Media Central Fact Sheet

Water Issues

“Water is the most precious resource in the Middle East, more important even than oil.” BBC News, World Water Crisis, June 2000

Israel has a very diverse environment that includes an arid southern area with less than 100mm of annual rainfall to tropical, humid Mediterranean coastal areas to the northern region which gets an average of 1,128mm of rain annually.

Water is a primary concern for every person in both urban and rural areas.

Conventional water sources:

Lake Kinneret (The Sea of Galilee)

• Freshwater lake, 165 square kilometers, 200 meters below sea level

• 30% of Israel’s drinking water comes from this source
  
  

Sources of the Kinneret

• The Hatsbani river in Lebanon

• The Banyas and Dan Rivers

• Both of these drain into the Jordan River that feeds directly into the Kinneret

• Additionally, small wadis in the Golan drain into the Jordan and Kinneret

The Mountain Aquifer

• Excellent quality of drinking water

• Is located on the backbone of the mountains of Judea and Samaria

The Coastal Aquifer

• Serves too many people and has been over-drilled

• Is at high-risk for pollution and seawater seepage

Other regional Aquifers

• Very localized usage
  
  

Resource	Replenishable Quantities (Millions Cubic Meters/year)
The Coastal Aquifer	320
The Mountain Aquifer	370
Lake Kinneret	700
Additional Regional Resources	410
Total Average	1,800

Unconventional water sources:

These efforts have focused on the following: reclaimed wastewater effluents; intercepted runoff and artificial recharge; artificially-induced rainfall - cloud seeding; and desalination.

The most effective way of stretching the limited supply of water is to conserve.

• Fast fact: The average requirement of water per unit of land area has decreased from 8,700 cum/ha in 1975 to the current application rate of 5,500 cum/ha. At the same time agricultural output has increased twelve fold, while total water consumption by the sector has remained almost constant

In 1959, a comprehensive water law was passed, making water resources public property and regulating water resources exploitation and allocation, as well as pollution prevention and water conservation. Under the law, all available water resources are made available for use by consumers, as directed by the Water Commissioner. The Water Commissioner is responsible for implementing the Government's policy, ensuring sufficient water supply of the required quality and reliability, while conserving and preserving water resources.

Israel’s national water carrier is Mekorot Water Company.

A basic scenario of sweet water balances in the national system for the coming decade, based on the data of the last decade (millions of Cu.M):

Year/source	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Natural enrichment*	1,153	1,693	1,024	1,528	1,203	1,209	1,224	574	941
Seawater desalination	0	0	420	440	460	480	500	520	540
Brackish water desalination	10	10	20	30	40	50	50	50	50
Exploitation of reserves	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total sources	1,163	1,703	1,464	1,998	1,703	1,739	1,774	1,144	1,531

The demand for sweet water in the coming decade in millions of Cu.M:

Year/ sector	Agriculture	Urban	Industry	Nature and landscape	Total Israel (natural sweet and desalinated )	Total Israel (sweet. brackish and effluents)	Total sweet water Israel, Jordanians and Palestinians*
2002	582	700	99	25	1,406	1,834	1,503
2003	577	700	100	28	1,406	1,880	1,505
2004	544	763	102	31	1,440	1,952	1,542
2005	541	800	103	34	1,460	1,995	1,565
2006	538	815	105	38	1,480	2,023	1,587
2007	535	830	106	41	1,501	2,060	1,610
2008	533	845	108	44	1,523	2,097	1,634
2009	531	860	109	47	1,545	2,135	1,658
2010 (est.)	530	875	110	50	1,568	2,173	1,683

Water Resources	Annual Recharge	Israeli Water Use	Settlement Water Use	Palestinian Water Use	Total Water Use
Mountain Aquifer
Western	362	344	10	22	376
Northeastern	145	103	5	30	138
Eastern	172	40	35-50	69	144-159
Coastal Aquifer	250	260	0	0	260
Gaza	55	0	5-10	110	120
Jordan River	1311	685	10-20	0	1334-1340*
Wastewater	450	450	0	0	450

"Geography of Water Resources," Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy and International Affairs, 1999.

History:

Johnston Plan

Eric Johnston served between 1954 and 1957 as the "water envoy" of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

According to his plan, Jordan and Yarmouk river water was to be divided between Israel (40 percent), Jordan (45 percent) and Syria and Lebanon (15 percent). In accordance with international law, each country would retain the right to utilize the water flowing within its borders, if it causes no harm to a neighboring country. As the Johnston Plan constitutes a compromise between the interests of the concerned countries, the water of a river which crosses the territory of several countries is to be divided between these countries. While the "Johnston Plan" was accepted as fair by Arab water experts, Arab politicians rejected it out of hand.

In 1964, Syria attempted construction of a Headwater Diversion Plan that would have blocked the flow of water into the Sea of Galilee, sharply reducing the capacity of the national water carrier. This project and Israel's subsequent physical attack on those diversion efforts in 1965 were factors which played into regional tensions culminating in the 1967 Six-Day War. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the course of the war; the Heights contain some of sources of the Sea of Galilee.

In 1993, under the umbrella of economic and development programs, Israel and the Palestinian Authority agreed at Oslo to “cooperation in the field of water, including a Water Development Program prepared by experts from both sides, which will also specify the mode of cooperation in the management of water resources in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and will include proposals for studies and plans on water rights of each party, as well as on the equitable utilization of joint water resources for implementation in and beyond the interim period.”

In 1996, under the Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace, Israel agreed to supply Jordan with 50 million cubic meters of water annually.