Challenges facing municipalities to provide wastewater services: A case study of Gaza strip

In recent years, municipalities in Palestine and more specifically in Gaza Strip suffered from many obstacles, which impede municipalities from completing their functions and obligations. Among these obstacles, are the challenges to provide wastewater services, water supply, and solid waste management. The main aim of this paper is to identify the challenges facing the municipalities to provide wastewater services in the Gaza Strip. In this research, previous studies were reviewed, and 26 factors were determined as challenges and divided into three clusters in the field of wastewater services. A questionnaire was designed based on a quantitative scale approach. The final version of the questionnaire was obtained through an arbitration process by 20 experts who work at the municipal sector in addition to the academician, who participated in the pilot study. Then the questionnaires were distributed to the 25 municipalities serving in the Gaza Strip. The collected data were analyzed statistically. The critical challenges facing the municipalities' wastewater services in Gaza Strip can be categorized as financial, physical, technical, and environmental. For financial challenges: lack of provided budget to the municipalities and the decline of revenues are the most critical challenges. For physical challenges: lack of the energy such as fuel and electricity to operate treatment plant and inability to wastewater treatment, however, for technical and environmental challenges: the negative impact of wastewater on the environment and aquifer pollution are the most critical challenges. This study recommends increasing the provided budget to the municipalities and the use of sustainable energy sources in order to overcome the challenges and improve the wastewater services provided in the Gaza Strip. © 2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.