The Middle East is becoming a desert, and Israel is failing to prepare to the future, causing irreparable damages to its water sources. Thankfully, the country is a world leader in wastewater treatment and desalination and therefore it doesn’t suffer of similar water cuts as neighboring countries such as Jordan and Iraq, yet Israel is failing dramatically in preparing for the future. Unfortunately, the miracle of desalination caused the Water Authority to invest all its resources into it, creating dramatic dependency, while severely neglecting proper treatment of water resources that are in danger of irreparable damage. Also, because of the ongoing water crisis streams are drying up, and pollutants are being discharged into the dry stream beds. There is dire need in a national emergency plan that will radically change water treatment in all sectors, for agriculture, as well as public, private and industrial use.Zalul’s demands from the Ministry of Energy and Water and the Water Authority:
- Declare a strict and urgent water management policy to suit the new desertification reality.
- Stop municipal and industrial stream contamination and free natural water to the streams. Every year, approximately 1000 stream contamination events are recorded.
- Better run-off prevention management. Vast amounts of rain in short strokes that meet a land covered in concrete lead to a growing problem, that causes waste of massive amounts of water and to sea and stream pollution.
- Demand a national emergency plan to save and conserve water and change public behavior, promote water-saving R&D and policies, efficient and economical planning of the water sector, and reduce reliance on desalination.