The price for water used in excess of the basic allocation
of 60 cubic meters per person will rise sharply in an effort
to cut home consumption according to an agreement between
the Water Commission, the Treasury, the Interior Ministry
and Union of Local Authorities.
Other measures that were agreed upon include a restriction
against planting new public parks or gardens for three
years. In total, the cities undertook to cut 100 million
cubic meters from their allocation of water, amid other wide
ranging measures to tackle the developing water crisis.
Water Commissioner Shimon Tal's proposal to ban watering of
pubic parks and gardens for three years was not adopted. The
cities act as intermediaries between the individual
consumers and Mekorot, the national water company. The
cities deal with the consumers, maintaining their
connections and handling the billing, and in turn purchase
the water from Mekorot.
Prices for all water will probably rise, but the rise will
be especially sharp for usage that exceeds a basic
allocation of 60 cubic meters a person.
Farmers will be asked if they want to sell off their water
allocation. In recent months other steps have been taken,
including the updating of the allocation of water rights. In
an historical anomaly that received wide press coverage,
some neighborhoods in north Tel Aviv that are now populated
with large homes receive agricultural rates for the water
they consume because they were once agricultural
communities.
The Treasury and Interior Ministry are supposed to come up
with the new procedures for home water consumption, and the
Union of Local Authorities will try to propose specific
administrative steps to enforce the water savings of the new
package.
