“Starting in 2010, the increasing gap between available water resources and consumption will require the production of 40% of all water consumed through artificial means,” Mekorot National Water Company director of water resources Sarah Haklai said today. She was speaking at a Holon Academic Institute of Technology seminar about Israel’s water crisis.
Israel Water Commission Planning Division manager Michael Zaida said the rate at which the government’s decisions were being applied was extremely slow, despite the severe crisis. He estimated that fulfilling Israel’s water requirements would require an investment of NIS 19 billion by 2010.
The speakers at the seminar stressed that an important part of solving the water crisis was putting in order the water supply system’s managerial and organizational base, and the price system for the various sectors. They asserted that water rates reflected deliberate policy choices, and were inadequate to cover production costs.
The speakers added that because of the current water rates, home consumers paid local authorities NIS 4.50 per cubic meter, double the price that the local authorities paid Mekorot. The difference is being used to help balance the local authorities’ budgets. The speakers further claimed that the agricultural sector pays only NIS 1 per cubic meter, which causes uneconomical use of water.
Another point raised at the seminar was that the water crisis could not be solved without including in the solution the burgeoning needs of the Palestinian population.
Published by Globes [online] -l www.globes.co.il - on November 30, 2003