Assessment of Microbiological Characteristics of the Desalinated Water Used in Household Facilities in Gaza Strip

Access to safe water represents one of the most important basic human needs of the people of Palestine and is vital to a growing economy and a healthy population. Groundwater is the major source of water to the Palestinians. Nowadays, the water crisis in the Strip is multiplying. The objective of this research is to make an assessment of the desalination plants for the microbiological quality for both the inlet (groundwater) and the outlet water (product water) in the desalination plants. Samples from both the inlet and outlet water from 88 desalination plants have been collected by the researchers have been tested in the Palestinian Ministry of Health-The Public Health Laboratory for both Total Coliform and Fecal Coliform. The study proved that the current private desalination monitoring program by the concerned authorities should be developed, enhanced and intensified. The study also revealed that the current private desalination plants were established randomly and for commercial purposes without any previous planning. The results indicated that there is a high percentage of microbiological contamination in the outlet water (21.6%) and the inlet water (16.6%), which exceeded the WHO guidelines. The study concluded that large scale sea water desalination plants should be established to overcome the current water quality problems and the quantity shortage. Keywords: Groundwater, contamination, reverse osmosis (RO), brackish water, desalination plants, Gaza Strip, Total Coliform (TC), Fecal Coliform (FC)