The impactof water sales price on the performance of water service providers is typically something of a mystery. High prices mean more revenue and profit; but it may lead to less bills collection and encourage the illegal connections. Yet, this argument has not been fully addressed in the Palestinian water sector; this research evaluates the effect of average water prices on the financial sustainability key indicators as collection efficiency, profit or loss percentage, non-revenue water, staff productivity, daily consumption, operating, and maintenance cost. The average price of cubic meter sold is segmented into low, medium, and high categories. Multivariate analysis shows that there are significant differences in profit or working ratio, daily consumption, and operating cost based on the different price categories. Further significant differences have been found in non-revenue water, collection efficiency, and water production based on low and high price categories. On the other hand, no significant difference has been found in staff productivity. The results show high price set by Palestinian water providers, leads to an increase in the bill collection rate and profit margin. However, negative relationship has been found between the price on one hand, and non-revenue water, average daily consumption, and water production on the other hand. The implication of these findings reveal that the Palestinian water providers should increase water prices gradually to cover operating and maintenance cost for better financial performance and sustainability.

Water resource shortages are always a challenge for Middle Eastern countries in general and for the Palestinian Authority in particular. For over 20 years in Palestine, political factors and a lack of control over water resources have exacerbated the water problem there, seriously affecting water resources, in terms of quality and quantity. This research presents one of the applications of the Water Assessment and Planning (WEAP) model in the Nablus and Tulkarm watershed. The model is applied in evaluating and analyzing the existing balance and the role of treated wastewater and anticipates future scenarios for the management of water resources, taking into account the policies and operating the various factors that may affect the demand and the impact of treated wastewater on the water budget until 2035. The results showed that the amount of treated wastewater in the study area will reach 16 MCM by 2035. The agricultural sector needs 17 MCM and currently only 2.8 MCM are available from artesian wells. The results also showed that one of the reasons for not using treated wastewater is a lack of experience in the planning and selection of wastewater treatment plant sites and of the capacity to match these with agricultural land that could reuse the treated wastewater. Demand management and improvements in living standards are the prerequisites necessary for the proper management of available resources. The results confirmed that the WEAP program provides a solid foundation to assist planners in developing recommendations for the management of water resources in the future, through the detection of hot spots on which to work.

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Climate change negatively affects sustainable development in Palestine, especially Jenin Gover-norate, which is the food basket for Palestine. This study identified climate change variables in Jenin Governorate for more than 100 years, especially temperatures and precipitation, derived from historical data to study the manifestations of climate change and its impact on water re-sources and the agricultural sector. The impact of climate change on groundwater wells is an un-derstatement. The majority of Jenin’s water wells, which number about 66 (including 22 agricul-tural wells), are located in the northeastern basin. By analyzing the data for the average annual total recharge of this basin, it was evident that the recharge had decreased from about 151 million cubic meters/year from 1976-1992 to about 134 million cubic meters/year during 1993-2009. (about 11.3%). This is because of the general solid decrease in rainfall in the Jenin area due to the effects of climate change. The decrease in recharge, coupled with increased groundwater pump-ing, has drained the reservoir stock and deteriorated the groundwater quality. The other source of water in Jenin Governorate is springs. Jenin Governorate has 42 streams largely used for small-scale agricultural and household needs. The research showed that the discharge of the springs increases from 2014 to 2020 (average discharge 0.48 MCM/yr.) compared to the period 2001 to 2011 (average discharge 0.48 MCM/yr.). years) due to the increase in the amounts of discharge from the springs and the start of relying on them more, as Jenin governorate is facing water scarcity recently. In the future, climate change will considerably impact water resources, altering surface and underground water supplies for residential and commercial purposes, irriga-tion, in-stream ecosystems, and aquatic leisure.