Source - Middle East and North Africa

Iraq, Baghdad: city drowning in sewage, Iraqi official says

14 Feb 08

Baghdad is drowning in sewage, thirsty for water and largely powerless, an Iraqi official said in a grim assessment of services in the capital five years after the US-led invasion.

Palestine, Gaza: Israeli blockade leaves over 250,000 people without enough water, human rights group says

14 Feb 08

The sanctions imposed on the Gaza administration by both Israel and Western countries and Israel’s closure of Gaza’s border crossings has left more than 250,000 people without adequate water supply and the restrictions on fuel may leave 1.5 million people without water and sewage services in the coming days, warns a newly released report by the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE).

Yemen: additional financing for rural water supply to prepare for SWAP

17 Jan 08

The Government of Yemen has requested additional financing from the World Bank to bridge the gap between the ongoing Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project closure on December 31, 2007 and the start of a sector-wide approach (SWAp).

Palestine, Gaza: sewage and water disasters looming

17 Jan 08

Various recent news media report from Gaza that the water and waste water treatment facilities there suffer badly from Israel’s security concerns about importing of enerfy, pumps, pipes and other spare parts in the Hamas controlled area.

Jordan: water contamination incidents highlight water shortage problem

07 Dec 07

In Jordan thousands of people have been hospitalized over the past few months suffering from severe diarrhoea due to water contamination caused by Jordan’s worn out water network and worsened by the government’s strict water rationing programme.

Yemen: qat cultivation threatening water resources, specialists warn

07 Dec 07

According to the study "The Agricultural Map in Yemen", by researchers at the Agriculture Ministry, about 85 per cent of Yemen’s agricultural land is deteriorating due to water shortages, partly caused by the widespread cultivation of qat and desertification.

Jordan: US$ 600 million project to end water shortage

08 Nov 07

Jordan has launched a US$ 600 million project to pump water from its Disi aquifer in the south to Amman.

Eastern Mediterranean: EMPOWERS: programme becomes Thematic Group

08 Nov 07

EMPOWERS (Euro-Med Participatory Water Resources Scenarios), a four-year EU-funded regional programme working in Egypt, Jordan and West Bank/Gaza, officially ended on 31 August 2007. Several partners have decided to continue working together on scaling up the approaches and tools for local water governance through an EMPOWERS Thematic Group.

Iraq: Cholera spreading from the north

02 Oct 07

As of 27th of September 2007, 26 districts of Northern Iraq and 7 districts in the south and center have reported laboratory-confirmed cases of cholera.