Despite emergency measures to combat the water crisis, Israel is still short of 100 million cubic meters of water this year, according to figures presented to the cabinet yesterday.
Minister of National Infrastructures Binyamin Ben-Eliezer told ministers that rainfall so far in January was the lowest since records began. "Unfortunately, not only is our situation not improving, it is even worsening," Ben-Eliezer said.
Israel Water Authority Director Uri Shani presented water supply and demand figures to the cabinet. He said the available volume of water in Lake Kinneret would be 45 million cubic meters this year, compared with 328 million in 2006-2007. "The amount of precipitation so far represents about 45% of the median for this period, particularly in the area of Lake Kinneret and the hills. Water consumption is higher than expected. The probability of such a dry winter, after a series of four dry years, is practically zero," Shani said.
Shani added that the Water Authority's emergency plan, designed to rescue the water economy from its difficult crisis, was being implemented, but that it was inadequate. "We are currently working on a further emergency plan, in partnership with other government ministries, to cope with the worsening drought," he said.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on January 26, 2009
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