Israel

Severe Drought Wracks Israel
Discovery Earth Alert, Nov. 22, 1999

Israel is facing its worst drought in nearly a century, Environment Minister Dalia Itzik reported last Sunday. Itzik called for the Israeli government to declare a national state of water emergency and to launch a massive program to treat wastewater to be used for agricultural irrigation. Foreign Minister David Levy said the country "must import water from Turkey immediately" in order to resolve the escalating water crisis. Israel is already two months into the winter season and is still without any significant rainfall. The water level of the country's major water resource, the Sea of Galilee, is 7.5 inches below its red line, and officials expect the level to drop even further if the hot, dry weather continues. Government officials are considering a number of proposals, including desalination, to remedy the crisis. Experts commented that even if the government begins a seawaterdesalination project immediately, it will take a least two years before the first drop of fresh water is produced. Water is a central issue in the ongoing status talks between Israel and the Palestinians. Israel is in control of about 80 percent of the occupied West Bank's water sources.