PWEG is finalist in the World Bank Development Marketplace 2007, a competitive grant program of the World Bank that funds creative development projects that deliver results and have the potential to be expanded or replicated. Almost 3000 organizations from all around the world have competed at the World Bank Development Marketplace 2007. and from these, only 104 are finalists.

Only 30 ideas will be awarded grants by the World Bank. PWEG is within these 104 finalists. The objective of PWEG proposal is to prevent ground water pollution offering and promoting a low cost and socially accepted approach to sanitation in the aquifer recharge area of Palestine with the potential to be extended to all rural areas in Palestine and neighboring countries.

1.     PWEG DM Proposal Number and Title ....
DM Proposal Number: 109
Proposal Title: Protecting Ground Water Through Low Cost Rural Sanitation.

2.     Project Summary ....

1.     Objective: To prevent ground water pollution offering and promoting a low cost and socially accepted approach to sanitation in the aquifer recharge area of the West Bank (WB) with the potential to be extended to all rural areas in the WB and neighboring countries.

2.     Rationale: Appropriate management of wastewater (WW) has been neglected through the WB, prior to and during the existing conflict. Scars and sensitive ground water resources of the mountain aquifer, shared by Israelis and Palestinians, are subject to pollution due to infiltration of untreated WW (UNEP, 2003). Between 29-45 million cubic meters of untreated sewage from Palestinian communities are estimated to be discharged every year in the recharge area of the mountain aquifer. The proposed project offers a low cost sanitation model which will nonetheless provide adequate pollution prevention and safe treated WW socially accepted for agricultural irrigation contributing to food production and health enhancement.

3.     Innovation/Effectiveness: The project consists in separation of grey from black WW, treatment of grey water in a simple high efficient and low cost house hold treatment system, reuse of treated water in irrigation and promoting the system in the WB and neighboring countries. The proposed project will contribute to pollution abatement, food production and cash generation within poor families specially the women. The system is manufactured from local material and can be built by local non skilled community contributing further to its scaling up potentiality. The reuse of grey water in irrigation is socially and culturally accepted.

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