Environmental Assessment and Economic Valuation of Wastewater Generated from Israeli Settlements in the West Bank

Since 45 years of the Israeli occupation to Palestine, Israel continues to destroy the Palestinian lands, and the land may be deteriorated over time due to the cumulative effects of several years of practices. The work of this thesis focused on the environmental assessment and economic valuation of wastewater generated from Israel settlements in the West Bank. The questionnaire was developed to achieve the objectives of the research and the result was analyzed using Microsoft Excel 2010. Results show the total numbers of settlements in the West Bank are 173 settlements with total population equal 483thousand, which produced around 60MCM/year, this means that the wastewater generated per capita per day per each settler approximately 343liter according to the calculations throw this research. Results show that the numbers of settlements in the in the Western aquifer are 65 which produced 25 MCM/year, while in the Eastern aquifer are 97 settlements which produced 33 MCM/year and in the Northeastern aquifer are 9 settlements which produced nearly 2 MCM/year. Results confirm that the wastewater generated from Israel settlements considered as one of the main sources of pollution for Palestinian land, environmental, groundwater resources and it is affect on the economy. Overall, the recommendations call all relevant authorities to assume their responsibilities and to take immediate actions to control an if possible to prevent deterioration of the Palestinian land and the groundwater contamination.