Head of Water Authority, Eng. Mazen Ghunaim, launched the pilot operation of Khan Younis Waste Water Treatment Plant in the southern Gaza Strip, with the participation of Governor of Khan Yunis, Dr. Ahmed Al-Shaibi, Director General of the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility Eng. Monther Shoblaq, and the mayors of KhanYounis and eastern villages and representatives of the United Nations Development Program.

The implementation of the first phase of the project began in early 2017, with a capacity of about 27,000 cubic meters per day, and preparations are underway for the official opening of the plant during the first quarter of next year, as the initial examination and operation process was launched last September which ended recently.
Eng.Ghunaim said that this event is a paradigm shift towards providing sanitation services in KhanYounis, which has a population of more than two hundred thousand people, who have been suffering for decades from the lack of adequate sanitation facilities in the region and the spread of thousands of cesspits, which increase the environmental and health situation deteriorating. He added that operating projects are vital and important, but the sustainability of their work is a strategic goal.

The project team reviewed the most important developments in the plant in its various stages in terms of capacity, coverage, and reuse programs, as well as the most important challenges that faced the conduct of its activities, including the Israeli restrictions and the constant electricity deficit and the effects of this on work efficiency.
In turn, the attendees stressed the importance of cooperation between all parties concerned to move forward in completing work on the plant and operate it permanently and the completion of agreements aimed at implementing the solar energy project to provide the electricity necessary to operate the project sustainably and efficiently.

It is noteworthy that the project is implemented with funding from the Kuwait Fund for Development through the Islamic Development Bank and the Japanese government at a cost of $ 55 million, through the United Nations Development Program under the supervision of the Water Authority, and in coordination with the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility.