Water quality legislation in Palestine over the past century

Marie Amer, Khayat Saed, Dajani, Dajani Muna

Description

This paper deals with the water quality legislation that has been enforced in Palestine over the past century, from the Ottoman era through the British Mandate and Jordanian reign, to the Israeli occupation and current Palestinian autonomy. Results The study reveals that, due to the instability and the short interrupted spans of these regimes, apart from the Ottoman era, the successive ruling administrations were unable to draft water legislation in the interest of the Palestinian population, though the more stable Jordanian rule is an exception to this. Moreover, the study shows that the subject of the enacted legislations has depended on the circumstances that the population is subjected to or simply as reaction that deals instantly with a certain problem without taking into account any planning or future socioeconomic development. However, major concerns over the quality of accessible water gained momentum with an ever-increasing demand for limited water resources and the need for water treatment. Conclusions Investments in legislation and its enforcement will lead to significant economic development and public health and environmental quality enhancement through equitable and reasonable management of shared water resources and community empowerment and awareness.

Sujets

• Ottoman Empire
• British Mandate
• Israeli Military Orders

Informations

• Publié par: biomed
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 13
• Langue: English

Extrait

Marieet al. Environmental Sciences Europe2012,24:15 http://www.enveurope.com/content/24/1/15

R E S E A R C HOpen Access Water quality legislation in Palestine over the past century 1 2* Amer Marie , Saed Khayatand Muna Dajani

Abstract Background:This paper deals with the water quality legislation that has been enforced in Palestine over the past century, from the Ottoman era through the British Mandate and Jordanian reign, to the Israeli occupation and current Palestinian autonomy. Results:The study reveals that, due to the instability and the short interrupted spans of these regimes, apart from the Ottoman era, the successive ruling administrations were unable to draft water legislation in the interest of the Palestinian population, though the more stable Jordanian rule is an exception to this. Moreover, the study shows that the subject of the enacted legislations has depended on the circumstances that the population is subjected to or simply as reaction that deals instantly with a certain problem without taking into account any planning or future socioeconomic development. However, major concerns over the quality of accessible water gained momentum with an everincreasing demand for limited water resources and the need for water treatment. Conclusions:Investments in legislation and its enforcement will lead to significant economic development and public health and environmental quality enhancement through equitable and reasonable management of shared water resources and community empowerment and awareness. Keywords:Water quality legislation, Ottoman era, British Mandate, Jordan and Egypt span, Israeli military orders

Background Water is the basis for life. Without it, human life would cease; ecosystems would fail and disintegrate. Clean, safe and adequate freshwater is essential for the functioning and viability of ecosystems and communities, and devel opment of society. Historically, water and civilizations have been strongly interlinked. Water has shaped soci eties and impacted the status of many civilizations [13]. In fact, creation or collapse of civilizations is interrelated to availability of water or deterioration of its quality, ren dering it unsuitable for agricultural and domestic uses. For example, the Nile has sustained and flourished civili zations on its banks, while Akkadian cultures' collapse more than 4,500 years ago is attributed to the low qual ity of Tigris River water [4]. The capture of water resources has been the reason why such civilizations and societies have been described as hegemonic and have maintained their existence and survival.

* Correspondence: [e-mail] 2 Technical and Applied Research Centre, Palestine Technical University, Tulkarm 7, Palestine Full list of author information is available at the end of the article

Nomadic communities are constantly moving in search for water and pastureland, both being their source of life. Over centuries, these communities have been conse quently unable to build meaningful civilization due to unsustainable usage of water resources in arid area which deteriorated quickly with continuous utilization. Contamination of natural water resources by agricul ture, population growth, industry, urbanization and waste disposal requires proper legislation to contain and safeguard humans and their surrounding environment. With the rapid urbanization of countries worldwide, the need to control the externalities of such urbanization is essential. Much legislation was designed to regulate the water use and water quality aspect with an aim to sus tain water resources in terms of quality and quantity, where civilization centers have continued access to the water resources [5]. Since the industrial revolution in the eighteenth century, there has been increased demand on natural resources in cluding water. Conflicts over water resources can occur at multiple levels and scales, whether national (e.g., between farmers and domestic users) or international (between

© 2012 Marei et al.; licensee Springer. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.