The State Committee for the Investigation of the Water Shortage today submitted its report, after 18 months of work, which has put many of the officials responsible for Israel's water economy into a defensive position. The committee lambasts the reputations of some government agencies, and disproves a number of assumptions of both decision-makers and the general public.
The committee, chaired by Judge Emeritus Dan Bein, with the participation of Prof. Yoav Kislev and Prof. Yoram Avneimelech, states unequivocally that the Israeli water economy is in severe crisis caused entirely by bad management.
The conclusion is important, given that just last month the drought tax was cancelled because more rain fell this winter after the previous two winter rainy seasons. The cancellation followed the pattern of bad water management slammed by the committee.
The Water Shortage Committee clarified to both the general public and the decision-makers that it is not possible to "loosen the belt" concerning water management, because of the severity of the crisis. The crisis is not limited or specific, and there is no magic solution around the corner. A bit of rain is not an answer. This is a crisis, which requires responsible and long-term policy management to solve and avoid a recurrence.
"The crisis follows a series of drought years, but at its basis two key man-made factors combined to create it: over-production from natural water sources, and the slowness in building desalination plants and the development of other means to expand the water supply and to limit water use," states the report.
The report goes on to say that the conduct of Israel's governments with regard to the water economy has been negligent to the point of criminal negligence. This conclusion is no surprise, and was expected. The importance of the report does not lie on this point however, but in how it sorts out a number of issues that have been the subject of controversy. These include the raising of water tariffs and the drought tax.
The report is also important because it sets out how to manage Israel's water economy from this day onward, and how to avoid a repeat of the current fiasco, and how to manage better in the future.
The Water Shortage Committee puts most of the blame for the adoption of failed water policies on "the various ministers of agriculture and national infrastructures over the years, who saw the needs of agriculture but failed to take measures to reduce municipal consumption." The committee says that Water Authority commissioners failed to oppose these measures, and failed to warn against the risks that they policies were liable to cause.
For example, even though the Hydrology Service warned in winter of 2006 that the condition of the country's reservoirs was dire, Water Authority director general Uri Shani told the committee that water allocations to farmers was the same as in a normal year.
Despite everything, the Water Shortage Committee does not support putting personal responsibility on any official for the failures.
As for the delays in developing desalination facilities, the Water Shortage Committee said, "Both the water commissioners and the directors of the Water Authority over the years failed to present the government the full consequences of the delay in implementing the desalination plan on the scale necessary."
The committee adds, "The Ministry of Finance delayed the desalination plan on the grounds that all other means should first be used in full, such as conservation and wastewater reuse, but did not allocate the resources needed for these activities. Only after years, did the government realize that it was necessary to enter the desalination era. Decisions in this area were changed from time to time, and the actual quantities of desalinated water have not been enough to meet the targets set in terms of the amounts of water needed."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 24, 2010
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