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A Factual Look at Middle East Water Issues
1. What are Israel's Water Sources?
Israel has 3 main water sources: the Sea of Galilee, the Coastal Aquifer, and the Western and Northern Aquifers of the so-called Mountain Aquifer. Together these sources have a safe annual yield of roughly 1350 MCM (note).
The Galilee and the Coastal Aquifer are both entirely within the pre-1967 borders of Israel, and both were extensively developed and used by Jewish residents even during the period of the British Mandate (that is, well before 1948). Therefore, charges that Israel is using "Palestinian water" usually center on the Western and Northern Aquifers, which straddle the border between pre-1967 Israel and the West Bank.
The Western Aquifer
The Western Aquifer, with a safe annual yield of roughly 360 MCM, is fed by rain falling on the western slopes of the West Bank's Judean and Samarian mountains. The water percolates through porous surface rock into the aquifer far below the surface, and then naturally flows downwards toward the Israeli coastline. Prevented from actually reaching the coast by natural hydrologic barriers, the water instead emerges in Natural springs which are almost Entirely in Israel (note).
As Early as the 1950s Israel used 95% of the Western Aquifer's Water
Most of the Western Aquifer's water is stored under Israel, and the water is easily accessible only where the storage area approaches the surface. This accessible region is almost entirely within Israel. As a result, already by the 1950s Israel was using about 95% of the aquifer's water, the rest being used by Arab farmers in the West Bank towns of Qalqilya and Tulkarem, via springs and wells. Both towns are literally within meters of the border with pre-1967 Israel. (note).
Assertions that gaining control of the West Bank in 1967 has allowed Israel to use "Palestinian water" from the Western Aquifer are therefore completely specious.
The Northern Aquifer
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2. How Much Water does Israel Consume?
Currently an average of 360 MCM are drawn from the Western Aquifer annually, with 340 MCM drawn within Israel, and 20 MCM drawn by Palestinians in the West Bank. (note) However, not all the water drawn within Israel is used within Israel – more than 40 MCM are pumped over the Green Line for use by the Palestinians (note).
Israel's share of the Western Aquifer's water, which was 95% prior to 1967, has declined to 83%, while the Palestinian share of the aquifer's water has significantly increased.
Similarly, an average of 128 MCM are drawn from the Northern Aquifer annually, with 103 MCM used within Israel from Israeli sources, and 25 MCM used by Palestinians in the West Bank, mostly supplying the Jenin area. Israel's share of the Northern Aquifer's water, at 82% prior to 1967, has Declined to 80%.
In other words, since 1967 the proportion of the Northern Aquifer's waters used by Palestinians has increased.
3. What About Palestinian Consumption?
In the period from 1967 to 1995 West Bank Palestinians increased their domestic water use by 640%, from 5.4 MCM to 40 MCM (note). By way of comparison, in the same 28 year period Israeli domestic usage increased by just 142%.
This Huge jump in Palestinian consumption was possible only because Israel drilled or permitted the drilling of over 50 new wells for the Palestinian population, laid Hundreds of kilometers of new water mains and connected hundreds of Palestinian villages and towns to the newly built water system.
Palestinian sources broadly Confirm this picture. For example, Taher Nassereddin, Director General of the West Bank Water Department, has stated that:
[Palestinian] consumption for domestic purposes has Increased as a result of population growth and that there were no severe restrictions on drilling new wells for these purposes.
It is important to note, however, that for political reasons some Palestinian villages and towns refused to be hooked up to the new main water system, and may therefore not have a reliable water supply today....
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4. Israel Supplies Water to the Palestinians, Jordan, and Lebanon
Contrary to charges that Israel uses Arab water, the reality is the REVERSE: Israel has supplied, from its own sources, Large amounts of water to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, to the Kingdom of Jordan, and to a number of villages in South Lebanon.
Meanwhile, Jordan has not supplied the West Bank with any water since 1967, despite its obligation, under international legal guidelines, to supply 70-150 MCM annually.
Israeli Water TO the Palestinians
More than 40 MCM annually is pumped within Israel and piped over the Green Line for Palestinian use in the West Bank (note). The Ramallah area alone, through its independent Palestinian water utility, receives more than 5 MCM annually from Israeli sources (note).
In addition, Israel also supplies more than 4 MCM annually to the Gaza Strip through the Kissufim Line of the National Water Carrier, serving the Palestinian localities of El-Bureij, Moazi, Abason, Bani Suheila and Khan Yunis (note).
Israeli Water TO Jordan
Under their peace agreement (note/source) Israel agreed to supply, or arrange for the supply of, an additional 55 MCM of water annually to Jordan. Until the development of new desalinization plants, all of the additional water is coming directly from Israeli sources (Jordan Times, 25 Aug 99). In recent years Israel has supplied Jordan with 75 MCM annually, or roughly 20 MCM more water than was agreed upon (note).
Israeli Water TO Lebanon
Ten otherwise dry Southern Lebanese villages receive 600,000 CM of water annually from wells within Israel. A ten-inch pipe, for example, runs from Israel to the Lebanese village of R'meish (note).
5. How does Israeli Water Use Compare to that of its Neighbors?
Many media reports have portrayed Israel as a profligate user of water. The July 27, 1999 NPR report claimed that "the average Israeli consumes about six times more water than the average Palestinian." NPR's claim is grossly incorrect. While Israelis, both Jewish and Arab, use more water per capita than Palestinians, the actual ratio is far less than six. In 1995, ie, Israel's annual per capita usage was 308 CM... while for West Bank Palestinians usage was 124 CM, a ratio of 2.5 (note).
Moreover, among countries in the immediate area, Israel has the second Lowest annual per capita usage: Syria's is 1089 CM, Egypt's is 921, Lebanon's is 444, and Jordan's is 201 (note).
It is also instructive to look at the trend of Israeli water use. In the ten year period from 1984/85 to 1995, for example, Israel's population grew by 32%, but its water use grew by just 3.3%, a sign of the country's great efforts at water conservation and efficiency...
In contrast, during the same period Jordan's population increased by 59%, but its water use increased by 113% (Hashemite/Jordan, Stat Yearbook 1987, 1995). Similarly, in this period Syria's population grew by 38%, but use of drinking water grew by 43%.. (note).
6. Shared Water: Legal Guidelines
Many media reports have uncritically accepted false Palestinian charges that Israeli water policies violate international law.
The relevant legal norms are the Helsinki Rules (1966) as supplemented by the Seoul Rules (1986), which according to a leading authority state that the actual needs of communities take precedence over the natural properties of the water course, and that among the needs, priority is given to past and existing uses, at the expense of potential uses.
Thus, Israel's first and continuing use of downstream water resources which flow towards the country from the West Bank is justified by generally accepted legal guidelines. These same guidelines have been invoked, for example, by Egypt, regarding the Nile (Egypt is downstream from Ethiopia, Sudan and Kenya), and by Jordan regarding the Yarmuk (Jordan is downstream from Syria).
In light of the above, it is striking that Israel, chronically short of water, and suffering from a terrible drought, continues to generously share the precious resource with neighbors despite being falsely charged with profligate use of stolen water.
