September 2009
An old and decrepit water system made life difficult for 735 Samaritans on Mount Jerzim outside of Nablus in the West Bank. For hundreds of years, the small religious group has been living on the site they consider the most sacred on earth. But their peaceful life was disrupted by concerns over the deterioration of their drinking water.
“We had an old water network that was installed 25 years ago,” explained a Samaritan committee member Abu Izhak. “It contaminated the water and created a lot of waste.”
“Now that has changed,” he added, as he offered his grandson a drink from his milk bottle prepared with clean water from the new USAID supported water network. Abu Izhak’s wife said everyone is grateful and relieved. “In the past my daughter-in-laws and I would turn on the water tap and brownish water would run out. It was not good for cooking, let alone drinking.”
Abed, another Samaritan committee member, considers the water project the best service to his community, “The replacement of Mount Jerzim’s network not only brought us potable water, it also prevented water loss in an area, where water is more precious than gold!”
The water system was funded by USAID. The works entailed laying 2,500 linear meters of galvanized steel pipes and connected 154 houses to the new water network. This $120,000 project also helped create a total of 855 person-days of work opportunities for the local workers in the area.
A Mount Jerzim resident Um Nael smiled as she hung her washed clothes to dry, “Look how white and clean they are! Now I don’t panic anymore, when my grandchildren drink straight from the water tap.” Before the project, she would cover the taps with duct tape and only gave her grandchildren bottled water. “That was very expensive, but we had no choice. Now we can just turn on the tap!” |
