The representative of the French Development Agency, Martin Berant, accompanied by a French delegation, visited the wastewater treatment plant in northern Gaza to inspect the workflow of the plant's components after the recent aggression on the Gaza Strip.                   

Eng. Saadi Ali, Director of the Project Management Unit at the Water Authority, reviewed the operating program of the plant and its facilities and the crews' efforts to respond to the effects that occurred during the last Israeli aggression.

The delegation also toured the recovery wells, which are preparing to launch the first phase of the agricultural irrigation project, that will provide 5,000 dunums of agricultural land in north-eastern Gaza with the treated water needed for irrigation.

The delegation concluded the tour by visiting the sewage basins in Beit Lahia, where amounts of wastewater were directed to the treatment plant after the targeting of the sewage lines which threatened a serious humanitarian and environmental disaster in the area. However, the line has been repaired, and the station has gradually returned to operation.

The North Gaza station was inaugurated three years ago with a capacity of about 40,000 cups per day to provide adequate sanitation services and treating and filtering sewage into the aquifer according to international standards to serve 400,000 residents of the northern Gaza Strip.

Earlier this year, the Water Authority launched a program of water availability and agricultural adaptation to climate change, with the support of the French Development Agency, the Green Climate Fund, and the Irish Development Agency with a value of up to 45 million euros.

The program aims to use the recovered water to irrigate 15 thousand dunums of agricultural land in northern and eastern Gaza.

The program implementation period is four years. It benefits more than four thousand farmers and workers, enhances the role of youth and women in the agricultural sector, supports crop diversity, and contributes to achieving water and food security in the northern Gaza Strip.