Using treated wastewater as a potential solution of water scarcity and mitigation measure of climate change in Gaza strip

摘要

The use of wastewater is one of the most sustainable alternatives to cope with water shortage in Gaza Strip (GS). It would have a number of advantages that include closing the gap between supply and demand, alleviating the pollution of fresh water resources, providing sound solution to water scarcity and potentially cover half of the total agricultural water demand in GS. Wastewater reuse could provide a mitigation solution to climate change through the reduction in green house gases by using less energy for wastewater management compared to that for importing water, pumping deep groundwater, seawater desalination, or exporting wastewater, and enrich the deteriorated soils in GS with more organic matter which lowering the application of chemical fertilizers. This paper investigated the effects of wastewater application on the level of organic matter and soil carbon sequestration which demonstrated by many experiments in Gaza Strip, which induced the possibility of wastewater as a mitigation measure of climate change.