What are the reasons for Israel's most recent water crisis?
To my mind, the reasons for the water crisis are grounded in mismanagement and faulty decision-making on Israel's water sources. For years, we overexploited our water sources, based on the assumption that we could just reduce water allocations to agriculture in drought years. Long-term planning was not undertaken. Our most recent water crisis, which began in the late 1990s, is the most severe ever. At some point, there was a real danger that we would reach a point where we would not be able to supply our most basic consumption needs. Has the water quantity crisis impacted on water quality?
Undoubtedly. Overexploitation of groundwater aquifers has led to pollution of groundwater aquifers. Overpumping has led to the infiltration of saline water bodies and to continuous increases in chloride concentrations in the western basin – both in the coastal and mountain aquifers. Additional pollutants, including nitrates, heavy metals and organic micro-pollutants, are accumulating in our aquifers as a result of anthropogenic activity.
Now that we have “ostensibly” solved the problem of water quantity, we must confront and address the problem of deteriorating water quality. The goal is to utilize our natural water sources in a balanced way and to increase the water supply from so-called “manufactured sources” – desalinated seawater, desalinated brackish water, effluents and more. Our policy today takes account not only of water quantity but also of water quality. We are now advocating and implementing a sustainable water policy.
How is the Water Commission tackling the problem of deteriorating water quality in the coastal aquifer and in wells in the center of the country?
With regard to the coastal aquifer, we are exploring ways to reverse the addition of salt. Just today, we met with experts from academic institutions to examine potential means of “righting” the salt balance – detracting from the quantity of salt which reaches our water sources rather than allowing salts to accumulate.
Solutions do exist, but they are expensive. We are therefore looking for the most efficient combination. An important component of this effort is the Ministry of the Environment and its activities to stop the pollution of our water sources. In parallel, we, at the Water Commission, are looking for ways to reduce the import of salts, especially from Lake Kinneret which contributes a third of the total quantity of salts to our water sources. There are many possibilities. For example, we have studied the mechanisms of salt flushing in saline springs on the bottom of Lake Kinneret and are now pumping and diverting these saline waters to reduce the flow of salts into the lake. When the lake’s water level dropped to an all time low a couple of years ago, we discovered new springs which will be captured in order to further reduce the salinity of the lake.
Furthermore, our future desalination facilities will comply with stringent threshold levels for water quality, with chloride concentrations below 100 mg/liter and at times as low as 20 - 30 mg/liter. This will go a long way toward reducing the salinity problem.
Finally, to deal with high nitrate concentrations in water wells, and for that matter with other sources of pollution, especially in the center of the country, we have begun to take steps to treat this water – by pumping it and removing the pollutants. This is the case in contaminated wells in the Ramat Hasharon area, for example. We are currently at different stages of dealing with several major pollution spots in different parts of the country – whether in the planning stage, survey stage or actual implementation stage.
How are plans for the introduction of seawater desalination facilities progressing?
At the height of the water crisis, a few years ago, the government took a decision to increase water supplies through a number of measures, including seawater desalination plants. Although plans called for the establishment of several desalination plants, with a total capacity of 315 million cubic meters of water, at present only plans for a 100 MCM desalination plant at Ashkelon are being fully implemented so that this plant should be operational by January 2005. An additional tender, for a 100 MCM desalination facility in the Hadera area, will be published in April of this year.
Has the above-average rainfall of the past two winters impacted on these plans?
It is essential to continue to implement the government decision. The bountiful rains of this winter and of last winter must not make us indifferent or complacent. History has taught us that rainy years are followed by drought years. Neither the public nor decision makers can afford to be complacent.
On the other hand, we have made changes in Lake Kinneret in light of its rising water levels. First, we implemented a technical change in the so-called maximum “red line,” raising it by 11 centimeters to minus 208.8 meters below sea level on the basis of a survey which was conducted about six years ago. This rectifies a previous mistake and translates to an additional storage capacity of about 18 MCM in the lake.
Our goal is to operate the lake at a level ranging between 213 to 208.8 meters below sea level, but it is important to realize that fluctuations in water inflows can easily swing the level from one extreme to another. Having said this, I am glad to report that since March of last year, when winter rains substantially raised the water level of the lake, we have been pumping the maximum amount of water possible from the Kinneret to the National Water Carrier – at a rate of 1.4 million cubic meters per day. A large portion of this total – 400 thousand cubic meters per day – was infiltrated into our aquifers.
It is our intention to continue to implement a sustainable water policy, which takes account of both water quality and water quantity.
