Israel Aids California's Water Conservation

Writing in USA Today, Michele Chabin (“Israel’s guide to water,” May 8, 2015) reports how Israel is helping drought-stricken California. The article reminds readers there is much more to Israel than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

As Chabin notes, “Israel, subject to intermittent droughts for decades, has pioneered a number of water-saving techniques. It long ago figured out how to grow crops in the desert and for decades has advised the developing world on how to manage scarce water resources.”

Following its own drought six years ago, Israel began a campaign to educate the public about water conservation, increased recycling of used water, and boosted desalination efforts. Today, these efforts have led to purification of 85 percent of all household wastewater, 40 percent of drinking water from desalination (a process in which salt and chemicals are removed from seawater), and farmers growing less thirsty crops and using additional water-conserving technologies. In the replanted Yatir Forest on the edge of the Negev Desert, Israeli foresters have even developed methods to keep millions of pine trees alive on less than four inches of rain a year.

With decades of success in managing droughts, Israel, USA Today notes, “is eager to share its latest know-how with drought-ridden states like California.”

IDE Technologies, an Israeli company, is now helping to design a desalination plant in Carlsbad, California that would provide 300,000 residents with 50 million gallons per day of drinking water.

Chabin quotes UCLA Professor Yoram Cohen as saying that for a variety of reasons—size, pricing, and permitting—Israel’s model can’t be duplicated in much larger California. Yet, the professor noted that Golden State could still learn lessons on combating water shortages from Israelis.

Covering Israel’s handling of its water shortage—and detailing the applicability of these lessons for California—gives readers a fresh perspective in what sometimes seems like a flood of stories fixated only on Israel as seen through the lens of Palestinian complaints. -- Sean Durns


http://blog.camera.org/archives/2015/05/israel_aids_californias_water.html

hmmm the fact that in doing so they have effectively "salt poisoned" half their arrable land should ring some warning bells.....

Fair point and catch you later Victor

I presume this is a joke thread.


The Israeli 'watergate' scandal: The facts about Palestinian water
Israel has adopted a drip-feed approach to providing the Palestinians with water instead of letting them control their own natural resource.



Rino Tzror is an interviewer who argues with rather than flatters his subjects. Yet last Thursday, he didn’t do his homework and let Justice Minister Tzipi Livni throw sand in the eyes of the public about everything regarding the flap over water with Martin Schulz, the president of the European Parliament.

Livni was invited onto his Army Radio program as a sane voice who would criticize the behavior of Economy Minister Naftali Bennett and Co. toward Schulz (Bennett’s Habayit Hayehudi party stormed out of the Knesset during a speech by Schulz when he allowed himself to wonder whether indeed Israelis were allotted four times as much water as Palestinians). “I told [the EU Parliament president], ‘You are wrong, they intentionally misled you,’” she told Tzror. “‘That is not how the water is allocated. Israel gives the Palestinians more water than what we committed to in the interim agreements.’”

The very word “gives” should have lit Tzror’s fuse. But Livni kept buttering him up in her learned tone, with her grumbles against the Palestinian position on desalinated water and the Joint Water Committee.

So here are the facts:

* Israel doesn’t give water to the Palestinians. Rather, it sells it to them at full price.

* The Palestinians would not have been forced to buy water from Israel if it were not an occupying power which controls their natural resource, and if it were not for the Oslo II Accords, which limit the volume of water they can produce, as well as the development and maintenance of their water infrastructure.

* This 1995 interim agreement was supposed to lead to a permanent arrangement after five years. The Palestinian negotiators deluded themselves that they would gain sovereignty and thus control over their water resources.

The Palestinians were the weak, desperate, easily tempted side and sloppy when it came to details. Therefore, in that agreement Israel imposed a scandalously uneven, humiliating and infuriating division of the water resources of the West Bank.

* The division is based on the volume of water Palestinians produced and consumed on the eve of the deal. The Palestinians were allotted 118 million cubic meters (mcm) per year from three aquifers via drilling, agricultural wells, springs and precipitation. Pay attention, Rino Tzror: the same deal allotted Israel 483 mcm annually from the same resources (and it has also exceeded this limit in some years).

In other words, some 20 percent goes to the Palestinians living in the West Bank, and about 80 percent goes to Israelis – on both sides of the Green Line – who also enjoy resources from the rest of the country.

Why should Palestinians agree to pay for desalinated water from Israel, which constantly robs them of the water flowing under their feet?

* The agreement’s second major scandal: Gaza’s water economy/management was condemned to be self-sufficient and made reliant on the aquifer within its borders. How can we illustrate the injustice? Let’s say the Negev residents were required to survive on aquifers in the Be’er Sheva-Arad region, without the National Water Carrier and without accounting for population growth. Overpumping in Gaza, which causes seawater and sewage to penetrate into the aquifer, has made 90 percent of the potable water undrinkable.

Can you imagine? If Israelis had peace and justice in mind, the Oslo agreement would have developed a water infrastructure linking the Strip to the rest of the country.

* According to the deal, Israel will keep selling 27.9 mcm of water per year to the Palestinians. In its colonialist generosity, Israel agreed to recognize Palestinian future needs for an additional 80 mcm per year. It’s all detailed in the agreement with the miserly punctiliousness of a capitalist tycoon. Israel will sell some, and the Palestinians will drill for the rest, but not in the western mountain aquifer. That’s forbidden.

But today the Palestinians produce just 87 mcm in the West Bank – 21 mcm less than Oslo allotted them. The drought, Israeli limits on development and drilling new wells, and limits on movement are the main reasons. Palestinian mismanagement is secondary. So, Israel “gives” – or rather sells – about 60 mcm per year. True. That is more than the Oslo II Accords agreed for it to sell. And the devastating conclusion: Palestinian dependence on the occupier has only increased.

* Israel retained the right of the mighty to cap infrastructure development and rehabilitation initiatives. For example, Israel has imposed on the Palestinian Authority pipes that are narrower than desired, forbids connecting communities in Area C to the water infrastructure, tarries in approving drilling, and delays replacing disintegrating pipes. Hence the 30 percent loss of water from Palestinian pipes.

* 113,000 Palestinians are not connected to the water network. Hundreds of thousands of others are cut off from a regular supply during the summer months. In Area C, Israel forbids even the digging of cisterns for collecting rainwater. And that’s called giving?

* Instead of spending time calculating whether the average Israeli household’s per-capita consumption of water is four times or “only” three times that of Palestinian consumption, open your eyes: The settlements bathed in green, and across the road Palestinian urban neighborhoods and villages are subject to a policy of water rotation. The thick pipes of Mekorot (Israel’s national water provider) are heading to the Jordan Valley settlements, and a Palestinian tractor next to them transports a rusty tank of water from afar. In the summer, the faucets run dry in Hebron and never stop flowing in Kiryat Arba and Beit Hadassah.

All of this is intentionally misleading?

http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/1.574554

Thats HAREETZ an ISRAELI newspaper

The Myth of the Thirsty Palestinian:



The issue of water rights in the West Bank is constantly raised in regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, appearing again and again in public discourse around the world. According to critics of Israel, the Jewish state selfishly exploits the area’s water supplies and denies access to the local population. In doing so, the critics say, Israel is not only abandoning its responsibilities to the West Bank Palestinians, but ruthlessly and illegally abusing the natural resources of the occupied territory. This idea has become extremely widespread in the international media, and was recently voiced from the Knesset plenum by the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, causing a minor scandal in Israel and abroad.
As with all attacks on Israel, the truth is much more complicated and, to a great extent, precisely the opposite of what the critics claim. When one examines the relevant data, it becomes clear that, under Israeli rule, the Palestinian water supply has become larger, more technologically sophisticated, of higher quality, and much easier to access; almost entirely due to Israeli efforts.
The truth is, most of the claims made against Israel on this issue are nothing but empty propaganda. They are based on claims that are simply untrue and/or based on a lack of basic knowledge of the topography of Israel and the West Bank. The latter in particular often creates total confusion in regard to everything connected to the legal issues surrounding West Bank water sources, and especially its important underground aquifers.
To avoid such confusion, this article is largely based on statistics published by the Israeli Water Authority, and research by Professor Haim Gvirtzman, a hydrologist from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Hopefully, it will give a much more accurate picture of one of the most contentious disputes in the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The attacks on Israeli misuse of West Bank water supplies are based on three central myths, all of which are based on inaccurate and often deceptive claims.
The first myth is that Palestinians now have less access to water than they did in the past because of Israeli rule over the West Bank, violating the Palestinians’ human rights. In fact, like many of the claims this article will deal with, the opposite is the truth. Before Israel took control of the West Bank after the 1967 Six-Day War, the West Bank’s water system was primitive in the extreme. Much of it was based on technology dating as far back as ancient Roman times, using aqueducts that operated by the force of gravity and sporadic wells dug on an individual or communal basis. Water was often transported by hand. Only a handful of places, such as Ramallah, used a modern pumping system—built during the British Mandate—and water was piped into a very small number of private homes. At the end of Jordanian rule in 1967, the West Bank Palestinians received a relatively low 65 million cubic meters of water per year.
Whatever the depredations of the Israeli occupation may have been, there is no doubt that they did not apply to the issue of water supplies. Within five years of the Israeli takeover in 1967, the water supply grew by 50 percent; and the IDF Civilian Administration, which rules over the territory, established a pumping system that brought water directly to city centers, where residents could fill water containers for personal use.
This was followed by the creation of a modern infrastructure to supply water to the population of the West Bank. It is true that, initially, this was because of the Israeli settlement movement. In order to supply water to these new communities, a pumping infrastructure was built throughout the territory and connected to the National Water Carrier in Israel proper. But this new infrastructure did not only supply Israeli settlements. It also serviced surrounding Palestinian areas, bringing a noticeable improvement in their standard of living.

Palestinians playing in a running stream of channeled irrigation water to cool off, on a hot summer day in the West Bank city of Jericho, where the temperatures soared to 40 degrees. Photo: Issam Rimawi / Flash90
Whatever the circumstances under which this infrastructure was built, its results cannot be denied: Up to the signing of the Oslo Accords the Palestinian water supply doubled, reaching approximately 120 million cubic meters per year by the time the interim agreements were signed in 1995. Since then, it has almost doubled again. In 2010, the Civil Administration reported consumption at 190 million cubic meters per year.
Official Palestinian publications have acknowledged this. In 2004, according to the Palestinian Hydrology Group, there were 643 cities and towns connected to the water system, out of 708 Palestinian settlements. Taken together, 97 percent of the Palestinian population was connected to the territory’s water system; for the most part, directly to their own homes.
In terms of per capita consumption, there has also been substantial improvement. In 1967, per capita consumption stood at 93,000 liters per year. In 2006, it stood at 129,000 liters per year, close to the average in Israel proper—170,000 liters per year.

From “The Israeli-Palestinian Water Conflict: An Israeli Perspective,” by Prof. Haim Gvirtzman. Published in Mideast Security and Policy Studies no. 94, January 2012.
Even after the Oslo Accords, Israel continued its involvement in the Palestinian water system. According to the Accords, Israel is required to supply 31 million cubic meters per year to the Palestinians. It seems, however, that Israel has exceeded this by a considerable degree. According to statistics published by the Israeli Water Authority in 2012, Israel has added no less than 53.3 million cubic meters per year to the Palestinian water supply.

From “The Issue of Water between Israel and the Palestinians,” published by the Israeli Water Authority, March 2009.
Whatever one may think of Israeli rule over the West Bank, there seems little question—even among the Palestinians themselves—that in terms of water supplies, Israeli succeeded in doing in 30 years what the British Mandate and the Jordanian kingdom failed to do.
The second myth holds that the entire water supply of the West Bank belongs to the Palestinians, making any use of this water by Israel a violation of international law. Since Israel is an occupying power, say the critics, it is illegal for it to make use of the occupied territories’ natural resources, including water.
This claim is both hugely simplistic and shows a basic ignorance of international law. It is clear even to the average person that water is not like other natural resources, such as land. There is a simple reason for this: Water tends to move. It is a dynamic resource and rarely stays in one place. Due to the complications inherent in laying claim to such a resource, international law has not reached a consensus on the issue.
Water supplies in Israel and the West Bank illustrate the complexity of this problem quite well. For example, rainwater falling on the hills of Shechem drains into Israel’s coastal plain—within the ’67 lines—and from there into the Mediterranean Sea. Who does this water belong to?
To even begin to answer this question, it is important to know the topography of the area in question. Most of the West Bank is hilly, while much of pre-1967 Israel is flat and low, especially the Sharon Plain and the Negev Desert—which includes the Dead Sea, the lowest place on Earth. As a result of this, most of the rain that falls on the high ground of the West Bank, such as the hills of Samaria, flows down into the northern Jezreel Valley and then into Israel’s western central plain. This rainfall supplied much of Israel’s water even before the Six-Day War. In the same way, groundwater accumulated in the West Bank tends to flow downwards and collect in wells located on lower ground, again on territory located in Israel proper. As a result, a large amount of the water originating in the West Bank has ultimately arrived in Israel as a result of entirely natural forces.
Taking all of this into consideration, one can begin to understand the issue of West Bank water rights in light of international law. Although, as noted above, no legal consensus on the subject exists, several basic principles have been adopted. Because water is often a highly contentious issue, the intention behind these principles is to avoid or minimize conflict over water sources. Although they are not binding in a practical sense, they do constitute a useful starting point.

Palestinians playing in a running stream of channeled irrigation water to cool off, on a hot summer day in the West Bank city of Jericho, where the temperatures soared to 40 degrees. Photo: Issam Rimawi / Flash90
In essence, there are three basic principles involved:

1. 1. Preference is given to the party that has historically held the rights to the water supply in question, as well as the party most dependent on it.
   
2. 2. Unused water sources must be developed before any redistribution of resources takes place.
   
3. 3. Waste must be minimized and use of the water source must be optimized before any redistribution of resources takes place.
   

As noted above, the topography of the West Bank is such that, due to natural forces, the majority of its water has always ended up in Israeli hands, and this was the case long before the occupation of the West Bank.
When we examine the table below, which presents the historical water consumption from each of the three aquifers in millions of cubic meters per year, it becomes clear that Israel’s historic right to the majority of the water has been long established.

From statistics found in “The Issue of Water between Israel and the Palestinians,” published by the Israeli Water Authority, March 2009.
What about unused water sources? The majority of this is located in the eastern aquifer, which flows beneath the Jordan Valley. It contains approximately 70 million cubic meters of water a year that is left unused. The rights to this water were granted to the Palestinians under the Oslo Accords. Unfortunately, the Palestinians have yet to exercise these rights to any significant degree, and the failure do so is entirely their own. For example, over 40 potential drilling sites in the Hebron area were identified and approved by the Israeli-Palestinian Joint Water Committee; but in the two decades since then, drilling has taken place in only three places, and this is in spite of substantial funding provided to the PA by donor nations. This is both tragic and ironic, because undertaking these drilling projects could entirely solve the area’s current water issues; instead, the Palestinians have chosen to both blame Israel for their water problems and drill into the Western aquifer, which provides water to Israel.
In regard to waste and optimal use of water sources, it is also clear that the Palestinians are very far from fulfilling the most basic requirements of international law. Because the PA does not properly maintain its water system, it suffers from a 33 percent rate of water loss, mostly due to leakage; in contrast to an 11 percent loss from the Israeli system. In addition, a large percentage of Palestinian agriculture uses surface irrigation, a primitive and wasteful technology profoundly unsuited to the region’s limited water sources. The use of more efficient methods, such as drip or sprinkler irrigation, as well as better water purification and distribution, would both conserve resources and free up a much larger amount of fresh water for home use—according to the Israeli Water Authority, as much as 10 million cubic meters.
It seems, then, that Israel’s critics are not only wrong, but entirely ignorant of the accepted principles of international law. According to these principles, Israel holds the majority of water in the West Bank by right; the Palestinians do not make proper use of their existing water sources; nor do they make the required attempts to exploit untapped resources. And none of this is due to Israeli malfeasance.
The third and final myth accuses Israel of polluting the aquifers beneath the West Bank and destroying other water sources, thus wantonly destroying the area’s ecology.
Perhaps more than any other, this claim is so completely untrue that it could only be made by someone without any knowledge of the facts whatsoever. The truth is, again, precisely the opposite. While most Israeli wastewater is purified in modern sewage treatment plants, most Palestinian wastewater is discharged into the environment, causing very serious pollution. Out of 52 million cubic meters per year of Palestinian wastewater, only 4 million is treated in Palestinian facilities; another 14 million is treated in facilities established by Israel; the rest—approximately 34 million cubic meters a year—is left to pollute the environment.
It is important to understand that, because of the area’s topography, this wastewater often flows into Israel proper, and thus causes serious damage to Israel’s own water supplies, as well as the surrounding environment. In particular, major damage has been done to the Kishon River in the north, which feeds into the bay of Haifa; the Alexander River, which flows into the Mediterranean Sea near Hadera; the Kidron River, which stretches from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea; and the Hebron River, which descends into the valley where Beersheva is located and from there into the sea. As a result, the quality of life for everyone living near these rivers has been damaged.
But first and foremost, the environmental damage the Palestinians have caused has harmed themselves, as they have been forced to close more and more wells due to pollution. It is difficult to see how the Palestinians can blame anyone for this but themselves, since donor nations have provided $130 million specifically earmarked for sewage treatment.

From “The Issue of Water between Israel and the Palestinians,” published by the Israeli Water Authority, March 2009.
Up to now, however, the Palestinians have invested only NIS 25 million (approx. $7.2 million) in building one sewage treatment plant in al-Birah. Moreover, the Palestinians have not accepted the offer of an additional $300 million for building such plants. As a result, the damage to the ecology of both Israel and the West Bank is only getting worse.
There is no doubt that the Palestinians have no positive sentiments toward the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, nor can they be expected to. Israel and its supporters, however, should not accept every single criticism made of the Israeli presence in the West Bank on this basis. Accusations must be backed up by solid fact and placed in their proper historical context in order to be legitimate.
The issue of water rights, supplies, and infrastructure, is perhaps the most glaring example of illegitimate criticism. On this issue, fact and context have been entirely dispensed with in order to make Israel look as bad as possible. In fact, as has been demonstrated above, Israel’s record on water issues is a good one; it has consistently acted within its rights and according to accepted legal conventions. Moreover, it is clear that the Palestinians’ record is a bad one; and it is they, not Israel, who have failed to live up to their obligations under international law.

A Palestinian man rides his a bike through a flood in Gaza City. Photo: Mohammed Othman / Flash90
To the extent that a viable water supply infrastructure exists in the West Bank, it is because Israel built and maintained it. While this infrastructure was certainly constructed, in part, to service Israeli communities, its benefits have not been denied to the Palestinians, and no one familiar with the statistics involved can claim otherwise without being patently dishonest.
That Israel is so consistently blamed for this problem is especially problematic because it makes it less likely that the Palestinians will deal with it themselves. As shown above, the Palestinians have the ability to both live up to their obligations under international law and solve their existing water problems in doing so. The money, technology, and knowledge they need all exist and are available to them from both foreign and Israeli sources. That the Palestinians have either chosen not to avail themselves of such aid or cannot do so effectively due to internal problems is tragic, but it is not the fault of the State of Israel.

http://www.thetower.org/article/the-myth-of-the-thirsty-palestinian/


So easy to catch  out lying left wing scum

Israeli Forces destroy Palestine Water Infrastructure, 1,000 Meter Water Pipe donated to Yezra

Israeli bulldozers, on Thursday, destroyed a water pipe being used in connecting the West Tubas district’s Atoof village with Khirbet Yezra, in the northern Jordan Valley.

Head of Al-Maleh local council, Aaref Daraghmeh, said that the pipe had length of 1,000 meters, and was donated by Agricultural Relief to provide the residents of Yezra with water, since the area has no water sources.

According to the PNN, Dr. Hanna Issa, professor and expert on international law, strongly condemned the action, saying that occupation authorities provide settlers with water, while depriving Palestinians of their own sources.

Settlers in the occupied West Bank reportedly get an unlimited supply of water amounting to about four times more than Palestinians’ consumption of water.

Issa added that occupation authorities consume about 80% of the mutual water wells, despite the fact that 80-95% of them are located in Palestinian areas, pointing out that this is water theft, and in contravention of international law.

Issa also stressed that Israel has continuously implemented a policy of displacing Palestinians, separating them from homes near water sources.

Israel also prevents Palestinians from digging wells without military permission, while giving privilege to all illegal settlers.

Issa reiterated that Israel was an occupying power and had no sovereignty to tamper with water sources, according to the fourth Geneva convention.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/israeli-forces-destroy-palestine-water-infrastructure-1000-meter-water-pipe-donated-to-yezra/5428529


Water resources
Division in the Oslo II Accord

The 1995 Oslo II Accord allows the Palestinians in the West Bank the use of up to 118 million cubic meters (mcm) water per year. 80 mcm was supposed to come from to drill new wells. However, the PWA was able to drill new wells for only 30 mcm at the expense of the existing springs and wells.[14][15] In the Oslo II Accord, the Israelis are allotted four times the Palestinian portion or 80% of the West Bank resources.[16] However, 94% (340 mcm) of the Western Aquifer was allotted to the Israelis for use within Israel.[15] The allowed quantities have not been adapted after the end of the supposed five years interim period. The parties established the Joint Water Committee to carry out the provisions of the concerning artikel 40 of Annex III.

According to a World Bank report, Israel extracted 80% more water from the West Bank than agreed in the Oslo Accord, while Palestinian abstractions were within the agreed range.[17] Contrary to expectations under Oslo II, the water actually abstracted by Palestinians in the West Bank has dropped between 1999 and 2007. Due to the Israeli over-extraction, aquifer levels are near ″the point where irreversible damage is done to the aquifer.″ Israeli wells in the West Bank have dried up local Palestinian wells and springs.[17]
Water from the Jordan River basin
See also: Water politics in the Jordan River basin
Jordan River

The Upper Jordan River flows south into Sea of Galilee, which provides the largest freshwater storage capacity along the Jordan River. Lake Tiberias drains into the Lower Jordan River, which winds further south through the Jordan Valley to its terminus in the Dead Sea. The Palestinians are denied any access to this water. About a quarter of the 420 million m3 Israel pumps from the Sea of Galilee goes to the local communities in Israel and to Jordan; the rest is diverted to Israel through the National Water Carrier (NWC) before it can reach the West Bank. Virtually all water from the Yarmouk River, north of the West Bank is diverted by Israel, Syria and Jordan. The water of the Tirza Stream, the largest stream in the central Jordan Valley, fed by rainwater, is diverted by Israel to the Tirza Reservoir and used by settlements in the area for irrigation of crops and for raising fish.[18]
Other surface water

In Gaza, the only source of surface water has been the Wadi Gaza. Since the early 1970s, Israel has built check dams,[19][20][21][22] and diverts part of its water for agricultural purposes within Israel prior to its arrival to Gaza.[23][24]
Groundwater

In the West Bank, the main groundwater resource is the Mountain Aquifer, which consists of three aquifers:[17][25][26]

   The Western Aquifer, in Israel called the "Yarkon-Taninim Aquifer",[27] is the largest one, with an annual safe yield of 362 million cubic metres (mcm), based on average annual estimate, (of which 40 mcm are brackish). Eighty percent of the recharge area of this basin is located within the West Bank, whereas 80% of the storage area is located within Israeli borders. Israelis exploit the aquifers of this basin by means of 300 deep groundwater wells to the west of the Green Line, as well as by deep wells within the West Bank boundary. Palestinians use it via wells and springs.

   The North-Eastern Aquifer, in Israel called the "Gilboa-Bet She'an Aquifer" or "Schechem-Gilboa Aquifer",[27] has an annual safe yield of 145 mcm (of which 70 mcm are brackish). Almost 100% of its water comes from precipitation falling within the West Bank area, but then flows underground in a northerly direction into the Bisan (Bet She'an) and Jezreel valley.

   The Eastern Aquifer, entirely within the West Bank, has an annual safe yield of 172 mcm (of which 70-80 mcm are brackish). This aquifer is mainly drained by springs.

According to Hiniker, at an average sustainable rate, the amount of renewable shared freshwater available throughout the entire Jordan Valley is roughly 2700 mcm per year, which is composed of 1400 million cubic metres of groundwater and 1300 million cubic metres of surface water.[28] However, only a fraction of this can be used by Palestinians in the West Bank. Israel has denied Palestinians access to the entire Lower Jordan River since 1967. After the start of Israel’s military occupation in 1967, Israel declared the West Bank land adjacent to the Jordan River a closed military zone, to which only Israeli settler farmers have been permitted access.[29]

In 1982, the West Bank water infrastructure controlled by the Israeli army was handed over to the Israeli national water company Mekorot. As of 2009, Mekorot operates some 42 wells in the West Bank, mainly in the Jordan Valley region, which mostly supply the Israeli settlements. The amount of water Mekorot can sell to the Palestinians is subject to approval of the Israeli authorities.[24]

Drilling of wells into the mountain aquifer by the Palestinians is restricted. Most of its water thus flows underground towards the slopes of the hills and into Israeli territory.[30] According to different estimates, between 80 and 85% of groundwater in the West Bank is used either by Israeli settlers or flows into Israel.[31]

The Coastal Aquifer is the only source of water in the Gaza strip. It runs beneath the coast of Israel, with Gaza downstream at the end of the basin. With the water flows underground mainly east-west, however, Palestinian extractions from the aquifer have no effect on the Israeli side.[27] Israel, on the contrary, has installed a cordon of numerous deep wells along the Gaza border and in this way extracts much of the groundwater before it can reach Gaza.[23][24] Israel sells a limited part of the water to the Palestinians in Gaza.[32] While Israel transports water from the north of its territory to the south, the Palestinians are not allowed to move water from the West Bank to Gaza. This is a reason why this aquifer is heavily over-exploited, resulting in seawater intrusion. The aquifer is polluted by salt as well as nitrate from wastewater infiltration and fertilizers. Only 5-10% of the aquifer yields drinking water quality.[33] By 2000, the water from the Coastal Aquifer in the Gaza region was considered no longer drinkable due to high salinity from the sea water intrusion and high nitrate pollution from agricultural activity.[4]

Pursuant Oslo II (Annex III, Article 40.7), Israel committed itself to sell 5 mcm/year to the Gaza Strip. This was not fulfilled. Gaza is not able to supply itself and has to either import water, or produce drinkwater by means of desalination plants.[33]

Desalination of brackish groundwater

In Gaza, desalinated brackish groundwater has become an important source of drinking water. Over 20,000 consumers in over 50% of the Gaza households have installed domestic ‘reverse osmosis’ (RO) units to desalinate water for drinking purposes. The water quality is high, though the water lacks basic minerals. As of January 2014, there were 18 neighborhood desalination plants in the Gaza strip, providing safe drinking water for free to 95,000 people who come to fill their canisters at the plants. 13 of these plants are operated by UNICEF.[34]

In 2009, approximately 100 industrial desalination plants were operational. Due to the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, the import of spare parts – essential to operate the desalination plants of industry, communities and households – as well as necessary chemicals, is problematic.[4]
Desalinated seawater

As of 2007, there was one seawater desalination plant in Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip, built in 1997-99 with funding by the Austrian government. It has a capacity of 600 m3 per day and it is owned and operated by the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility. At least initially, the operating costs were subsidized by the Austrian government. The desalinated water is distributed to 13 water kiosks.[35][36]

Desalination of seawater is expected to become more important in the future through a long-planned regional desalination plant that would provide desalinated water using the piped water network throughout the entire Gaza strip. For over 20 years, a major desalination plant for Gaza has been discussed. The Palestinian Water Authority has approved a $500 million facility. Israel supports it and has quietly begun to offer Palestinians desalination training.[37] In 2012 the French government committed a 10 million Euro grant for the plant. Arab countries, coordinated by the Islamic Development Bank, committed to provide half of the necessary funds, matching an expected European financial commitment. The European Investment Bank provides technical assistance.[38]

Another major problem is the fact that desalination is very energy intensive, while the import of fuel to produce the necessary electricity is restricted by Israel and Egypt. Furthermore, revenues from drinking water tariffs are insufficient to cover the operating costs of the envisaged plant at the current tariff level.[39]
Rainwater collection

In the West Bank, collection of rainwater is a very limited resource in addition to tanker truck water for Palestinians who lack connection to the water grid, notably in rural areas. However, Israeli authorities control even the collection of small quantities of rainwater. According to the 2009 report "Troubled Waters" by Amnesty International, some 180,000-200,000 Palestinians living in rural communities have no access to running water and the Israeli army often prevents them from even collecting rainwater. The Israeli army frequently destroys small rainwater harvesting cisterns built by Palestinian communities who have no access to running water, or prevents their construction.[40][41]
Water reuse

In view of the limited availability of water resources, water reuse is seen as an important source. In the West Bank, Israel collects wastewater in two facilities in the Jordan Valley. Not only wastewater from Israelis in Jerusalem and settlements is collected, but also from Palestinians. All recycled water is used for irrigation in settlements in the Jordan Valley and northern Dead Sea area.[42]
Water use
Palestinians

As of 2007, the estimated average per capita supply in the West Bank had increased to about 98 liter per capita per day (98 lpcd). The estimated household use was 50 lpcd, with many households consuming as little as 20 lpcd, even if connected to the network. Due to the fragmentation of the West Bank, movement of water from water-rich areas to Palestinian communities with water shortage is inhibited.[43][44] Therefore, there are huge differences in water use in the eastern and southern West Bank. While the daily consumption in the Jericho district was 161 liters in 2009, in Jericho city even 225 liters, it was less than 100 liters in other areas. In the central Jordan Valley it was about 60 liters. Inhabitants of a-Nu’ima, east of Jericho, had only 24 liters. Residents of villages that are cut off from water supply have to buy water from watertanker operators.[43] All of the eastern West Bank, except the Israeli settlements and Jericho are designated as a closed military area or as an area that for other reasons has access restrictions for Palestinians. In 2012, 90% of the small Palestinian communities living there had less than 60 lpcd. Over half of them, mostly Bedouin or herding communities, often cut off from their traditional wells, had even less than 30 litres per person per day.[45]

As of 2009, the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) or municipalities provided about 70 lpcd in Gaza, but could not reach all households.[4]

For 2012, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) provided the following figures (domestic use):[46]


More at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_supply_and_sanitation_in_the_Palestinian_territories

Israeli illegal settlers are given plenty of water for themselves and their crops, at the expense of the Palestinians.   The dodgy one can produce all the crap he wants, that is recognised by every expert in the proplem around the world.



Israel's advice to California will probably be, steal it from the next state.

Nemesis wrote:The Myth of the Thirsty Palestinian:



The issue of water rights in the West Bank is constantly raised in regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, appearing again and again in public discourse around the world. According to critics of Israel, the Jewish state selfishly exploits the area’s water supplies and denies access to the local population. In doing so, the critics say, Israel is not only abandoning its responsibilities to the West Bank Palestinians, but ruthlessly and illegally abusing the natural resources of the occupied territory. This idea has become extremely widespread in the international media, and was recently voiced from the Knesset plenum by the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, causing a minor scandal in Israel and abroad.
As with all attacks on Israel, the truth is much more complicated and, to a great extent, precisely the opposite of what the critics claim. When one examines the relevant data, it becomes clear that, under Israeli rule, the Palestinian water supply has become larger, more technologically sophisticated, of higher quality, and much easier to access; almost entirely due to Israeli efforts.
The truth is, most of the claims made against Israel on this issue are nothing but empty propaganda. They are based on claims that are simply untrue and/or based on a lack of basic knowledge of the topography of Israel and the West Bank. The latter in particular often creates total confusion in regard to everything connected to the legal issues surrounding West Bank water sources, and especially its important underground aquifers.
To avoid such confusion, this article is largely based on statistics published by the Israeli Water Authority, and research by Professor Haim Gvirtzman, a hydrologist from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Hopefully, it will give a much more accurate picture of one of the most contentious disputes in the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The attacks on Israeli misuse of West Bank water supplies are based on three central myths, all of which are based on inaccurate and often deceptive claims.
The first myth is that Palestinians now have less access to water than they did in the past because of Israeli rule over the West Bank, violating the Palestinians’ human rights. In fact, like many of the claims this article will deal with, the opposite is the truth. Before Israel took control of the West Bank after the 1967 Six-Day War, the West Bank’s water system was primitive in the extreme. Much of it was based on technology dating as far back as ancient Roman times, using aqueducts that operated by the force of gravity and sporadic wells dug on an individual or communal basis. Water was often transported by hand. Only a handful of places, such as Ramallah, used a modern pumping system—built during the British Mandate—and water was piped into a very small number of private homes. At the end of Jordanian rule in 1967, the West Bank Palestinians received a relatively low 65 million cubic meters of water per year.
Whatever the depredations of the Israeli occupation may have been, there is no doubt that they did not apply to the issue of water supplies. Within five years of the Israeli takeover in 1967, the water supply grew by 50 percent; and the IDF Civilian Administration, which rules over the territory, established a pumping system that brought water directly to city centers, where residents could fill water containers for personal use.
This was followed by the creation of a modern infrastructure to supply water to the population of the West Bank. It is true that, initially, this was because of the Israeli settlement movement. In order to supply water to these new communities, a pumping infrastructure was built throughout the territory and connected to the National Water Carrier in Israel proper. But this new infrastructure did not only supply Israeli settlements. It also serviced surrounding Palestinian areas, bringing a noticeable improvement in their standard of living.

Palestinians playing in a running stream of channeled irrigation water to cool off, on a hot summer day in the West Bank city of Jericho, where the temperatures soared to 40 degrees. Photo: Issam Rimawi / Flash90
Whatever the circumstances under which this infrastructure was built, its results cannot be denied: Up to the signing of the Oslo Accords the Palestinian water supply doubled, reaching approximately 120 million cubic meters per year by the time the interim agreements were signed in 1995. Since then, it has almost doubled again. In 2010, the Civil Administration reported consumption at 190 million cubic meters per year.
Official Palestinian publications have acknowledged this. In 2004, according to the Palestinian Hydrology Group, there were 643 cities and towns connected to the water system, out of 708 Palestinian settlements. Taken together, 97 percent of the Palestinian population was connected to the territory’s water system; for the most part, directly to their own homes.
In terms of per capita consumption, there has also been substantial improvement. In 1967, per capita consumption stood at 93,000 liters per year. In 2006, it stood at 129,000 liters per year, close to the average in Israel proper—170,000 liters per year.

From “The Israeli-Palestinian Water Conflict: An Israeli Perspective,” by Prof. Haim Gvirtzman. Published in Mideast Security and Policy Studies no. 94, January 2012.
Even after the Oslo Accords, Israel continued its involvement in the Palestinian water system. According to the Accords, Israel is required to supply 31 million cubic meters per year to the Palestinians. It seems, however, that Israel has exceeded this by a considerable degree. According to statistics published by the Israeli Water Authority in 2012, Israel has added no less than 53.3 million cubic meters per year to the Palestinian water supply.

From “The Issue of Water between Israel and the Palestinians,” published by the Israeli Water Authority, March 2009.
Whatever one may think of Israeli rule over the West Bank, there seems little question—even among the Palestinians themselves—that in terms of water supplies, Israeli succeeded in doing in 30 years what the British Mandate and the Jordanian kingdom failed to do.
The second myth holds that the entire water supply of the West Bank belongs to the Palestinians, making any use of this water by Israel a violation of international law. Since Israel is an occupying power, say the critics, it is illegal for it to make use of the occupied territories’ natural resources, including water.
This claim is both hugely simplistic and shows a basic ignorance of international law. It is clear even to the average person that water is not like other natural resources, such as land. There is a simple reason for this: Water tends to move. It is a dynamic resource and rarely stays in one place. Due to the complications inherent in laying claim to such a resource, international law has not reached a consensus on the issue.
Water supplies in Israel and the West Bank illustrate the complexity of this problem quite well. For example, rainwater falling on the hills of Shechem drains into Israel’s coastal plain—within the ’67 lines—and from there into the Mediterranean Sea. Who does this water belong to?
To even begin to answer this question, it is important to know the topography of the area in question. Most of the West Bank is hilly, while much of pre-1967 Israel is flat and low, especially the Sharon Plain and the Negev Desert—which includes the Dead Sea, the lowest place on Earth. As a result of this, most of the rain that falls on the high ground of the West Bank, such as the hills of Samaria, flows down into the northern Jezreel Valley and then into Israel’s western central plain. This rainfall supplied much of Israel’s water even before the Six-Day War. In the same way, groundwater accumulated in the West Bank tends to flow downwards and collect in wells located on lower ground, again on territory located in Israel proper. As a result, a large amount of the water originating in the West Bank has ultimately arrived in Israel as a result of entirely natural forces.
Taking all of this into consideration, one can begin to understand the issue of West Bank water rights in light of international law. Although, as noted above, no legal consensus on the subject exists, several basic principles have been adopted. Because water is often a highly contentious issue, the intention behind these principles is to avoid or minimize conflict over water sources. Although they are not binding in a practical sense, they do constitute a useful starting point.

Palestinians playing in a running stream of channeled irrigation water to cool off, on a hot summer day in the West Bank city of Jericho, where the temperatures soared to 40 degrees. Photo: Issam Rimawi / Flash90
In essence, there are three basic principles involved:

1. 1. Preference is given to the party that has historically held the rights to the water supply in question, as well as the party most dependent on it.
   
2. 2. Unused water sources must be developed before any redistribution of resources takes place.
   
3. 3. Waste must be minimized and use of the water source must be optimized before any redistribution of resources takes place.
   

As noted above, the topography of the West Bank is such that, due to natural forces, the majority of its water has always ended up in Israeli hands, and this was the case long before the occupation of the West Bank.
When we examine the table below, which presents the historical water consumption from each of the three aquifers in millions of cubic meters per year, it becomes clear that Israel’s historic right to the majority of the water has been long established.

From statistics found in “The Issue of Water between Israel and the Palestinians,” published by the Israeli Water Authority, March 2009.
What about unused water sources? The majority of this is located in the eastern aquifer, which flows beneath the Jordan Valley. It contains approximately 70 million cubic meters of water a year that is left unused. The rights to this water were granted to the Palestinians under the Oslo Accords. Unfortunately, the Palestinians have yet to exercise these rights to any significant degree, and the failure do so is entirely their own. For example, over 40 potential drilling sites in the Hebron area were identified and approved by the Israeli-Palestinian Joint Water Committee; but in the two decades since then, drilling has taken place in only three places, and this is in spite of substantial funding provided to the PA by donor nations. This is both tragic and ironic, because undertaking these drilling projects could entirely solve the area’s current water issues; instead, the Palestinians have chosen to both blame Israel for their water problems and drill into the Western aquifer, which provides water to Israel.
In regard to waste and optimal use of water sources, it is also clear that the Palestinians are very far from fulfilling the most basic requirements of international law. Because the PA does not properly maintain its water system, it suffers from a 33 percent rate of water loss, mostly due to leakage; in contrast to an 11 percent loss from the Israeli system. In addition, a large percentage of Palestinian agriculture uses surface irrigation, a primitive and wasteful technology profoundly unsuited to the region’s limited water sources. The use of more efficient methods, such as drip or sprinkler irrigation, as well as better water purification and distribution, would both conserve resources and free up a much larger amount of fresh water for home use—according to the Israeli Water Authority, as much as 10 million cubic meters.
It seems, then, that Israel’s critics are not only wrong, but entirely ignorant of the accepted principles of international law. According to these principles, Israel holds the majority of water in the West Bank by right; the Palestinians do not make proper use of their existing water sources; nor do they make the required attempts to exploit untapped resources. And none of this is due to Israeli malfeasance.
The third and final myth accuses Israel of polluting the aquifers beneath the West Bank and destroying other water sources, thus wantonly destroying the area’s ecology.
Perhaps more than any other, this claim is so completely untrue that it could only be made by someone without any knowledge of the facts whatsoever. The truth is, again, precisely the opposite. While most Israeli wastewater is purified in modern sewage treatment plants, most Palestinian wastewater is discharged into the environment, causing very serious pollution. Out of 52 million cubic meters per year of Palestinian wastewater, only 4 million is treated in Palestinian facilities; another 14 million is treated in facilities established by Israel; the rest—approximately 34 million cubic meters a year—is left to pollute the environment.
It is important to understand that, because of the area’s topography, this wastewater often flows into Israel proper, and thus causes serious damage to Israel’s own water supplies, as well as the surrounding environment. In particular, major damage has been done to the Kishon River in the north, which feeds into the bay of Haifa; the Alexander River, which flows into the Mediterranean Sea near Hadera; the Kidron River, which stretches from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea; and the Hebron River, which descends into the valley where Beersheva is located and from there into the sea. As a result, the quality of life for everyone living near these rivers has been damaged.
But first and foremost, the environmental damage the Palestinians have caused has harmed themselves, as they have been forced to close more and more wells due to pollution. It is difficult to see how the Palestinians can blame anyone for this but themselves, since donor nations have provided $130 million specifically earmarked for sewage treatment.

From “The Issue of Water between Israel and the Palestinians,” published by the Israeli Water Authority, March 2009.
Up to now, however, the Palestinians have invested only NIS 25 million (approx. $7.2 million) in building one sewage treatment plant in al-Birah. Moreover, the Palestinians have not accepted the offer of an additional $300 million for building such plants. As a result, the damage to the ecology of both Israel and the West Bank is only getting worse.
There is no doubt that the Palestinians have no positive sentiments toward the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, nor can they be expected to. Israel and its supporters, however, should not accept every single criticism made of the Israeli presence in the West Bank on this basis. Accusations must be backed up by solid fact and placed in their proper historical context in order to be legitimate.
The issue of water rights, supplies, and infrastructure, is perhaps the most glaring example of illegitimate criticism. On this issue, fact and context have been entirely dispensed with in order to make Israel look as bad as possible. In fact, as has been demonstrated above, Israel’s record on water issues is a good one; it has consistently acted within its rights and according to accepted legal conventions. Moreover, it is clear that the Palestinians’ record is a bad one; and it is they, not Israel, who have failed to live up to their obligations under international law.

A Palestinian man rides his a bike through a flood in Gaza City. Photo: Mohammed Othman / Flash90
To the extent that a viable water supply infrastructure exists in the West Bank, it is because Israel built and maintained it. While this infrastructure was certainly constructed, in part, to service Israeli communities, its benefits have not been denied to the Palestinians, and no one familiar with the statistics involved can claim otherwise without being patently dishonest.
That Israel is so consistently blamed for this problem is especially problematic because it makes it less likely that the Palestinians will deal with it themselves. As shown above, the Palestinians have the ability to both live up to their obligations under international law and solve their existing water problems in doing so. The money, technology, and knowledge they need all exist and are available to them from both foreign and Israeli sources. That the Palestinians have either chosen not to avail themselves of such aid or cannot do so effectively due to internal problems is tragic, but it is not the fault of the State of Israel.

http://www.thetower.org/article/the-myth-of-the-thirsty-palestinian/


So easy to catch  out lying left wing scum

Its no good posting lies Sassy you racist scum, the facts are all here for people to read you nasty Jew hater.

I'm looking around and I don't see the '"aid" part.  Perhaps it's another Israeli two-state solution?