Jordan River Basin

National policies, institutions and organisations in Palestine dealing with water

Under construction

[A text on the framework for water policies in Palestine]

National Water Council (NWC)
The Palestinian Water Authority is a governmental institution that was established in 1995 to be the regulatory body of the water and wastewater sector in Palestine. It is responsible of ensuring sustainable development of the water sector in Palestine.
The PWA web site offers a directory of Palestinian water related institutions, projects, publications and professionals (server out of order).
On of the aims of the Ministry of Environmental Affairs is "setting up integrated sector policies fitting with the scarcity of land and water resources while focusing on confining the use rather than increasing the supply".
Information on water from the Negotiations Affairs Department.
Jerusalem Water Undertaking; Palestinian water company, responsible for the Ramallah District. It provides a lot of technical information on water distribution in the region, but also on water resources and management.

The Palestinian Hydrology Group is a ngo that protects and develops the water resources in Palestine, and which is actively involved in water policies.
The Applied Research Institute Jerusalem has a Water & Environment Research Unit (WERU) and a whole list of publications on its website.

Fadia Daybes (ed.), Water in Palestine. Problems-politics-prospects, Jerusalem, Passia, 2003, 308 pages.
"Despite the discouraging situation on the ground, this publication argues that there is enough water to meet everybody’s needs if equity, fairness and an overall framework for water management are applied. It thus aims to show ways how the current imbalances could be corrected through a mutually beneficial solution that satisfies the needs of both parties in light of existing water resources and the potential feasible alternatives".
"The papers presented here emphasize the option to resolve the water dispute [with Israel, s.d.] on a reasonable and equitable basis through mutually acknowledging the need for cooperation in terms of the utilization of the available resources".
An update of the internal Palestinian water policy.
Walid Sabbah, Jad Isaac, Towards a Palestinian water policy, 1995.