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Georgian-Israeli Billionaire Hopes to Bring Water to Parched Gaza

Associated Press

   GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP - A Georgian-Israeli billionaire believes he has
   found a solution to the Gaza Strip's chronic water crisis.

   MichaelMirilashviliwants to deliver hundreds of generators that produce
   drinking water out of thin air. His company,Watergen, sent a machine to
   a Gaza hospital last week in a rare case of Israeli-Palestinian
   cooperation in the Hamas-ruled enclave.

   Gaza's water situation is dire. Since the 2007 Hamas takeover of the
   crowded Palestinian territory, Gaza's 2 million people have endured a
   crippling border blockade by Israel and Egypt that froze virtually all
   trade and most travel.

   The 13-year-old lockdown, along with three Israel-Hamas wars, has
   produced chronic power cuts and damaged Gaza's infrastructure,
   contributing to water contamination.

   Electricity shortages prevent proper sewage treatment, forcing the
   strip to spew over 100,000 cubic meters (3.5 million cubic feet) of
   poorly treated sewage into the Mediterranean each day, according to
   U.N. estimates.

   Gaza relies on an aquifer as its main source of potable water.
   Butoverextractionhas allowed sea water to seep in, rendering 97% of the
   area's water undrinkable.

   More generators in works?

   In an interview with The Associated Press,Mirilashvilisaid he wants to
   send more water generators to Gaza "because they are our neighbors and
   it's a great pity to look at them suffering from such severe water
   shortages."

   He spoke days after one of his machines was installed on the roof of
   the Al-RantisiMedical Center in Gaza City. Just a day after delivery,
   the generator, a large blue cube roughly the size of a vending machine,
   began producing cold, clean water for the hospital's pediatric cancer
   ward.

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