Time is running out on the only water source serving Gaza, and both Israeli and Palestinian officials are appealing for international aid to avert a looming crisis affecting more than 1.6 million people.

The problem is that the territory’s only aquifer is within a couple of years of complete failure.  Replenishing run-off water from the Hebron Hills is diverted to Israeli farmers, and doesn’t make it all the way downstream to the Gaza Strip, where residents have tapped the aquifer practically dry.  Because no fresh water is coming in from the hills, salt water from the Mediterranean Sea seeps in from the other side.  And even that is contaminated from sewage and chemical runoff from Gaza.

It’s not uncommon for any given home’s water taps to stay dry every other day.  That leaves as many as 80 percent of Gazans no choice but to pay high prices for bottled water.

“Families are paying as much as a third of their household income for water,” said June Kunugi, a special representative of the UN children's fund Unicef.

The Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) has started work on two new seawater desalination plants and is planning a third, but funding is far from certain, and groundbreaking isn’t expected until 2017.

And although Israel is training some Palestinian officials in desalination technology, Gaza is ruled by the radical Islamist Hamas party, which opposes Israel’s right to exist.  Israel’s blockade to prevent weapons from reaching Hamas also blocks the import of materials needed to repair the water and sewer systems.

PWA Deputy Chairman Rebhi El Sheikh says now is the time for international donors to step up, before there is an emergency. 

“A small investment is needed to avoid a bigger one, and it is a humanitarian issue that has nothing to do with politics or security,” he said.