PA to receive settler water infrastructure

The water infrastructure in the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank settlements slated for evacuation are set to be handed over to the Palestinians following disengagement, Ynet has learned.

The Infrastructure Ministry is set to transfer wells, bores, pumps, reservoirs and pipelines currently belonging to settlers, over to the Palestinians in the area, apparently without compensating settlers.

Ministry officials say they do not deny the reports.

In accordance with the Oslo Accords, Israel is obligated to sell the Palestinian Authority a large part of its water consumption.

However, despite this agreement, the authority continues to suffer from a severe lack of drinking and agriculture water and many residents are forced to collect water from public pipes or wells.

While the water from evacuated settlements would ease the shortage, it is still not enough to solve the Palestinian water crisis.

Illegal water pumping

In order to farm their crops, Palestinians dig illegal bores causing heavy damage to the aquifers from which they pump the water. This is despite attempts by

Israeli water representatives and security forces to stop illegal pumping.

Senior water industry officials say the Gaza aquifer has been completely depleted due to this.

There is also a serious decline in water sources in the northern West Bank as a result, they say, and illegal pumping may cause damage to water supplies in the Bet Shean and Harud valleys, following disengagement.