Summary

The Jordan Valley has always been considered one of the most important strategic, economic and cultural areas in the Palestinian territories, affected by drought as well as by Israeli restrictions. It has been studied by several actors during the last years and data rationalization is extremely important to share information.

The aim of the project is to define the gaps in knowledge on the availability of and access to water for 28,246 people living in 65 communities identified in the target area, and integrate it with new information in order to provide basic tools for defining domestic water needs and critical vulnerabilities in the Jordan Valley.

Following the experience carried out by GVC and their partners UAWC, PHG and LRC in a similar study in the southern part of the West Bank, bibliographic data and field assessment have been collected and analyzed to provide a literature review, an analytical data base based on collection sheets used in the field visits, 18 thematic maps and a synthetic analysis about the present status of the water availability for human and animal consumption in the area.

Human water consumption varies significantly between villages (103 l/c/d) and Bedouin communities (34 l/c/d). The water source highly influences consumption rates, as the 15 communities served by networks present an average consumption of more than 100 l/c/d while others consume around 30 l/c/d.

65% of the population, living in 15 villages, are covered by networks with an average price of 4 NIS/m³. The remaining population is supplied by private and PWA wells, filling points and springs with prices rising to 15.6 NIS/CM for the springs, from 15 to 40 NIS/CM for the wells and from 15 to 30 NIS/CM for filling point, influenced by transport costs for water trucking. Irrigation system, agriculture wells and mixed network represent other sources of water with very varying price.

17,747 of TLU animals assessed in the area are consuming an average amount of 70 l/LSU/d.