"The price of water is soaring, and people are apathetic. When the price of gasoline rises by NIS 0.02 per liter, all the media reports it. When the price of water is tripled, no one cares," claims Maalot-Tarshiha Mayor Shlomo Bohbot, in his capacity as chairman of the Union of Local Authorities in Israel. He alleges that the price of water has tripled since 2007.
Bohbot and other mayors plan to disrupt traffic in Tel Aviv at 11 am tomorrow with a demonstration in front of the offices of the Water Authority on Hamasger Street.
The mayors also twice petitioned the High Court of Justice this year, and they are also seeking a bill to put water prices under Knesset supervision, in order to prevent tariff hikes.
Bohbot said, "We call on the public to go out onto the streets." He said that he will not stop the protests until water prices revert to sane levels. "There is no connection between the temporary water shortage and the prices, which are set merely to finance the unnecessary municipal water companies, which the government established against the position of the Union of Local Authorities."
Israel has been suffering from severe drought for six years, and the Water Authority believes that this winter's rains herald a seventh lean year.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 14, 2010
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