strip depends on desalinated water for drinking purposes. About 90 percent of the groundwater is unacceptable for drinking as a result of chemical contamination mainly by nitrate and chloride (Al-Agha and Murtaja, 2004).
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