Chairman of the Israel Farmers Federation (IFF), Avshalom Vilan, told the Knesset on Wednesday that the government's plan to raise water rates is unjust. The State Comptroller agrees with him.
According to Vilan, a former Knesset Member of the far-left Meretz party, water is a basic necessity which the state is obligated to subsidize. Addressing a meeting of the State Control Committee, called to discuss national water rates, Vilan likened water to other infrastructure projects subsidized by the state.
"Just as train passengers don't have to pay the full cost of the infrastructure, as is true of motorists on the roads as well, it can't be expected that consumers of water have to pay its full cost," Vilan said. Instead, he called for water rates to be reduced to assist those citizens in the lower socioeconomic strata of society.
Vilan praised the State Comptroller, Micha Lindenstrauss, for his position that the government should postpone raising water rates, in order to examine its absolute necessity and to put the question before more representative bodies. "We praise the state comptroller for joining us in our view of the water supply as an infrastructure [issue]," he said.
In his position paper, presented to the Knesset committee, Lindenstrauss said the decision to raise water rates is, indeed, a government policy decision. However, in the comptroller's view, it would be more appropriate to bring the matter before the legislature, especially when the cost for the policy change will be borne by the entire population and when only two out of eight members of the Water Authority Board are representatives of the public.
The IFF head also noted his agreement with the comptroller regarding the Water Authority Board's membership. "For years we have been recommending that representatives of the public and the consumers be invited to take part in the Water Authority Board meetings on a regular basis. Unfortunately, our suggestion was rejected and so we initiated legislation on the matter," he explained. "The Water Board plays an important public role in advising on matters of national water policy, so it is only fitting that it expand its membership."
Lindenstrauss emphasized in the comptroller's report that the state has "a basic obligation... to provide every citizen with a sufficient amount of water at a price all can afford." He called on the government to carefully reconsider the need to immediately carry out the rate hike and to postpone the decision to allow for a more thorough examination of the consequences.