WATER CRISIS AND OBSTACLES FACING WATER SUPPLY IN THE WEST BANK

Water resources in the West Bank are still under the Israeli control and water resources are in short supply, while the demand is growing. The population of the Palestinian territories is 3,6 million, of which 2.3 live in the West Bank and 1,3 in Gaza Strip with population growth of 3,06%. Palestinian are living in 642 communities, with 257 non-served communities, which constituted 13% of the population. Increasing demand, restrictions for developing water resources and the fragmentation among water institutions are the main obstacles for future development. Management of water supply depends on the availability of water, availability of infrastructure and on the performance of water institutions. We focus on this research on the evaluation of water institutional performance because this component could be improved without agreement of the Israelis. Water institutions are facing many challenges such as: low collection efficiency, high water losses, high accumulated debts, high salaries, lack of coordination channels between different stakeholders, lack of managerial structures and frame works and poor technical and legal performance. Evaluation and assessment of a number of water institutions working in the West Bank were conducted using structural performance criteria (Regulation, Technical, Financial, Managerial, Management information system and Conflict resolutions). The methodology used was based on analytical framework, where five case studies were applied on which real secondary data were collected and analyzed. Stake holder's attitudes, response and opinions were also investigated through a questionnaire. We found out a consistency between the applied case studies and the questionnaire analysis which ensures the poor institutional performance of water sector. Most important findings of this research is the difficulty and lack of ability to apply the proposed new model which was approved recently by the Council of Ministries, (Decision No.5, 2006), this model divides the West Bank into three utilities (North Utility, Central Utility and South Utility). This research recommends Public Private Partnership [PPP] as the potential and efficient Model for managing water resources in the West Bank.