Translated from the Annual Report of the State Comptroller #50B
Published-May 2000
(Pages: 296-310)
As defined in the Public Health Ordinance, 1940, drinking water is water intended for drinking, cooking, and the food industry. This water must be free of materials that are liable to impair public health or the quality of life.
Pursuant to the Public Health Ordinance, 1940 and the Public Health Regulations (Sanitary Drinking Water) -1974 (hereafter – the Regulations), enacted by the Minister of Health, the Ministry of Health (hereafter – the Ministry) has ultimate supervision over drinking water and is responsible for ensuring to sanitary quality.
The provisions of the Water Law- 1959 regarding the prevention of water pollution, grants powers to the Water Commissioner and the Minister of Environment, and to authorities that they empower by the law. These powers are in addition to the powers of the courts in this area.
In April-July 1999, the State Comptroller’s Office examined the actions that the relevant bodies took to ensure sanitary drinking water. The audit was conducted in the Health ministry’s Department of Environmental Quality, and at all the Ministry’s District Health Offices. An examination was also conducted at Mekorot – the national water company (hereafter – Mekorot), at the Water Commissioner’s Office (Water Quality Department, Hydrology Service, and Sewage Infrastructure Administration), at the Local Authorities’ Water Sector Administration of the Ministry of Interior, and at the Ministry of Environment.
Actions to Ensure Sanitary Drinking Water
Israel has three primary sources of drinking water: water from Lake Kinneret [Sea of Galilee], located in the north of Israel, which is supplied by the national carrier; groundwater supplied by wells from the Coastal Aquifer, which spreads across the coast between the Carmel in the north to the Gaza Strip in the south, and from the Mountain Aquifer, which lies east of the coastal plain, from the Carmel in the north to south of Beersheva; water from springs and river beds, mostly in the Western Galilee, the Upper Galilee, and the Golan Heights. Mekorot, local authorities, and private water associations control the water sources for the supply of drinking water.
Numerous pollutants harm the sanitary quality of the sources of drinking water. These pollutants include untreated household, industrial, and agricultural sewage; leakage of petroleum and hazardous materials, a grave source of pollution of groundwater in Israel; fertilizers and pesticides; irrigation with sewage water, and waste disposal sites. An increase in the concentration of chlorides and salts dissolved in the water also affects the water quality; in areas near the sea, a danger exists that seawater will penetrate the groundwater as a result of over-extraction and minimal rainfall, the latter a necessity to refill the reservoirs.
As a result of the above, the quality of the groundwater, primarily in the Coastal Aquifer, is deteriorating.
The increase in pollution is primarily due to the following reasons: growing amounts of pollutants resulting from the increasing density of residential areas and industrial plants; increasing development of new chemicals for industry, some of which are carcinogenic; existence of previously unknown parasites; use of disinfectants in drinking water, which produce carcinogenic chemical compounds. Therefore, great diligence is necessary to protect water quality.
The National Water Carrier (Lake Kinneret)
Filtering the National Water Carrier: Water from Lake Kinneret is the source of the National Water Carrier. Some 60 percent of the water is supplied by Mekorot for household consumption. The water in the lake contains organic and inorganic materials that cause a high degree of turbidity and water pollution, and diminishes the disinfecting capability of the chlorine in the water carrier. As a result, it is necessary to employ a great amount of disinfectant, which creates derivative compounds considered carcinogenic. In addition, intestinal parasites found in water of the lake withstand disinfection with with chlorine. The materials found in the water also give a detestable odor to the water.
Reducing the level of turbidity, conforming it to levels acceptable in western countries and solving the parasite problem is accomplished by filtering the water in the water carrier. In February 1992, regulations were enacted which require gradual reduction of the standard for maximum allowable turbidity, from five nephelometric units to one nephelometric unit, commencing in January 1996. An amendment to the regulations, passed in January 1996, postpones commencement of the regulation to January 1, 1997. Pursuant to the amendment, water in the water carrier must be filtered before it is supplied for home consumption. The regulations were further amended on January 1, 1997 to enable the Director General of the Ministry, or anyone empowered by him for purposes regarding the regulations, to allow, under certain circumstances, water to be supplied where the turbidity is no greater than three nephelometric units. At the end of December 1999, the Ministry granted Mekorot such approval, effective until April 30, 2000.
A committee appointed by the Water Commissioner in May 1993 recommended that a central filtering facility for water in the water carrier be established at the Eshkol site. The Water Commissioner adopted the recommendations. The committee also set a time schedule pursuant to which the facility would be operational by January 1997. Mekorot was supposed to build the facility. As of November 1999, when the audit was completed, the facility had not yet been built. In its response of November 1999 to the State Comptroller’s Office, Mekorot stated that the Water Commissioner only assigned the project to it in early 1996, and, in early 1999, it published a pre-tender and began sorting the principal tender bids for building the facility and treating the water. According to Mekorot, the Ministry of Finance has not yet approved publication of the tender, and it has not yet reached agreement on accounting procedures with the government regarding the building, operation, and maintenance of the facility.
In its response of October 1999, the Ministry of Finance explained to the State Comptroller’s Office that, “setting the standard for level of turbidity was not accompanied by the requisite staff work to examine the cost of implementing the standards, the economic and health benefits to be generated by the standards, the most efficient means to economically achieve objectives, and the sharing of the cost of implementation of the standards by those required to bear the cost.” The Ministry of Finance contended that, at work meetings between representatives of the Ministry of Health and officials of the Budgets Department, the Ministry of Health was requested to conduct the examination, but that the Ministry of Health was not carrying it out.