水不足深刻なガザ 太陽光で海水を飲み水に変える技術者

【ハンユニスＡＦＰ＝時事】戦火に見舞われたパレスチナ自治区ガザ地区では、水一滴一滴が貴重だ。農業技術者のイナス・グールさん（５０）が作った間に合わせのソーラー式浄水器は、終わりのない爆撃と灼熱（しゃくねつ）の中で生き延びるパレスチナ人にとって重要な財産となっている。（写真は、ガザ地区中部デイルアルバラフにある避難民のための仮設キャンプで、容器に水を入れる人）
　グールさんは、ガザに届いた援助物資が載っていた木製の台と、約１１か月に及ぶ戦争で打ち捨てられた建物から回収した窓ガラスを使って、上面がガラス張りの水槽を作った。
　水槽に入れた海水はガラス板が作り出す温室効果で温められ、蒸発する。このようにして水を蒸留し、塩と分離する。
　蒸留水は長く黒いホースを通って活性炭が入った別の容器に運ばれ、不純物がさらに除去される。
　「これは非常にシンプルな装置で、使いやすく、作りやすい」。グールさんはガザ地区南部のハンユニスにある自宅でろ過された水を飲み、ＡＦＰに語った。
　グールさんが作った装置は「電気やフィルター、ソーラーパネルを必要とせず、太陽エネルギーだけで動作する」。ガザは、１日の日照時間が夏は１４時間、冬は８時間と、太陽エネルギーが豊富だ。
　ガザ唯一の発電所が停止し、イスラエルからの電力供給が途絶えて数か月たつ今、この装置の有用性が際立っている。
　国際ＮＧＯオックスファムは７月、ガザ地区の人々が１日に利用できる水量は平均４．７４リットルで、「緊急時に推奨される最低水量の３分の１以下」だと報告した。
　これは「トイレを１回流す水量よりも少ない」とオックスファムは警告。報告書は、イスラエルとイスラム組織ハマスの戦闘が始まって以来、ガザ地区で１人が１日に利用できる水は９４％減少したと推定している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/09/18-20:07）

In war-ravaged Gaza, every drop of water counts, making Inas al-Ghul's makeshift sun-powered water filter a vital asset for parched Palestinians surviving endless bombardment under the territory's scorching heat.
Using wood from the few pallets of aid that make it into Gaza, and window panes salvaged from buildings that have largely been abandoned in 10 months of war, the 50-year-old agricultural engineer built a glass-covered trough.
She lets saltwater evaporate from the trough, heated by the greenhouse effect created by the glass panes, allowing the water to distil and leaving behind the salt.
From there, a long black hose carries the evaporated water to other containers filled with activated charcoal to further filter out impurities.
It is a very simple device, it's very simple to use and to build, Ghul told AFP after taking a long gulp from a glass of filtered water in her house in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.
- Abundant energy -
Ghul's device doesn't require electricity, filters, or solar panels, it operates solely on solar energy, which Gaza has in abundance, with 14 hours of sunshine per day in the summer, and eight hours in the winter.
This has proven particularly useful at a time when Gaza's only power plant is down and electricity supplies from Israel have been cut for months.
With fuel also in short supply, Gaza's desalination plants that haven't been damaged in the fighting have been working at a drastically reduced capacity.
Mohammad Abu Daoud, a displaced Gazan sweating in the midday sun, said Ghul's invention comes exactly at the right time.
For about two months, we have relied on it entirely, he told AFPTV.
This brings crucial help to those who benefit from it, as the available water for Gazans currently averages 4.74 litres per day, under a third of the recommended minimum in emergencies, Oxfam reported in July.
This represents less than a single toilet flush, the aid group warned in a report, which estimates that available water per person per day in the Gaza Strip plummeted by 94 percent since the beginning of the war.
Water was already scarce before the conflict erupted, and most of it was undrinkable. The 2.4 million population relies primarily on an increasingly polluted and depleted aquifer, humanitarian agencies say.
- 'Water as a weapon of war' -
The war broke out with Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,199 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel's retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed at least 40,173 people, according to the territory's health ministry, which does not provide a breakdown of civilian and militant deaths.
In the school-turned-shelter where Abu Daoud lives, close to Ghul's house, other displaced families have come to rely on the water filtration system to fill up their bottles.
The 250-litre tank that stores the clean water quickly empties.
Oxfam accuses Israel of using water as a weapon of war, and has warned of a deadly health catastrophe for Gazans, almost all of whom have been displaced at least once.
The aid group calculated that Israeli military attacks have damaged or destroyed five water and sanitation infrastructure sites every three days since the start of the war.
The lack of clean water has had drastic effects on the population, with 26 percent of Gaza's population falling severely ill from easily preventable diseases, it said.
Conscious of the pressing need for her device and of the ubiquitous danger of air strikes, Ghul regularly climbs up to her terrace to watch over her creation, and to open or close her precious taps.