The water situation in Israel is the worst since the country was founded in 1948, according to Water Authority spokesman Uri Shor. Rain fell in the north on the Sabbath and is expected to spread to the center of the country on Sunday, but dry and warm weather are predicted to prevail the remainder of the week.
Shor said, “Unfortunately, the present winter simply is not arriving; there has never been such a parched winter, and after four dry winters, all of the water reservoirs are empty and that includes the Kinneret and the Mountain Aquifer.”
Shor added that the entire region surrounding Israel is suffering severe drought. In Jordan, the water situation is so bad that the taps are only turned on once a week. “I do not expect this to happen here in Israel, too but if we continue to use water without limit there will be decrees. Water will be very expensive for the consumer, and everyone will feel this very well.”
Shor says that everyone is trying to pray as much as possible but in the meantime demand has to be cut down. “None of the models that we have predict any change.
Israel currently has two water desalination plants in operation and that in ten years' time, when additional desalination facilities are completed, the water situation will stabilize.
Shor's boss, Water Authority Head Uri Shani, recently said that 600 million cubic meters (MCM) of fresh water will be added to Israel's annual supply in 2012 and that it will take another three years for Israel's fourth desalinization plant, which is to be built at Soreq, to be up and running.