Residents of both the Palestinian territory and neighbouring Israel could benefit from action to desalinate groundwater crossing their border, according to a geological study of the Gaza Strip.

Scientists from Israel, Palestine and France studied the high levels of salt found in drinking water in the Gaza Strip – which typically contains far more chloride than is legal in Europe. They found that most of the salt comes from naturally saline groundwater flowing into the southern Mediterranean Coastal aquifer from Israel.

The researchers suggest that pumping this saline water from Israel out of the aquifer before it reaches the Gaza Strip and reducing the amount of water drawn from the aquifer in Gaza would lower salt levels. But there is concern that moving from the scientific arena to the political one will be tricky.

Link to full news article in Nature

Reference: Nature 426, 110 (2003)