ISRAELI CABINET APPROVES EMERGENCY WATER PLAN

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001211



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TAGS: SENV, EAGR, IS, PA, JO

SUBJ: ISRAELI CABINET APPROVES EMERGENCY WATER PLAN



Ref: (A) TelAviv 242 B) TelAviv 678



1. (SBU) SUMMARY. The GOI approved new emergency actions on June 1

to address the country's water shortage. Agriculture was cut by 40

percent in its allocation, and an extensive (and expensive) public

conservation program was approved. Major investments totaling

billions of shekels over coming years in wastewater treatment and

desalination capacity were announced. An inter-ministerial team

will now work on water issues in an effort to minimize the

bureaucratic squabbles that have previously hindered Israeli

efforts. End Summary.



2. (U) Israel's cabinet approved the proposed emergency plan

submitted by Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer to deal

with Israel's water crisis. The plan, prepared by the Israel

Authority for Water and Sewage, addresses both short-term

(2008-2009) and long-term measures required to ensure the quantity

and quality of Israel's water supply until about 2020). The plan

has four main parts.



3. (U) First, the emergency plan allocates NIS 120 million (USD 36

million) to encourage water conservation. These funds target both

consumer practices and corporate users, in an attempt to encourage

more effective water usage and thereby increase the overall

availability of water in the short term. Higher water fees - giving

users the incentive to save water -- are another component of demand

management, as is cutting water allocations for public gardens use

by local authorities, cutting the allocation of national supply to

the agricultural sector, and increasing inspection and enforcement

activity.



4. (U) Second, the emergency plan allocates NIS 915 million (USD 275

million) to upgrade old and construct new plants to treat waste

water over in the next five years. Each cubic meter of water

recycled is one less that must be pumped or desalinated. This

action covers short and medium term needs.



5. (U) Third, the plan establishes the medium term goal of

increasing the quantity of desalinated water in Israel to 750

million cubic meters (mcm) a year: 600 mcm by 2013 and 100 mcm more

by 2020. Today 138 mcm are desalinated in Israel between the

Ashkelon and Palmahim plants, and 100 mcm more is under construction

in the Hadera plant. (This expands on the GOI decision made last

August to increase the quantity of desalinated water to 505 mcm a

year.)



6. (U) Fourth, the action program establishes an inter-ministerial

team to handle the actions proposed above efficiently and quickly,

including implementing the needed statutory processes to build and

expand the water infrastructure in Israel. Heading the team will be

the director of the State Authority for Water and Sewage. Other on

the team will be representatives of the Interior Ministry's Planning

Administration, the Finance Ministry, the Israel Lands

Administration, the Justice Ministry, and the National

Infrastructure Ministry.



7. (SBU) As post reported previously (reftels),the winter of

2007-2008 was extremely dry and the average rainfall was about 65%

of the annual average. The situation in the basin of the Sea of

Galilee and in the mountain region is particularly bad -- the

average rainfall there was less than 60% of the annual average. The

national water carrier Mekorot has ceased tapping the Sea since

January, but its water level has risen by only six centimeters

during the spring run-off period, and at the moment is at a level of

less than half a meter above the red line - the level at which it is

ecologically harmful to withdraw water. Despite the probability of

such a dry year coming on top of four straight years of drought

being only 2%, i.e., once in 50 years, this is indeed what has

happened. This year the level of the Sea of Galilee will drop to

almost a meter below the red line.



8. (SBU) Comment: The inter-ministerial committee may be the most

important feature of the emergency program, as bureaucratic

confrontation is partly to blame for the present predicament. In

2001, expansion of desalination capacity was agreed on, but the

Finance Ministry (supported by others) opted to delay allocating

funds for it as that winter's rains were plentiful. Getting

Finance, Lands Administration, Infrastructure, and Justice behind

the same policy will help speed implementation of desalination and

gray-water treatment actions. On June 1, the inter-ministerial

tender committee asked the three desalination operators in Ashkelon,

Palmahim, and Hadera to submit bids for expanding the plants.

Previous bidding requests have been challenged on legal grounds that

questioned the competitiveness and openness of favoring the existing

operators. Reportedly, a deputy to the accountant general in the

Finance Ministry did thorough staff work to examine the economic,

legal, engineering and statutory aspects necessary to carry out the

decision. Avoiding bureaucratic delays will be key to accomplishing

the objectives of the water action program.



JONES