 The wells are running dry in West Bank villages (23/5/01) By Zafrir Rinat Water tables in the aquifers supplying West Bank villages have fallen sharply, implying that water shortages in these villages will worsen during the summer. Security problems make it difficult to find hydrological or engineering solutions for the problem, say Israeli sources engaged in water issues with the Palestinians. Palestinians draw water from wells in areas controlled by the PA (Palestinian Authority), from springs providing tens of millions of cubic meters of water, and from the Israeli water system. In recent months there has been a significant drop in the quantity of water from wells and springs. Data collected by the Israeli technical team of the joint Israeli-Palestinian water committee indicates that a significant number of the springs in the West Bank have dried up completely or are providing very little water. A serious example is the springs that used to supply a large proportion of the water to Nablus and Ein Uja, and a large spring that supplied water to Jericho, which has dried up completely. The level of water Herodion region wells dropped so drastically that new equipment has been ordered to deepen the wells, and pumping has been scaled back. These wells supply most of the towns and villages in the southern West Bank. There has also been a sharp drop in the water table of the well that supplies the city of Ramallah. That well is the responsibility of the PA. Yossi Dreizin, of the Israeli Water Commission, who heads the Israeli technical committee to the joint water committee, says it will be difficult to supply water to Ramallah in the summer, and the Palestinians will become more dependent on the Israeli water system. There are also serious water supply problems in the northern West Bank. The water table of the wells there has dropped and private wells drilled around Jenin and in the Tirtza River region, east of Nablus, have caused the water source in the area to dry up. One well south of Jenin is also almost completely dry. The water shortage has been caused not only by insufficient rain over the past three years, but also by increased Palestinian water use because of population growth and drilling of private wells that waste a lot of water. Another major reason is the growth of populations in the Jewish settlements that are supplied with water according to consumption levels in the rest of Israel. Pipelines that feed the settlements also supply the Palestinians. Even before the Al-Aqsa Intifada there was a water shortage in Arab villages, especially in the summer. This has worsened because of the minimum rainfall this past winter and because Israeli technicians cannot maintain wells and distribution facilities because of the fighting. Israeli teams from Mekorot water company have been unable to address the technical problems of the wells drilled near Beit Sahur because of shooting in the area. They also have been unable to carry out important regular maintenance work on the wells near Jenin. The PA also has water technicians, but they too have had problems getting to the wells. Another problem that causes the loss of large quantities of water is the theft of water from the main pipelines, such as the line that leads from Herodion to Hebron and the line near Itamar in the Shomron. An Israeli source said Palestinians come to the pipelines during the night and drill holes to attach sub-pipelines that siphon off water for agricultural irrigation. Israel does not have complete information on water sources in the PA areas because the inspection teams that operated on behalf of the technical committee - and also dealt with preventing pirated drillings - have not been operating since the beginning of the Intifada. Even so, the Palestinian Water Commission has continued to provide Israel with data. Israeli water experts fear a situation in which the long-term lack of protection for water sources controlled by the PA will make it impossible to estimate the effect of pumping on the ground water that Israel uses also. The Israeli team to the Israeli-Palestinian water talks is now headed by Shimon Tal, who took over from Noah Kinarty. The latter had been close with former prime minister Ehud Barak, and had left his position when Prime Minister Arik Sharon was elected. The Palestinians have already asked Israel to increase their water allocation and the technical committee was supposed to discuss the matter this past Sunday. While the Israeli members of the committee were on their way to the meeting with their Palestinian counterparts, however, the Israelis were informed that it had been canceled because of security problems. One solution offered by Israel is for Palestinian water tanker trucks to come to junctions in the water pipeline system and take water from there. Dreizin says, however, that this as a complicated logistic operation that has not yet been put into practice. Dreizin notes that Israel is willing to examine other options for cooperation with the Palestinian in order to solve the water supply problems. In the meantime, Israel has demanded that the PA prevent the theft of water and halt the phenomenon of pirated drillings, though Israel has given permission to the PA to drill wells in the Bnei Na'im region near Hebron. These drillings will be dependent on the Palestinians and the Americans, who are financing the PA's water projects. These wells will at least alleviate the water crisis in the Hebron area. |