Irrigation Water Project: Well, Elevated Tank, and Desalination Plant

Irrigation Water Project in Al-Qarara

A well, a tank, and a desalination plant one system bringing land back into production

A well producing 50,000 litres per hour, a 100 m³ elevated tank, and a desalination plant producing 25,000 litres per hour

In the Gaza Strip, the agricultural water crisis is not only one of scarcity but of salinity. Groundwater in many areas carries salt concentrations beyond the tolerance of most crops, meaning that availability alone is not enough to sustain agricultural production. A farmer with a well but no desalination faces the same problem from another angle.

Working from that understanding, the project was designed as a single system rather than a set of separate structures: a water source, storage capacity, and a treatment unit. The Gaza Society for Sustainable Agriculture and Friendly Environment (SAFE) delivered the project in the Al-Qarara area of Khan Younis Governorate in October 2004, funded by Qatar Charity, at a total cost of USD 59,000 over ten months.

The Project in Numbers

Component 1 — Extraction and storage (USD 38,000):

• A water well with a pumping capacity of 50 m³ per hour (approximately 50,000 litres)
• An elevated reinforced-concrete water tank with a capacity of 100 m³ (approximately 100,000 litres)
• Tank height of 8 metres, enabling gravity-fed distribution without additional pumping energy

Component 2 — Desalination (USD 21,000):

• A water desalination plant dedicated to agriculture, with a production capacity of 25 m³ per hour (approximately 25,000 litres)

Duration: 10 months | Total cost: USD 59,000

Why This Particular Design?

Each component addresses a different barrier to agricultural production:

The well secures the water source and frees the farmer from dependence on unstable or high-cost external supply.

The elevated tank separates pumping time from irrigation time, allowing water to be stored and used when needed rather than when electricity happens to be available. Its eight-metre height is not a construction detail but an engineering decision: it provides sufficient pressure for gravity-fed distribution and reduces reliance on additional pumps, along with the energy and operating costs they consume — a decisive consideration in an environment of chronic power interruption.

The desalination plant addresses the core problem: reducing water salinity to a level crops can tolerate, widening the range of what can be grown and raising both yield and produce quality.

Extraction, storage, and treatment together are what turn water from a theoretically available resource into a genuinely usable one.

Impact That Outlasts the Project

Unlike consumable interventions, water infrastructure continues operating for years after its funding ends. The well, the tank, and the desalination plant are fixed assets serving the surrounding farmland season after season — making the project cost an investment in permanent productive capacity rather than an expense that ends when the money is spent.

SAFE's Role

SAFE led the project drawing on its agricultural and engineering expertise: assessing the area's water needs, determining the well's location and technical specifications, designing the elevated tank's capacity and height, defining the desalination plant's specifications and production capacity, providing direct engineering supervision of drilling, construction, and installation works, and overseeing commissioning and handover.

Partnership for Productive Land

The project reflects the value of partnership with Gulf charitable institutions in supporting agricultural infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. With support from Qatar Charity, USD 59,000 in funding became a permanent water system serving farmland in Al-Qarara.

Saline water leaves land barren however abundant it is. Desalinating it, storing it, and delivering it is what makes that land productive.