IN PICTURES: Water in Gaza: A 'not-too-distant' calamity

According to the UN, 95-97 percent of the water in Gaza is undrinkable in 2015. This forces families that can afford it to buy expensive water from private companies that are delivered by trucks throughout the Strip (MEE/Andrea DiCenzo)

Private delivery trucks play music as they slowly roam through the streets waiting for customers to run outside and request water services (MEE/Andrea DiCenzo)

Mohammed al-Shafe, 28, works on his family farm in the outskirts of the northern city of Beit Layla (MEE/Andrea DiCenzo)

Farm workers on El Shafe’s farm pull onions that made it through the last harvest despite the water shortage (MEE/Andrea DiCenzo)

Hatem Taha Abu Eltayef, regional Office Manager of Khan Younis Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU), said: “During the war we only had about 2 hours of electricity. You cannot pump water from the wells and get it to people in just two hours” (MEE/Andrea DiCenzo)

During the 51-day war with Israel last summer, 11 water wells like this one, two purification plants, and 30 percent of water pipe infrastructure were completely destroyed (MEE/Andrea DiCenzo)

In Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood, a water well and reservoir were completely destroyed in the latest war. Builders and engineers are working to replace the well as soon as possible for the local residents (MEE/Andrea DiCenzo)

The Khan Younis Water Authority sewage waste plant treats sewage water as a way of increasing the usable water for Gaza’s rich farmlands (MEE/Andrea DiCenzo)

Next to an old water well in Beit Lahia that now lays in ruins, a young boy drinks fresh water and washes his face in a temporary water storage tank (MEE/Andrea DiCenzo)

In Beit Lahia, a water well can be seen in the distance. These water wells are essential for water to reach the population (MEE/Andrea DiCenzo)