Drought threatens Israel's water supply
Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Sunday, June 18, 2000
TEL AVIV [MENL] -- Israel faces a shortage of drinking water over the next
year amid the worst drought in 40 years.
Officials envisioned that the shortage will become so acute that major
cities would be struck by frequent outages and that such services as water
gardens will be banned. They said the drought has led to a drop in the Sea
of Galilee, Israel's only fresh-water lake.
The level is expected to drop to a level of 214 meters below sea level,
past the so-called red line set by authorities. This could lead to rapidly
increase the saline level of the lake.
At the same time, the drought is also expected to damage Israel's ground
water reserves. Officials said this will prompt a shortage of drinking water
in Israel by 2001.
The assessments were made at a meeting of the Water Commission this
week. "I have never attended such a gloomy and pessimistic meeting," a
participant told the Israeli Haaretz daily on Wednesday.
Officials said the water crisis is so pressing that such solutions as
desalination will not ease the current shortage. They said desalination will
not make up for the shortage of at least 120 million cubic meters of water
this year.
Instead, they agreed that only a severe cut in allocations to farmers
will ensure enough water for drinking. But they said farmers have already
planted their fields and will not be affected by further cuts this year.
Sunday, June 18, 2000
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