Palestine: More Gazans at risk from new sewage flood

A further 800 Palestinian homes could be swamped by raw sewage in northern Gaza if the side of a lake containing sewage is not shored up immediately, the United Nations has warned.

Two children and three women were killed and 18 people injured in the Bedouin village of Umm Nasser near Beit Lahiya when an earthen embankment around a sewage reservoir collapsed on 27 March, sending a torrent of sewage and mud through the village. Locals are now living in tents on higher ground. But the residents of al-Firdaus neighbourhood to the west of a bigger waste water basin near Beit Lahiya fear they could be next.

The Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) said that within two months it hoped to begin pumping water from the larger Beit Lahiya basin to the first two of nine new basins to the east of Gaza City. This would be part of the North Gaza Waste Water Project, which has been delayed for two years. In the meantime, the PWA is attempting to pump some of the water between local basins - but it is not going well, according to PWA deputy chairman Redhy el-Sheikh.

The Israelis said they hoped the Palestinians would eventually build advanced sewage treatment plants.