In July 2008, WA began implementation of an emergency project to provide a vitally needed water sanitation network to poor refugee households of Al-Mugraga village, southwest of Gaza City. The European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) provided Euros 300,000 and WA contributed Euros 24,968 for the project, which addresses a major source of water borne disease in Gaza, especially for children.

Al-Mugraga is in the middle area of Gaza Strip, with 3260 dunums of agricultural land. The project will serve 4,000 residents of Al-Mugraga directly by establishing a sanitation network; it will also result in improving the sanitary, health and environmental situation for 12,000 people through the provision of a wastewater pumping station in nearby Abu Hurira neighborhood. Residents currently rely on cesspits and wastewater flows in open canals; sewage seepage threatens the quality of the underground aquifer and the village water network – the main source for drinking.

Project staff will also carry out an environmental and health education campaign, including information on how to maintain the network.

This is the third ECHO emergency humanitarian project to be implemented by WA. In 2007 WA successfully implemented a project also in the water sanitation sector in Gaza. In 2006, WA implemented an ECHO-funded emergency food security project for refugees and displaced persons in Lebanon in the aftermath of the Israeli invasion.