1 | Why This Study Matters
In late 2023, more than 1.1 million Palestinians fled to coastal sand-dune “safe zones” that lacked sewers, solid-waste services and piped water. Municipalities resorted to using sixteen emergency wells to meet basic household needs, yet no one knew how quickly raw sewage, refuse leachate, and seawater would reach the aquifer beneath the camps. The present study set out to answer that question.
2 | How the Research Was Done
Researchers collected water in three sampling rounds—October 2024, December 2024, and April 2025—drawing duplicate grab samples at each wellhead. Field teams measured pH and electrical conductivity on site, then rushed the samples on ice to the Coastal Municipal Water Utility laboratory, where technicians analysed total and faecal coliform bacteria by membrane filtration and determined total dissolved solids gravimetrically. Findings were compared with both Palestinian and World Health Organization drinking-water standards.
3 | Headline Findings
3.1 Bacterial Contamination Is Spreading
During the first round, six of the seventeen wells already contained total coliform bacteria; by the third round, nine of the sixteen operating wells were contaminated, and two sites—K-21 in Deir al-Balah and Al-Sahel 6—showed persistent faecal coliforms. The most polluted sample reached twenty total and six faecal coliform colonies per 100 millilitres, far above the safe level of zero.
3.2 Salinity Far Exceeds Safe Limits
Every well but one breached the drinking-water conductivity limit of 1 milli-Siemens per centimetre. The worst reading climbed to 18.2 mS/cm, approximately eighteen times the standard. Total dissolved solids peaked at 11,616 milligrams per litre, about twenty-three times the World Health Organization palatability guideline of 500 mg/L and approaching seawater salinity.
3.3 Depth Offers No Protection
Several wells drilled to depths of 50–90 metres now show rising salinity, confirming that seawater and pollutants can infiltrate rapidly through sandy soils when pumping is intense.
3.4 Over-Abstraction Accelerates Intrusion
To satisfy camp demand, two wells each withdraw roughly 850 cubic metres of water per day. Such heavy abstraction pulls the saline front landward and downward, worsening the problem.
4 | Health at Risk—Already
Clinics that serve the displaced population report sharp increases in diarrhoea, acute viral hepatitis, skin rashes and scabies, illnesses closely linked to unsafe water and inadequate sanitation. Families continue to cook, bathe and sometimes drink from these wells, magnifying exposure.
5 | Why Is This Happening?
Destroyed treatment plants, ruptured sewer lines, and makeshift waste dumps have left raw sewage blanketing the dunes. Sand’s high permeability allows microbes and salts to migrate tens of metres vertically in under a year, an effect that accelerates when wells pump hard nearby.
6 | What Must Happen Now
The study recommends five immediate measures. First, close well K-21, the most heavily polluted source. Second, relocate waste piles to engineered landfills lined to prevent leakage. Third, install emergency sewer networks and restart wastewater-treatment plants. Fourth, chlorinate every litre of water retained for household use. Fifth, reduce abstraction rates to slow seawater intrusion and allow the aquifer partial recovery.
7 | Read and Share
Before the war, Gazans subsisted on an average of 82 litres of water per person each day, below the World Health Organization’s minimum recommendation of 100 L. Now, they can barely access 2-3 liters, and they cannot afford a single contaminated drop. Read the full study, share it widely, and help press for swift action.
