Desalination
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By commoditizing water through major production facilities there is an implicit depoliticization of water resources. While environmental ethicists can and should raise legitimate concerns about the moral implications of private water supply, given the overall dynamics of controversy, the overall effect may be propitious.
The international community can surely play a role in expediting massive new quantities of water through international aid to support Palestinian desalination. The Israeli government has already agreed to the establishment of Palestinian desalination facilities on Israeli coastal lands. Plans for major Gazan desalination facilities have been collecting dust for more than a decade. It would be morally wrong and politically foolish to ignore Palestinian reservations about receiving a gift of desalination capacity. Yet, Palestinian commitment to the symbolic significance of groundwater resource can still be reflected in a final agreement in which groundwater rights are granted in return for transfer of operational control of Palestinian desalination facilities.
Concerns about desalinations environmental impacts are both global (via the green house gas emissions associated with energy sources) and local (via the cumulative impact of descalant discharge, loss of coastal habitats, etc.) Now is the time to highlight these concerns and insist on adoption of specific (and available) solutions. Especially given the anticipated role of the private sector, clear expectations regarding environmental performance and tough oversight for desalination facilities can and should be part of a final water agreement. Already, Sydney Australia has mandated clean energy as part of its desalination program. A comprehensive peace agreement offers an opportunity to ensure that one environmental asset does not come at the expense of other environmental values and that desalinated water need not only be ultra-clean, but that it no way harms the marine environment and the atmosphere.
Protecting Water Quality
Both Israeli and Palestinian experts for some time have recognized the win-win dynamics associated with coordinated efforts to protect water quality. The considerable expenses of replacing scarce water resources, contaminated by pollution, with desalinized alternatives, is a practical reminder that there is a clear common interest in pollution prevention and control.
A recurring theme in this book is that upgrading sewage treatment in Palestinian communities (and several Israeli ones as well) constitutes the single most immediate task facing the two entities. This is particularly true with regards to stream restoration as well as protection of groundwater in the region. An immediate, emergency initiative must be initiated to collect and treat all untreated sewage in the Palestinian sector, phasing out existing cesspool systems so that waste water connects to these centralized facilities.
Typically, water quality standards drive water development activities and coordinated prescriptions and criteria for Palestinians and Israelis in a final agreement are essential. Assuming that the economies (as well as drinking water supply) of the two entities will remain connected, asymmetrical regulatory expectations create unfair competitive advantage for polluters.
Israel traditionally has taken a position which expects the Palestinians to meet its environmental criteria. Israeli standards over time are increasingly close to those required in Europe. It would seem, however, that for the immediate future, environmental expectations must be adjusted to meet existing Palestinian capacity and available resources.
The role of donor nations in providing the necessary resources for achieving water quality objectives will be critical. During the past fifteen years, the Palestinian economy has fallen behind and it will take some time until a sufficient tax base exists to maintain, much less construct the necessary environmental infrastructure. Not withstanding its own economic challenges, Israel is in a position to help. An interesting model is that provided by the U.S. and Mexico, who have for many years proven the benefits of cooperation in restoring shared water resources. Given compelling American interests in environmental improvement, the U.S. demanded higher levels of performance but was willing to participate in the associated investment within Mexico.
After infrastructure development, the next regulatory challenge involves implementation and compliance monitoring. The pervasive use of raw sewage by some Palestinian farmers and the frequent violations associated with polluted discharges of effluents by industrial and municipal facilities in Israel are examples of the gap that exists between theory and practice for water quality.
It is important to emphasize that unilateral efforts are unlikely to solve the regions environmental problems.
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