Israeli group warns about Gaza sewage crisis

An Israeli environmental group warned on Thursday that Gaza could be a ticking time bomb of disease for the region if a serious sewage issue is not fixed.

Gidon Bromberg, founder and Israel director of EcoPeace, told the Zionist daily, Jerusalem Post that although there is a sewage treatment plant in the Gaza Strip, it does not have enough electricity to run.

This means some 90 million liters of raw sewage are flowing into the Mediterranean Sea on a daily basis, as well as into underground aquifers.

This has serious implications for Israel and Egypt, especially for residents who live closest to Gaza and would be most affected if diseases such as cholera or typhoid were to break out and then enter the region’s drinking water.

“This becomes a ticking time bomb,” he said.

“This is a classic example where nature knows no borders,” he said.

“If pollution exists on one side, it very quickly moves to the other side, because that’s the way nature takes it.

” Though there are desalination plants in the Strip, it does not clear the water of pollutants, according to a statement from EcoPeace.

Another way the sewage problem in Gaza literally spills over to Israel is when sewage flows northward to Israel’s coast, polluting the water and causing desalination plants to shut down.