The Environmental Unit of the Nature and Parks Authority, the Water and Streams Division, and the Judea and Samaria district of the Ministry of Environmental Protection presented their annual report on Judea and Samaria Streams Monitoring. In the following video, the representatives of the various authorities explain the severity of the findings.
The report was based upon the data that had been collected at the streams during the year 2007. According to the research, waste waters produced by 2 out of 2.8 million people living in the area are not treated due to political conflicts and funding limitations.
Ninety-four percent of Palestinian sewage is disposed of in cesspits or discharged without treatment into the streams. Sewage from the Jewish communities is estimated to be 17.5 million cubic meters per year, and 31.5% of their sewage is disposed without treatment into the streams.
Regarding the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, Benny Elbaz, the environmental protection officer in the IDF Judea and Samaria Civilian Administration, told IsraelNN TV: "Seventy percent of the Jewish villages are treated and they have the necessary facilities. Thirty percent do not. The leaders of these communities are being taken care of disciplinarily by the authorities in order to bring them in to the framework in which residents pay a sewage tax.... I believe that this way the problem will eventually be solved."
The authors of the first-time report explained that it was prepared in order to supply a full and credible indication of the environmental hazards in the region and the effectiveness of waste water treatment.