Drinking Water Quality and Standards - The Palestinian Perspective / Alfred Abed- Rabbo
Israeli Drinking Water Resources and Supply /
Ramy Halperin
Israeli standards conform to general regulatory patterns found in international drinking water criteria, such as guidelines promulgated by the World Health Organization, directives of the European Communities and/or U.S. EPA regulations. In Israel, a guidance document was in effect until 1974. At that time the Ministry of Health issued the "Drinking Water Quality Regulations."
These regulations have been updated about every 10 years, and recently were reviewed by a special expert's committee – known as the Adin Committee after the chairman's last name. The regulations include microbial, chemical, physical and radiological standards, as well as monitoring frequency requirements for each of these groups of standards. In general, the committee recommended that Israeli drinking water standards be set at more stringent levels. Since Israeli regulations are based on the leading international bodies regulating drinking water quality, (U.S. E.P.A., the WHO and the EU), standards adopted in the Israeli regulations are generally consistent with international norms. Israeli drinking water standards are divided between “recommended” levels and required levels. In some cases, such as with nitrates, there are modest differences between the concentrations that are actually allowed and the more stringent recommended standards. In general, Israel’s drinking water quality has improved dramatically over its history. Standards have been steadily more stringent, consistent with international trends and expectations. Even as the quality of water resources themselves have deteriorated, water management interventions have for the most part prevented contamination at the faucet. Yet, the public in Israel seems to be losing confidence in the quality of its drinking water and shows a preference for bottle water, its high price not withstanding
Palestine is a land that suffers from severe water stress. The full extent of the severity emerges from a comparison with international standards for per capital water availability of the World Health Organization (WHO) (1993). While the WHO sets the figure for minimum water requirements at 100m3/cap/year for domestic, urban and industrial use – in practice Palestinians have less than one quarter of this amount annually. One of the most unfortunate related problems is the Palestinian piping system with an average of 44% of total supply trickling out of the system due to faulty infrastructure. One of the distinguishing characteristics behind the organization of the water sector on the West Bank has been the integration of services from the Israeli water supply network. Water quality in the West Bank is generally considered acceptable. For the most part, there are no serious indications of pollution in the deep aquifer. There are, however, no shortage of instances involving contamination of water in the more shallow aquifers and springs in the West Bank. Both the Nablus and the Jericho areas, for example, have shown nitrates levels in excess of the recommended 45mg/L. In contrast, drinking water quality in the Gaza Strip is substantially worse. The main quality problem is the increase of salinity due to salt water intrusion from overpumping. Given existing resources, it would seem that fresh water in the region should be reserved for domestic use, with treated wastewater supplying agriculture and industry.