Tag Archive for water

| March 21, 2018
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South Africa reverses decision, better to receive Israeli aid, than suffer from drought

South African Ministers are now prepared to engage with Israel now that 3-year drought has afflicted South Africa to the point that Cape Town, a city of 4 million, may effectively run out of drinking water mid-July.

By Charles Gardner

 

In the face of an apocalyptic scenario, the South African government has apparently been forced to eat humble pie in its ongoing spat with Israel.

The three-year drought that has afflicted the nation has now reached the drastic stage of a looming so-called Day Zero – July 15 this year – when Cape Town, a city of four million, will effectively run out of water; that is, they will be cut off from running water, and will be forced to line up at collection points for a miserly rationing. Continue Reading »

Category: The Diaspora | Tags: , , ,
| September 5, 2017
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VIDEO: Sea of Galilee water level at unprecedented low

Decreased rainfall in Northern Israel spanning years of dry winters leads to an unprecedented negative water level on record, meaning a decrease in the Kinneret’s and Dead Sea’s water levels.

By Ahiya Raved

 

These last few years of decreased rainfall have led to record lows of water level measurements in August, the Water Authority reported Monday.

View of the Sea of Galilee from space in 1999 – Photo- NASA Earth Observatory

One such negative water level was recorded in the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), with more water currently being pumped and evaporated out of the lake than water flowing into it. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Video's worth Viewing | Tags: , ,
| November 11, 2016
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As Winter Approaches, Jordan River Reaches Record Low

 

The Galilee’s Jordan River water level is at 90-year low following years of inadequate rainfall.

By Israel Today Staff

 

Israel is on the cusp of another major drought with authorities reporting that the water flowing from the northern portion of the Jordan River into the Sea of Galilee is at a record low.

The Jordan River is the primary water source for the Sea of Galilee, which is in turn Israel’s primary fresh water reservoir.

And the water pressure today is lower than it’s been in the past 90 years, or since such measurements began.

Jordan’s tributary, the Hatzbani left side (after the River Dan merged) merges with the Banias (right side) to form the Jordan River, Feb.

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| November 8, 2016
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PA refusal to cooperate with Israel over water infrastructure upgrades worries officials

 

The IDF’s Head of the Coordination for Government Activities in the Territories writes a letter imploring int’l community to step in before an impending water crisis hits the Palestinians, who refuse to meet with the Israelis to discuss its water management program.

By Itamar Eichner

 

The IDF has warned the international community that the water infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza will collapse as long as the Palestinian Authority refuses to cooperate with Israel.

According to Head of the Coordination for Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, the joint Israeli-Palestinian water distribution council—which manages water infrastructure in the West Bank—hasn’t met since 2010 due to the Palestinians’ refusal to approve water infrastructure upgrades in the West Bank settlements. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| August 28, 2016
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Palestinian Authority arrests Sa’ir’s mayor & 13 municipal employees over water theft

 

Palestinian Mayor acknowledges that the residents of his village Sa’ir, have been known to steal water from the Water Authority’s pipes, but maintains his innocents over the massive water theft.

By ADAM RASGON

 

The Palestinian Water Authority and the Sa’ir Municipality are at odds over the disappearance of large amounts of water from Sa’ir, a town of 25,000 northeast of Hebron, as the region experiences water shortages.

A TRACTOR carries water in the village of Sa’ir earlier this month.- Photo: TOVAH LAZAROFF

The PWA, which coordinates and regulates the distribution of water in the Palestinian territories, said August 12 it had uncovered an ongoing water-theft operation in the village. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| June 17, 2016
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ISRAEL: Water supply to West Bank Palestinians increased, not decreased

 

Contrary to mainstream media reports, Israel has increased the water flow to Palestinians in the evening, when its demand is particularly higher after the Ramadan fast.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF,  MICHELLE MALKA GROSSMAN

 

Israel on Thursday dismissed Palestinian charges that it had cut the water supply to West Bank Palestinians, explaining that a broken water pipe had caused a temporary shortage.

A Palestinian walks through a water pipe underneath the controversial Israeli barrier in al-Ram, on the edge of Jerusalem [File]. – Photo: REUTERS

It published a short video of the broken pipe on its Twitter page on Wednesday, and has since fixed the pipe which services villages in the area of Jenin.

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , ,
| March 18, 2016
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Hamas’ neglect of Gaza sewage is ticking timebomb for Gazans, Egypt & Israel

 

With large-scale diversion of financial aid to Hamas leaders’ personal accounts or terror tunnels, the lack of sewage treatment could contaminate Gaza’s drinking water or cause a regional cholera or typhoid outbreak, then direct fault at Israel.

By MICHELLE MALKA GROSSMAN

 

Gaza could be a ticking time bomb of disease for the region if a serious sewage issue is not fixed, an Israeli environmental group warned on Thursday.

Gidon Bromberg, founder and Israel director of EcoPeace, told The Jerusalem Post that although there is a sewage treatment plant in the Gaza Strip, it does not have enough electricity to run. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , , ,
| January 25, 2016
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Israeli ingenuity produces safe drinking water from thin air

 

view videoDepending on temperature & humidity conditions, the system produces 250-800 liters (65-210 gallons) of drinking water a day, and Water-Gen founder Arye Kohavi says it uses about 2 cents of electricity to produce a single liter of water.

By Alexander J. Apfel, TPS

 

A lack of water on the battlefield is not something that soldiers can afford to worry about in the heat of combat. Supplying clean water however, is not always an easy task given the dangers of any battle. 

Aware of this fact, Arye Kohavi, a former company commander in the IDF Special Forces, set about creating technology which would ensure that soldiers are never short of clean water and that the water supply is never delayed.  Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: ,
| August 15, 2015
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Hamas Admits Gaza Water Crisis Not Israel’s Fault

In an investigative report, Hamas newspaper blames local farmers for gross misuse & abuse of Gaza’s scarce water supply.

By Israel Today Staff

 

Israel is often blamed for all woes befalling the Palestinian Arabs. One of the favorite accusations is that Israel takes most of the region’s water for its Jewish citizens, while leaving the Arabs with far too little of this precious resource.

A Palestinian child seeks fresh drinking water. – Photo source: Israel Today

But a Hamas-run newspaper recently featured an investigative report revealing that the water crisis in Gaza, at least, cannot be blamed on the Jewish state, after all. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| June 5, 2015
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Israel Increases Water Supply to West Bank, Jordan & Gaza

Israel’s national water authority says ability now exists to double the amount supplied to Gaza, with water supplies to Palestinian West Bank and Jordan to substantially increase as well.

By Ilana Curiel

 

Israel’s national water company Mekorot, in accordance with the Water Authority’s guidelines, recently doubled its water supply to the Gaza Strip by 5 million cubic meters. The annual supply will now amount to 10 million cubic meters of water.

Palestinian woman carrying water in the Gaza Strip. – Photo: Reuters

 

The new water supply of 5 million cubic meters to the Gaza Strip will come from two sources including the Nahal Oz pipeline in the south and an older line in the Kissufim area that provides water to the center of the Strip. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , ,
| February 16, 2015
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Israeli Defense Minister Demands Water Connection for New Palestinian Town

 

Israeli Defense Minister and IDF generals seek to bypass Israeli-Palestinian Water committees to advance the new Palestinian town as livable, but PA intransigence might prevent it.

By Israel Today Staff

 

The city of Rawabi (pictured below) is a flagship Palestinian project. It is a modern, planned town of 40,000 homes aimed at moving Palestinian society forward.

But while the first apartments are ready to be occupied, they remain empty. Israel’s Water Authority has thus far refused to connect Rawabi to the Israeli water network.

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon isn’t pleased by the situation, and has been working on behalf of getting Rawabi connected to the water system and operating as a symbol of what Palestinian society can become if it focuses on advancement rather than conflict with Israel. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| February 13, 2015
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New Law in Israel: No More Cutting Off Water Over Unpaid Bills

Israel Water Authority accepted the Knesset’s Economics Committee position, after a year of deliberation. The changes will begin on March 31.

By Gil Ronen

 

The Knesset’s Economics Committee voted Thursday to forbid water corporations from cutting off water supply to clients over debts. The changes will go into effect on March 31.

Water (illustration) – Thinkstock

“I am glad that at long last, we have put an end to the disgrace of water disconnection in the state of Israel, which usually harms the economically weaker populations, which are unable to pay the monthly fees,” said Committee Chairman MK Avishai Braverman (Labor).

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| November 26, 2014
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Israelis protest against Jerusalem’s planned water pipeline to Jordan

Government says channel, costing approximately $15.8 million less than alternative plan, is slated to pass through land of 4 Jordan Valley kibbutzim, and won’t harm their farmland.

 

About 100 Jordan Valley residents held a demonstration on Tuesday to protest a planned pipeline that would convey water from Lake Kinneret to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, claiming that the pipeline will ruin large open areas through which it is slated to pass. Israel is obligated by its bilateral peace agreement to provide water from Lake Kinneret to its neighbor.

The southern Jordan River

The southern part of the Jordan River. – Photo: Yaron Kaminsky

Opponents to the plan want the water to be sent to the Jordanians via the existing Jordan River channel, from the Degania dam to the old Naharayim electric power station, and from there to Jordan.

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , , , ,
| July 16, 2014
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Gaza facing sewage and water crisis if hostilities continue

UN aid NGOs cite health and safety concerns as lack of water treatment leading to sewage on the beach & 90% undrinkable water. Agencies see serious immediate concerns should situation not stabilize.

By Reuters

 

GENEVA – Hundreds of thousands of Gazans are without water after Israeli air strikes have wrecked the water and sewage system and threatened the entire strip with a water crisis within days, aid agencies warned on Tuesday.

Aid agencies say that IAF bombardments of the Gaza Strip are responsible for an imending water and sanitary crisis in the Strip. (Photo: EPA)

Aid agencies say that IAF bombardments of the Gaza Strip are responsible for an imending water and sanitary crisis in the Strip. – Photo: EPA

The eight-day assault has caused massive damage to infrastructure and destroyed at least 560 homes, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) said. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , , , ,
| February 21, 2014
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Israel’s Water Situation: Lack of rain means farmers have to buy water

After earlier prediction of an over-abundance of water, Israel is again facing severe crisis following a lack of winter rainfall.

By Ryan Jones

 

Late last year, we reported that Israel was facing an over-abundance of water after seven years of drought. It would now seem such predictions were premature, with experts warnings that the coming year could see Israel up against yet another severe water crisis.

Lack of rain means farmers have to buy water – Source: Israel Today

The previous winter saw good rainfall, and the beginning of the current winter started much the same, leading Water Authority officials to put Israel’s large desalination plants on notice that their full output would not be required in the coming year. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
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