Drought again, and the decision makers fall asleep again

This is already the fourth year in which extreme drought conditions prevail, the water authorities went into a coma due to a number of rainy years, but even four years were not enough to get out of it

This is the year of drought, actually this is already the fourth year in which extreme drought conditions prevail, the water authorities went into a coma because of a number of rainy years, even though there was a lack of water in previous years as well. Even in rainy years, the whole country lacks water. Whoever did not understand this is .. blind? pit?

In our country there is a constant lack of water, simply because more than half of the country is desert, those pulling the strings forgot, or maybe they didn't know, or maybe. ... and so we entered a gap that cannot be filled even if rainy years come for the most part. The existing proposals are importing water or desalination, the Society for the Protection of Nature claims that imports should be examined - immediately, since imports can be carried out within a year, while the construction of desalination facilities will take several years, the company also claims that the environmental effects of desalination must be examined, The effects of the discharge of salts into the sea.

It is important to avoid the pollution that will be caused by the consumption of energy in the desalination plants... Yes, while the desalination plants are being built, clean energy suppliers can be established - solar and wind. Another claim of the "company" is that the desalination plants will rob sections of the coast, and it is not, desalination plants can be established far from the coast - See the desalination plant in Eilat.

There is no doubt that we lack water, to such an extent that there are already those who have "attacked" agriculture demanding its elimination on the grounds that "we are exporting virtual water to Europe". The claimant is a respected professor who probably does not know all the facts, the concept of virtual water is making headlines and gaining momentum, behind the concept of the interview that it is wrong to grow crops in areas where there is a lack of water and export the produce to saturated countries. The basic idea is correct, but crops that can be grown in hot desert conditions are not grown in cold countries, so it is important to weigh the viability of the crop also at the cost of transporting water.

Exporting cotton from the Northern Negev is equivalent to a virtual export of water, exporting apples and to a certain extent citrus fruits are largely water exports, it is possible that a large part of root vegetables will also fall in the same slot, meat and milk production consume a lot of water but this can be stagnant water, what is more As a wholesaler of the products of the Live Interface marketed in Israel.

In an attempt not to be political, one must not forget the "added value" and perhaps the initial value of the agricultural settlements, their pioneering (without quotation marks) and their location within the borders. Does anyone expect those farmers to polish diamonds? Or maybe they will just learn a little economics and earn their living in the stock market?

We will immediately reach the farmers who live in the south, but before that, the export of cherries from the Golan Heights, grapes and wine, rare fruits that command high prices, all of these justify the consumption of water, provided that it is settled water.

When the concept of virtual water export is used as an argument for the thinning of the agricultural areas in Israel, it is important to remember that: in the southern half of the country - in the desert, most of the crops are irrigated with brackish water and settled water, so those who claim that the Negev and Arab farmers are "exporting virtual water" are simply mistaken and misleading.

It is true, even brackish water is not an eternal resource, but when water is used in sophisticated methods and when crops are grown that do not consume large quantities, (in combination with the recently discovered fungus), there is no room for the malicious use of the term "virtual water export".

Elsewhere I wrote about the environmental damage caused by pumping brackish water in the Arava. Here, too, there is no reason to stop farming, since the damage can be offset by recycling / fully returning sewage to the system. Which brings us to an immediate solution, starting with maximum savings in personal use, savings in industry (by law), use of gray water, recovery of all water from sewage and industry for reuse.

As long as in the north sewage water pollutes streams and flows into the Kinneret, as long as there are sewage water falls in the Kidron, as long as sewage water and industrial effluents reach the Mediterranean Sea, and even as long as sewage flows in southern Jordan, we have not done what is necessary, we have not used the water that is/flows at our disposal . First of all, we must use the water we have in cycles, over and over again.

As the readers know, I have dealt a lot with the desiccation of the Dead Sea, these days the people of the World Bank are engaged in examining the (destructive) initiative of a carrier from the Gulf of Eilat to the Dead Sea, why are they not dealing with alternatives? Maybe because the alternatives are not "grandiose" and do not have "political appeal"?

Since we are dealing with a lack of water, it is better for me to involve the Dead Sea and the drought, below is a solution to both problems - the proposal of the engineer Giora Shilony (gshilony@inter.net.il), for the details of the proposal that was submitted years ago to the authorities

Below: leading from the Mediterranean Sea to the east at the narrowest point in the Nahal Hadera area to Nahal Bezeq, with the help of electricity that will be produced at the height differences, the water will be treated, Giora proposes to flow about a billion cubic meters with the possibility of increasing, about half of the water will be directed to consumption in Israel and the other half to flow through the southern Jordan channel to the Dead Sea.

In response to a committee of inquiry into the issue of water, the water authority announced its "intention to use blocked wells and drill additional wells", do you understand? The intention is to pump water from those reservoirs that everyone knows are getting depleted - due to over-pumping, to use wells that were clogged due to salting, salting due to over-pumping. ... Maybe I'm not good enough at reading comprehension. ..? It is more likely to assume that authority is given to someone who does not understand: his place, his role, his authority, his duty. .. And so on. That is, the important resource is in my hands. … ?

When you read in the newspapers the references of the land manager, of the treasury, of committees and authorities, the doubt arises that we live in the same country and under the same conditions as the "referencers". The lack of understanding and ignorance dominate things, but more so the actions and what is not done, a lack of understanding and inaction that places Israel in the same line as "developed" African countries in the Sahel region, at this stage the similarity is in the reference, in the inaction, but the main problem is that: the similarity is increasing and may affect the ability to survive!

Again until a long term sustainable solution. In Australia, they drink purified sewage water, so also in... Switzerland. What was done in saturated Switzerland and dry Australia. .. It can be realized with us, since I have already written in the past that: "We live in a land half-desert and behave as if we were sitting on the shore of a Swiss lake".