WATER AND WASTE: A CHALLENGE TO ISRAELI POLICY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 000678



SIPDIS



SIPDIS

SENSITIVE



DEPT FOR NEA/REA and OES/ENV

USDA FOR FAS/OCBD/DRDAD

EPA FOR International

AMMAN FOR ESTH - BHALLA



E.O. 12958: N/A

TAGS: SENV, EAGR, ENRG, IS,

SUBJ: Water and Waste: A Challenge to Israeli Policy



Ref: (A) Tel Aviv 242 (B) Tel Aviv 613



1. (SBU) SUMMARY. The Israeli-West Bank water crisis continues to

deepen, with new data confirming the need for difficult choices.

Knesset hearings have questioned government management of Israel's

water sector. Media debate continues on which users - consumers or

agro-industry - will be cut back. The situation is aggravated by

reports claiming that illegal waste dumping is polluting the shared

Israeli and PA aquifers. Comment: the strong linkage between water

and waste problems may merit addressing them in tandem in the

Annapolis Process multilateral working groups. End Summary.



Water Worries Increase

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2. (SBU) The Israeli government and media are starting to focus on

the critical relationship between water and waste. Living within

the confines of the Jordan River and the Mediterranean, between

Lebanon's mountains and the Gulf of Aqaba, are 12 million people in

a water-stressed environment. As noted refs A and B, several years

of substandard rainfall and over-pumping of groundwater resources

have led to critically short freshwater supplies and an increasing

risk of salinization of the natural water sources shared by Israelis

and Palestinians. In early March the director of the Palestinian

Water Authority, Fadel Qawash, discussing the water situation in the

Gaza Strip, said the results of over-pumping are already evident.

Three-quarters of the water being pumped in Gaza from the Gaza

aquifer now has a saline level higher than that permitted for

drinking water.



3. (U) On March 18 the Knesset Interior and Environment Committee

held discussions on the water crisis. Members of Knesset (MKs)

leveled criticism at the government for delaying funding for two new

desalination plants that were approved in 2000 but still not begun

by 2006. Israel Water Authority (IWA) Director Uri Shani responded

that the rains that year were sufficient and the Ministry of Finance

therefore decided it could save the 2 billion NIS cost to the

budget. Israel's total supply of freshwater is 984 million cubic

meters (mcm) per year, of which 832 is natural water and 152 mcm is

desalinated water. Shani noted further that Lake Kinneret, Israel's

chief freshwater reservoir, was expected to fall below the red-line

level of minus 213.00 meters (below sea level) by July, at which

point it is undesirable to withdraw water as it risks salinization

of the groundwater resources, growth of duckweed, and would have

other negative ecological impacts. Shani predicts that the Lake

will fall to the black-line level of minus 214.40 meters by December

2008. At this level, it will no longer be possible to pump water

since the pumps themselves will be above the water line.



4. (SBU) Shani noted the annual amount of usable water in Israel has

decreased over the past 16 years by 164 mcm, from 1.34 billion cubic

meters to 1.175 billion cubic meters. (Note: the usable water

calculation counts fresh and treated wastewater distribution.)

Global warming is partly to blame, but so is greater pollution,

which has rendered some water unusable for recycling options.

Although plans target increasing the desalinated water supply to 550

mcm by 2012, the IWA representative said there is little that they

can do immediately to increase supply. Controlling demand is the

only option. Defenders of the agricultural sector told the Knesset

that their sector has already made great strides in efficiency, and

that it is now time for consumers to learn to conserve.



An Alternative View

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5. (SBU) Other analysts of the water situation take a more critical

view of the efforts of the agricultural sector. German

hydrogeologist Clemens Messerschmid declared in Haaretz (Left of

center daily, circ.75,000) on March 7 that there is plenty of water;

the problem is mal-distribution. Berlin receives less rain than

Jerusalem, he observes, 550 milimeters vs 554 milimeters, and

geologically Israel and the West Bank are ideally suited for water

storage in aquifers. (Comment: Clemens' logic is specious, in that

Berlin need not rely on local rainfall as a major freshwater source

as does Israel; major rivers provide water in Germany. Nor is

evaporation a major issue in Germany. End Comment.) Clemens notes

that agriculture uses a greater percentage of water than consumers

do, yet has shrunk to provide only 2 percent of Israel's GDP. It is

illogical for Israel to produce water-intensive crops like bananas,

melons, and cut flowers for export to the well-watered European

market. Clemens also believes that Israel uses regional water

supplies disproportionately, exacerbating the scarcity of water in

the PA areas. The IWA acknowledges that agriculture uses 450 mcm of

freshwater per year - on top of all the treated wastewater. Most

analysts agree, nonetheless, that Israeli consumers have shown

little restraint. Shani said per capita water consumption in 2007



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grew from 106 to 108 cubic meters, and that water use in Israel is

growing by 4 percent annually.



The Waste Factor

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6. (SBU) Israeli media have recently highlighted the country's

growing problems with waste disposal, and the impact waste is having

on water supplies. As noted Ref B, debris from construction,

demolition and excavation (so called C,D & E waste) now outpaces

standard municipal trash by weight, the result of a major building

boom during the past five years of strong economic growth. Haaretz

reports that much of this C,D & E waste is being trucked to

unregistered landfills in the West Bank, and the GOI is turning a

blind eye to the practice. In fact, legal disposal options are few

and expensive: no regulated, approved C, D & E landfill exists in

Israel's northern region, and only one exists in Eastern Galilee.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection approved on March 4 the

establishment of a new landfill at Gush Halav to service the

northern region and avoid the costly transport to southern Israel.





7. (SBU) Whether dumped in Israel or the West Bank, the net impact

on water is the same. C,D & E waste may be filled with asbestos

debris, toxic paints, heavy metals, and inorganic pollutants that

leach into the soil and seep into ground water. Given the shared

aquifers, the environmental impact of waste disposal practices on

either side of the Green Line will ultimately affect the other

party. A Haaretz editorial declared that the waste problem "should

serve as a test case for the joint treatment by Israel and the

Palestinians of environmental problems, including the pollution of

groundwater by unpurified wastewater and insufficient infrastructure

of disposal sites for household waste." As ref A reported, Israel

is already starting to treat Hebron-generated effluent which flows

out of the West Bank. A two-year study (funded partly by the

Embassy's MERC program) of the Basor River flowing from Hebron to

the Gaza Strip found it full of both municipal waste and industrial

toxins from Palestinian stone and leather industries. Israel has

built a treatment plant to handle the waste, but the report

estimates over 45 percent of the pollutants seep into ground water

before the river reaches the plant.



Comment

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8. (SBU) The USG is already closely engaged with Israel and the PA

on water management issues through the Trilateral Water Working

Group established in 1996, after Oslo. In the context of the

Annapolis Process working groups addressing water and infrastructure

(among other) issues, consideration should be given to establishing

a parallel working group to address regional waste disposal issues.

Alternatively, the mandate of the TWWG could be broadened to include

the inter-related waste and water issues.



JONES