West Bank Palestinians are suffering a serious water shortage this year as a severe drought has exacerbated already existing supply problems, said the head of the Palestinian Water Authority Shadad Ateli. Uri Shani, head of Israel's Water Authority, says Palestinians are receiving more water than their agreed share under an interim peace deal. The drought has affected Israel as well, with fresh water supplies below their acceptable minimum, but there have been no cases of community water supplies being cut off.
In the city of Nablus (Shchem), residents receive running water once a week. In the nearby village of Salem, there hasn't been running water for months and a nearby well is going dry. Residents but water in tankers, as is usual in Jordan. Shani said the Palestinian Authority was not cracking down on herders who steal water supplies - a problem Palestinians acknowledge - and could recycle waste water for agriculture, as Israel does. He said that could boost supplies from 30 to 40 million cubic liters. The only solution to this problem is creating more water, Shani said.
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