Once again, Israelis are being confronted full-on in the media about water issues. This time the news is even more bleak than usual - Israel is facing the worst water crisis in the last ten years.

Writes Haaretz Correspondent Zafrir Rinat:

The deficit in the water balance (amount of water pumped out compared to rainfall) will reach 410 million cubic meters by the end of the year, almost twice as much as last year’s deficit. Altogether, the past four years’ accumulated deficit is almost a billion cubic meters.

The Kinneret is 60 centimeters lower today than it was last year and more than three meters lower than four years ago. Last month - the last main winter month - the Hydraulic Service’s monitoring stations did not register a single significant rise in any of Israel’s streams.

Dropping water levels endanger the water quality, mainly in the coast and western mountain aquifers. The lower the fresh water level, the more sea water or salt water enters the aquifers from deep in the ground. The water being drilled along the coastal plain, from the Dan region to Hadera, has already been contaminated by salt. In some places, sea water has penetrated as far as a kilometer inland.

For Zalul, this is only a reminder of how precious our water resources are in Israel and how important it is to preserve and protect what little we have. You can bet we’ll be following this issue closely… and stay tuned for water saving tips!

OneJerusalem has a good summary of the terrible crime committed this week at the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee):

More than 25,000 dead fish found over the weekend near the marina of Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) were said to have been poisoned by a local fisherman who was disputing an area that he claimed was his private fishing “turf”. The fish, most of them Amnon or St. Peter’s fish, were poisoned by an insecticide concoction used to kill pests like cockroaches. Fears that contaminated fish might be sold to the general public has caused health authorities to issue warnings not to purchase fresh water fish from the Kinneret unless sold in licensed shops whose fish have been checked for signs of the insecticide poison.

Read more here.

Haaretz: Polluted water found in Sea of Galilee for third time in a week

Health Ministry inspectors also discovered contaminated water off Kinneret beaches on Tuesday and on Sunday.

Following the discovery Tuesday, the Health Ministry warned the public against bathing in the waters, after which the Interior Ministry announced it would close the beaches.

On Sunday, the Health Ministry also closed two Lake Kinneret beaches for swimming, after the Tiberias municipality pumped sewage into the area.

A malfunction at the city’s pumping station caused sewage to flow into the lake for what the ministry says was roughly one hour, polluting the two beaches.

This was the second time in recent months that the city’s sewage has flowed into the lake and polluted nearby beaches.

Previous post on this issue here.

Haaretz: Health Min. bans swimming at 2 Kinneret beaches due to sewage leak

And that, dear readers, is where over 40% of Israel’s drinking water comes from.

Check the status of Israel’s beaches at the Health Ministry website.