The discussions about the creation of a ministry related to the water resources have continued for a long time and took its final form in 2011 under the name of the Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs.This ministry is responsible for the development of policies related to the protection of water resources and their sustainable use, and the coordination of the national water management.

Internationally, a water availability below 1,000 m3 per person per year is defined as water scarcity, while below 500 m3 is considered “absolute scarcity”. Jordan’s lack of water resources impacts the country’s economic growth, political stability and national security, but also public health.

All water resources in Palestine are shared, mainly with Israel. Shared water usually needs to be governed through agreements on allocation and use between the different parties.

Regarding water resources and infrastructure development and management, the Oslo Accords were intended to give Palestinians greater access to water resources. Unfortunately, under the prevailing conditions, the PWA is not able to manage and develop its own water resources.

Agriculture is considered highly important to the Palestinian economy, as it makes up 25% of exports and directly employs around 117,000 Palestinians. However, agriculture contributes only about 12% to Palestinian GDP, while continuing to be the largest consumer of water, accounting for more than 62% of total use according to the World Bank. The amount of water currently used for irrigation is about 141 MCM/yr to irrigate around 200,000 dunum (1 dunum is about 0.1 hectare) in the West Bank and Gaza Strip

Most of the West Bank governorates suffer from severe water shortages. In 2011, around 88 MCM of water was supplied to the Palestinian communities for domestic use. Of this, approximately 53% was purchased from Mekorot, while the water quantities supplied from local resources reached almost 42 MCM. In 2011, the total real deficit in domestic water supply reached 62.4 MCM for the whole of the West Bank

In 2014, the total Palestinian water use was about 310 MCM for a population of 4.55 million. Of this, about 125 MCM was used in the West Bank and 185 MCM in Gaza …

Water quality in the West Bank is generally considered acceptable. There are no serious indications of pollution in the deep aquifers. However, there is some contamination of water in the shallow aquifers that are part of the Mountain Aquifer.

Deterioration of water quality in Palestine, especially in Gaza, is a key environmental challenge that requires urgent action. Groundwater resources are suffering due to infiltration of untreated wastewater from leakages in the infrastructure

The water crisis in Palestine cannot be presented in isolation from the political context, which continues to affect the economy, population, resource distribution and land ownership in the territories. However, because of the complexity of the issues and the limited scope of this report, the events that have impacted the water situation are only briefly discussed on this page …