Beneath the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip is a groundwater crisis that's rapidly depriving Palestinians of drinking water. Israel and the Palestinian authority share the Mediterranean Coastal Aquifer, which is now contaminated with salts, nitrates and boron.

But now, a solution may be at hand. A multilateral team of scientists has discovered that over pumping of groundwater by the Gaza Strip's 1.3 million people has caused the water level to drop. This has created a slope in the groundwater table, allowing the naturally saline groundwater from Israel to flow steadily westward and spoil the aquifer under the Gaza Strip.

The team of Palestinian, French and Israeli scientists, led by Israeli geochemist Avner Vengosh of Tel Aviv University, suggests that drilling several large wells on the eastern boundary of the Gaza Strip would tap the saline Israeli water and slow its progress into the freshwater supply. That would go a long way toward preserving what's left of the potable water.