Gaza sewage spill floods farmland

GAZA, Palestinian Territory – Gaza rescue crews tried to salvage livestock and produce on Wednesday after a sewage reservoir collapsed, flooding about 25 acres (10 hectares) of farmland in a new sign of the worsening water and sewage crisis in the Hamas-run territory.

Residents said about 40,000 cubic meters (10.5 million gallons) of raw sewage poured out of the reservoir on Tuesday and flooded the Sheikh Ejleen neighbourhood in southern Gaza City in just 15 minutes.

“We heard a terrifying sound,” said Jamal al-Jedi, a farmer. “Suddenly, the water broke into the greenhouse and farm and destroyed everything.”

“I lost everything,” he said, wringing his hands as he looked at cucumbers soaked in wastewater. In a nearby chicken farm, people pulled eggs out of mud and sewage.

Mohammed Qandeel, a beekeeper, said the sewage reached the room in which he kept the honey he had just harvested. “I will get rid of it after I wake up from the shock,” he said.

He managed to rescue several hives, placing them on tires away from the wastewater. But swarms of flies hovered around the damaged white hives.

Gaza’s limited sewage treatment facilities have been overwhelmed by a rapidly expanding population, damage to infrastructure during wars with Israel and a chronic shortage of electricity.

An Israeli blockade against Hamas that has restricted imports, coupled with Palestinian infighting and mismanagement by the Hamas-run government, has compounded the problems. Millions of gallons of raw sewage are dumped into the Mediterranean each day, threatening the coastline and limited freshwater supplies.

Hatem Sheikh Khalil, a deputy mayor, said the municipality has been warning since 2007 that the reservoir was operating beyond its capacity.

“The best thing that happened yesterday is that there were no human losses; everything else was disastrous,” he said.