Water tap
Water tap

In spite of measures taken in recent years, the Syrian capital faces the same lack of rainfall and growing demand that is draining Israel's Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee), and the effects have already been felt in Damascus. The city depends almost completely on rain and snow runoff to fill its reservoirs. According to a Ynet report, the amount of precipitation in the Damascus area this rainy season has amounted to 100 millimeters (3.9 inches), compared to the average of 300 millimeters (11.8 inches).

Mufak Khalouf, head of the Damascus Water Supply and Sewerage Authority, told a recent special conference on the problem that the city was still using the rain water collected during the winter of 2002, which was especially showery, with an amount of precipitation of more than 1,000 millimeters (39.37 inches). He warned, "If we don’t do something fast, we'll be facing a catastrophe we have not witnessed for the past 50 years."

Khalouf said steps taken by Syrian authorities over the past few years, including the development of additional wells and the replacement of the piping system in order to prevent leakage and waste, weren't enough. The shortage was already felt in the summer, when residents of many neighborhoods, especially in outlying areas, were forced to buy water on the black market because there was nothing coming out of the taps.

The Syrians are trying to interest Japan in a water transportation project to cover the 360 km (220 mile) distance from the Euphrates River to Damascus, which is believed to cost about $2 billion. The Syrians understand they won't be able to execute this project with the limited budgetary means at their disposal. The Japanese invested $50 million in the 100 km (62 mile) pipe replacement program in Damascus, which was completed in 2004.

Israel Water Authority spokesman Uri Shor recently said that demand here has to be reduced, saying the lack of precipitation has led to the worst water situation in Israel since the country was founded in 1948. Noting that in Jordan, taps are only turned on once a week, he said “I do not expect this to happen here in Israel, too but if we continue to use water without limit there will be decrees.”

Shor's boss, Water Authority Head Uri Shani, recently said that 600 million cubic meters 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. 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.