Israel gradually emerging from water crisis

Water and Energy Minister Uzi Landau noted recently that the world's largest desalination facilities are being used by Israel
 
After several years during which Israel's water crisis had been gradually worsening the Water Authority approved last week a large, 25 million cubic meter, increase in the water quota for agriculture in 2013.
 
The authority increased the quota from 455 million cubic meters to 480 million cubic meters. The Water Authority said that the increase was possible because Israel was emerging from its water crisis of the past decade.
 
The crisis and water shortage in the Israeli water sector is due to the fact that Israel is a semi-arid region with few sources of water; the population is growing rapidly; the standard of living with its accompanying consumption of water per capita is rising; and there have been several consecutive years of drought.
 
In a press release the Water Authority noted that "Efficient management of the water sector, on the basis of the large increase in the amounts of desalinated water, continuing conservation by the public, and the extraordinary amounts of treated water recycled for agriculture, has enabled the Water Authority Council to make these decisions, which indicate the improvement and gradual emergence of the water sector from the crisis it has been in for the past decade," The Water Authority added, "Continued efficient conduct and conservation by everyone, in every sector, will enable the further rehabilitation of the water sector, which still faces large shortages and is still around the red lines."
 
Water and Energy Minister Uzi Landau noted recently that the State of Israel would get through its water crisis in the next decade. The minister noted that the world's largest desalination facilities are being used by Israel, producing 300 million cubic meter of water per year. "In two years, the State of Israel will produce 600 million cubic meters of water, while Israel uses some 1.2 billion cubic meters per year.
 
"By the end of the decade, desalinated water will flow from the western Mediterranean Sea to almost every house in Israel. By the end of the decade the water we'll all drink will be desalinated. We have yet to emerge from the water crisis, but we are on our way," Landau said.