Israel has never been blessed with an abundance of water. If
the normal amount of rain falls, we have enough for our
needs -- agricultural, domestic and industrial.
Yet our water use is continually growing. It does not take a
genius or even an expert on water use to be able to predict
that shortages are likely. For the past three years there
has not been enough rain in the right places, and the water
shortfall has become much worse. Yet even now no solutions
are in place. Only a few weeks ago was a contract signed for
a desalination plant, and that cannot contribute water for
almost two years.
What is even worse is that part of the problem is rooted in
distortions that are built into the system. Because it was
originally considered a national priority, the agricultural
sector never paid fully for the water it used. The price
that it paid was significantly below cost. This introduced
distortions. For example, fruits such as citrus use a lot of
water. The price of water is an important factor in the
calculations about whether it is worthwhile to plant an
orange grove. The artificially low price that a farmer was
charged for water meant that many orange groves were planted
that really made no economic sense since the true cost to
the Israeli economy of producing the eventual oranges is
much higher than it appeared. Moreover, when we export
oranges we are, in effect, exporting the water it takes to
grow them. So we are sending water from our thirsty region
to European areas that have plenty of water.
This water subsidy has never been questioned. Over the
years, significant parts of the agricultural land have been
converted to other purposes. Yet the land kept its quota for
subsidized water, no matter what was done on it.
Neighborhoods that were built on former farms enjoyed cheap
water to tend their gardens. Even extravagant uses of water
such as water amusement parks are based on the cheap
agricultural water and do not necessarily pay their way. In
other cases the agricultural quotas are used for industrial
purposes especially where water is a significant expense in
the business, for example running dishwashing businesses for
caterers. Their cheap water quotas allow the former farmers
a competitive advantage, but again, these subsidies were
never debated or approved.
The ex-farmers have another disincentive to give up their
water quotas: if they do so they might lose their land
entirely. Their lease on the land is only for agricultural
use. Yet in recent years the real bonanza in land has been
converting it to residential use, making the former farmers
very wealthy indeed. If the erstwhile farmers declare that
they no longer use the water since they no longer farm, they
could actually lose the land and the promise of wealth that
it carries.
According to Globes, the Israeli financial daily, the
lowest estimate for the amount of water stolen by former
farmers is about 50 million cubic meters a year. It happens
that this is exactly the amount that will hopefully be
realized from the first desalination plant some years down
the line. If there are some politicians with the courage to
face down the powerful agricultural lobby, we can gain
almost immediately a very significant amount -- and save
much money on top of it.
One small step towards rectifying the many distortions built
into the system by those who founded the Zionist state to
fight Judaism. There is no doubt that true geulah
requires reform and correction of all the great and small
abuses.
