On Friday 12 January 2007, the European Commission Directorate –General for Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) and the Welfare Association sister organization WA- UK signed a grant agreement totaling 250,000 Euros aimed at protecting underground water aquifer and water network in Al-Sawahra neighborhood from wastewater sewage contamination.

Al-Sawahra neighborhood is 400 dunums of densely populated land and considered to be one of the poorest areas in the Gaza Strip. Residents are settled Bedouin refugees originally from the Bir Saba’ region who depend on jobs in agriculture and in the public sector. The neighborhood’s only source of drinking water is from a well 2 kilometers to the east. There is daily contamination of the water supply from overflowing cesspits, open drainage of waste water and deteriorating pipes, posing a health hazard.

Around 2000 individuals in Al – Sawahra neighborhood will benefit directly from the project that include functioning water sewerage network, halt in use of cesspits and an increase in community awareness of domestic sources of water contamination. The start date of operations is 15 January 2007 and is expected to last for 6 months.

This is the second grant agreement signed between the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) and Welfare Association-UK. The first grant agreement totaling 265,650 Euros was signed in August 2006 with the objective of supporting the survival of 8,300 refugees and displaced persons in Tyre and Bekaa regions in Lebanon by providing them with emergency supplies.