The long-term water shortage in Israel is about to change, said Israel’s water commissioner, Shimon Tal, during a visit to Milwaukee last week to confer with local leaders of the Jewish National Fund, which helps in the construction of new water supply systems.
“We are now in the stage of changing our policy of water management in Israel and we will be able, in two or three years, to balance the water sector,” he said.
The new policy, Tal explained, includes the production of new water sources, namely, desalination of ocean water and reuse of municipal sewage.
One desalination plant is under construction and should be completed by the end of 2004, Tal said. He expects seven “huge” plants by the end of 2007.
“It will change everything connected to water in Israel,” he explained. “The water will be high quality; it will be blended with natural fresh water sources.”
The treatment and reuse of municipal sewerage will go toward agriculture, providing a welcome solution for this sector in Israel, which has borne a dramatic 50 percent cut-off of water allocations in the past years, said Tal.
“This is important because you cannot plan for the future if you sometimes have water and sometimes don’t…. With our new system, agriculture will be very successful and everything will become very green.”
To create this usable effluence, Israel plans to build treatment plants and reservoirs.
Israel is also focusing on preserving and conserving its natural water sources, Tal said, which is part of the government’s new “sustainable approach.”
“Our natural water sources should serve not only us but our children and grandchildren. That means keeping the water in good quality, preventing contamination and using it on a sustainable basis, not over-pumping,” he added.
Moreover, the shortage is not just a problem in Israel but in the entire region. Tal said that he participates in joint committees about water with the Palestinians and Jordanians.
“We signed an agreement with the Palestinians that we will keep the water issue out of the conflict.” That means, he noted, not harming each other’s water infrastructure. “Even when they’re fighting in the streets, we are meeting,” he said.
Tal’s visit, which included stops in three other Midwest cities, was sponsored by JNF, which is beginning its new campaign year, said regional director, Sidney Rivkin. After last year’s focus on security and building security roads, this year’s focus “is changing back to the Negev and the water situation in Israel. [Tal] came to update our leadership so they’ll be educated and knowledgeable to go out into the community,” he said.
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