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http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=82336
JERUSALEM, 13 January 2009 (IRIN) - The Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) is concerned that waste water lagoons in the northern Gaza Strip could collapse due to the current fighting between Israel and Hamas
"With Israel's latest bombardment, there is a real risk that earth retention walls of a number of wastewater lagoons will break, releasing an estimated three million cubic metres of wastewater into the surrounding communities", said Shaddad Attili, head of the PWA, in a statement on 12 January.
Attili said a lagoon collapsed in 2007 killing five people and displacing hundreds of families.
Majeda Alawneh, a spokeswoman for the PWA, told IRIN three of her staff in Gaza had been killed in the Israeli offensive which began on 27 December. "Two staff members were working in the waste water sector and one was on duty at a water well," she said from the PWA's Ramallah office.
One shell had hit a lagoon with a weak retaining wall, supported by sand, and the PWA was concerned the damage might cause a collapse, she said.
The Coastal Municipalities Water Utilities (CMWU), Gaza's main water agency, said it had received unconfirmed reports that 200,000 cubic metres of wastewater had leaked from the Gaza City treatment plant after an embankment sustained damage during the fighting.
"The Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip is causing extensive damage to homes and to public infrastructure and is jeopardising water, sanitation and medical services," said the UN humanitarian coordinator's statement on 12 January.