UN report: Gaza water system on verge of collapse

Gaza's underground water system is in serious danger of collapse after Israel's recent assault compounded years of overuse and contamination, according to a report from a key United Nations body.

The UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) published the report Monday on the environmental condition of the besieged coastal strip following Israel's military assault in the area in late 2008 and early 2009, the UN News Service reported.

According to the UNEP, local authorities in Gaza should take the sole aquifer, which supplies 1.5 million Palestinians with agricultural and drinking water, offline until alternative sources can be found.

"Unless the trend is reversed now, damage could take centuries to reverse," the environmental assessment report warned. "Since the aquifer is a continuum with Egypt and Israel, any such action must be coordinated with these countries."

The UNEP estimated that more than 1.5 billion US dollars, much of it for establishing desalination plants to take pressure off underground supplies, would be needed over 20 years to restore the aquifer.

According to UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner, failing to address the damage caused in Israel's latest assault could have far-reaching consequences for both Egypt and Israel, as well as Gaza itself.

"Many of the impacts of the recent hostilities have exacerbated environmental degradation that has been years in the making - environmental degradation that does not end at the borders of the Gaza Strip but also affect the health and welfare of those living beyond," Steiner explained.

Among the concerns were salt-water intrusion from the sea and the over-extraction of ground water, as well as sewage agricultural run-off. Steiner noted that some sewage run-off has been tested as toxic enough to put infants at risk of nitrate poisoning.