Muhammad Hamamdeh,
Water supervisor of the Yatta municipality
I live in Yatta and have been in charge of the municipality's water system since 1974. I maintain the water system and am responsible for the distribution of water to the various sections of town and to the neighboring communities. The area has 64,000 residents: 50,000 live in Yatta and 14,000 in the nearby villages, some of whom are connected to the water system. For example, the village al-Karmel is hooked up to a running-water system, but the water doesn't reach it. The Masafer Yatta [the satellite communities around Yatta), have no running-water system.
Yatta is suffering a severe water shortage. The municipality receives water from two sources: 1) the Teqo'a well, which reaches us via Qiryat Arba. The well supplies 50-60 cubic meters of water an hour; 2) the a-Rihiya well, which is situated in a village near Yatta. This well was not working for four years, until it was fixed in May 2005. It supplies Yatta with 20-30 cubic meters of water an hour. I estimate that Yatta requires an 150 additional cubic meters an hour.
There are a number of reasons for the water shortage:
- Increase in the population.
- The town's economic development: in recent years, stone, blocks, and tile factories have been opened, as have farms for raising cattle, sheep and goats, and chickens.
- The irregularity of water supply via Qiryat Arba. From time to time, the connection breaks down, resulting in a reduction in water supply. Rarely does the supply of water from Qiryat Arba exceed the amount allocated for Yatta, and then only when Qiryat Arba has met its own needs and a surplus remains.
- Increase in the town's standard of living.
- Mekorot [the Israel water company] has begun to use narrower pipes in supplying water in the area near Bani Na'im. Also, the company placed a filter on the pipe, which has to be cleaned of dirt and stones daily. Access to the area is achieved along a bypass road, and soldiers and settlers prevent maintenance personnel from getting through. They need to obtain a special permit.
- There is relatively little precipitation in Yatta.
- The water system is very old. The municipality does the best it can to maintain it.
 | Muhammad Hamamdeh, next to the main water valve. Photo: Musa Abu Hashhash, B'Tselem
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As supervisor of the water system, I distribute the water among the twelve neighborhoods, in a way that provides water for a week-ten days to one neighborhood after the other. As a result, each family receives water about one week every four months, or only once during the summer. Residents living at high altitude don't receive any water because the water pressure is not high enough. Some residents take advantage of the period they receive water to store water in containers. My office is full of residents who come and inquire when their turn for receiving water will come. I explain that the water is supplied in an orderly manner, and that their turn will come. Sometimes, the residents get angry and begin shouting, and occasionally I also lose my composure.
Yatta has one water tanker, which holds ten cubic meters of water, and we use it to supply water to the neighborhoods in town. People wait a week or two until their turn comes. We supply ten cubic meters of water for NIS 100. In addition, there are 10-15 private water-tankers that sell water to residents who live outside the city limits. The water provided by these tankers is of questionable quality, and they charge from 120 - 200 shekels per ten cubic meter. There are also dozens of tractors that tow water tanks to residents in the area.
As a result of the water shortage, town residents stopped watering their gardens and growing field crops. Some reuse the water. For example, when doing a laundry, they use the dirty water to wash the floor or clean the toilets. Some households use a pail rather than running water for showers, for washing things, and for cleaning clothes. Many women have stopped using washing machines because the machines use lots of water.
Residents of the town make a living from raising sheep and goats. There are more than twenty thousand head of sheep and goats and tens of thousand of fowl. The farmers have to purchase water to water their animals. It costs them a lot of money and makes the raising of livestock a questionable financial proposition.
In addition to all this, settlers turn off the main valve near Bani Na'im. When they do that, we face great danger going there to turn it back on. More than once, soldiers refused to let us get through. Once, settlers left a leaking gas canister inside the room with the main valve. When the worker went into the room to turn on the valve, he was injured by the gas and was taken to hospital. That happened a year ago. The municipality needs to obtain a permit for its employees who maintain the main valve so that they can get to the site and repair it without having to worry about the soldiers and settlers.
Muhammad 'Abdallah Ahmad Hamamdeh, 55, is father to eleven children, a resident of Yatta, in Hebron district, and the water supervisor of the Yatta municipality. His testimony was given to Musa Abu Hashhash at the Yatta municipality's offices on 1 August 2005