After three years of campaigning in the city of Ashdod to rescue the Lachish, Zalul stood alongside the Mayor of Ashdod, Dr. Yechiel Lasri, at a press conference on July 6, 2009, to announce the opening of the river to water recreation.

Three years ago, Zalul had a vision for a pollution-free Lachish River, believing that we could bring it back to life within three years. In September 2006, Zalul began a public campaign to rescue the Lachish River after years of severe pollution. The main pollution sources were industrial waste water from the Ashdod industrial zone, wastewater from the municipal sewer system, and wastewater from other settlements in the region.

As part of the campaign, Zalul demanded that former Ashdod Mayor Zvi Zilker, put an immediate stop to the polluting of the river and assist with its rehabilitation. After a major public campaign in the city building up to the municipal election by Zalul and the election of Dr. Lasri as Mayor of Ashdod, along with members of the Ashdod Environmental Forum to city council, conditions were ripe for real and permanent change to the river.

After a long discussion with the major and city council members, regulatory agencies and Zalul, the city of Ashdod promised to fully enforce policy against those who tried to pollute the Lachish River – specifically focusing on the industrial area. The city promised to upgrade the sewage infrastructure, emphasizing the drainage system. Lastly, they agreed that the issue of opening the river for boating and other water recreation would be done in partnership with the Ministry of Health, in order to ensure public health.

Zalul's Assistant Director, Ezer Fischler (L), kayaks in the Lachish River for the first time in decades with Adi Ben-Lish (R), Director of Park Lachish in Ashdod (Zalul).

At the press conference on Monday, July 6, 2009 Mayor Lasri of Ashdod announced that due to the tremendous improvement in water quality the river would be opened officially in mid-August after a trial period. Zalul was a partner in the press conference and approved the improvement in the water quality, but made sure to list our own demands for safety and water quality, to which the City of Ashdod agreed.

Mayor Lasri, speaking at the conference, said “I have zero tolerance for pollution of the river and will close any factory that pollutes the Lachish.” Zalul is very proud of the change in the Ashdod leadership that is helping bring about this change in the river. The Lachish River will now be a central part of the city and a major public attraction and place of enjoyment for residents.

Zalul will continue to follow developments along the length of the river to ensure its rehabilitation process as well as continuing work upstream from Ashdod. For now, you’ll be able to find us kayaking in the Lachish!

Cross posted on the Israel Water Blog.

Learn more about Zalul Environmental Association by visiting their website www.zalul.org.

The health of Tel Aviv and Herzliya residents should not be ignored:
For over two weeks the beaches of Tel Aviv and Herzliya have been polluted by sewage from Or-Yehuda. For over a week Zalul Environmental Association has been waiting for an answer from the Ministry of the Environment about their failure to enforce the law.

Zalul asks Green Prophet readers,  does this seem right?

If not, come this Friday, March 6, 2009 at 14:30 to Frishman Beach on the Tel Aviv promenade (across from the Dan Hotel) to protest the negligence that is hurting the health of Tel Aviv and Herzliya residents.

Even during the winter we all deserve a clean sea. For additional details, please contact Zalul Environmental Association:  03-5762666 and don’t forget to RSVP on Facebook!

Visit the Ministry of Health’s web page to view the status of all Israel’s official beaches.

This year was a wake-up call to the public and the government. The report discovers that by implementing the law that requires the government to institute a discharge fee for polluters the Ministry of the Environment could double, even triple its (currently paltry) budget!

Zalul's Executive Director, Yariv Abramovich, is interviewed by Israel Army Radio (Galei Tzahal) at the 2008 Sea Report press conference.

This year’s report is focused on the lack of economic incentives for factories to reduce their pollution. It calculates the cost of a pollution discharge fee (if one were to be implemented) for several polluting companies and compares this to their profits.

We believe this report will have dramatic reverberations that will lead to change, particularly with the implementation of a discharge fee for polluters which will strongly encourage them to update their treatment facilities.

Each year over 50 million cubic meters of industrial effluents and sewage are dumped into the coastal waters of Israel by special permit of the Inter-ministerial Committee for Issuance of Discharge Permits without any discharge fee. This amount does not include municipal sewage from treatment plants. Actual total effluent and sewage discharges are estimated at over 100 million cubic meters.

The report It finds that millions of shekels stay in the hands of corporations rather than going towards the application of best available technologies or a governmental fund for protecting the environment. Issuing permits without demanding any discharge fee results in marine pollution and lack of advanced treatment technologies.

According to a calculation of industrial discharge volumes and a treatment fee of 4 to 16.75 shekels per cubic meter (based on existing land based sewage treatment fees for effluent of various quality), the amount of money which is not collected and stays in the hands of the factories, is over 200 million shekels, and may be as high as 900 million shekels (the Ministry of Environment’s annual budget is less than 200 million shekels each year).

The report finds that the discharge fee would represent between 1.3% and 5.4% of the annual profits and less than one percent of annual revenues of the 8 companies evaluated. These results indicate that many companies clearly have an ability to implement advanced effluent treatment, but because of market failures, have no incentive to do so.

Sea pollution closes the beaches in Bat Yam. (Credit: Zalul Environmental Association)

For a long time now, Israel’s water resources haven’t been getting the respect they deserve. Out of the 16 rivers that flow into the Mediterranean Sea, all 16 are polluted – many to the point that you wouldn’t even let your dog go swimming in them, much less your children. And that pollution? It flows into the Mediterranean Sea, where thousands of Israeli residents and tourists go year round to surf, play, and work on their tans. Water pollution in Israel is not only a danger to river and marine life, but also a danger to public health and Israel’s economy.

Zalul Environmental Association is out to change that. “Zalul” (צלול) in Hebrew means “clear” and that is what we strive for – clean, clear water for the enjoyment of all. The battles are being fought. Legal, legislative, and public action is being taken to clean up and restore Israel’s rivers, streams, and shorelines to the greatness they once were. We want to restore these now-sewage canals back to national treasures and we’re succeeding, slowly, but surely.

Since 1999 we have been working towards our goal of clean, clear water in Israel and there is still a lot of work to be done. Our work extends all over the country, from saving the coral reefs in Eilat and fighting for the removal of the fish cages to the Lachish River in Ashdod and the Gulf of Acco and Kishon and Naaman Rivers in the north, not to mention our work nationally to stop land-based pollution from entering the Mediterranean Sea.

With the mayoral elections in Israel taking place at the end of 2008, this is a key time for environmental groups to put pressure on lawmakers to act for the environment. In our campaign to save the Lachish River Zalul has been speaking out against the inaction and poor decision making of Zvi Zilker, the mayor of Ashdod.

(Dead fish float in the Lachish River after a sewage spill from the Ashdod Sewage Treatment Plant. Credit: Zalul Environmental Association)

In Ashdod, Mayor Zilker has promised time and time again that he will improve the city’s infrastructure and fix the often-malfunctioning sewage treatment plant. For the past two years Zalul has campaigned for these improvements and no progress is being made. Plans are in place, but never put into action. Finally, this week both Zalul and the Ministry of the Environment became fed up enough to sue the Ashdod Municipality. This latest move will give both Zilker and the residents of Ashdod a great deal to consider this coming election. You too can support this campaign by signing our online petition (in Hebrew) and tell Mayor Zilker “We will not say the Kaddish for the Lachish!”

For more information on Zalul and our activities, visit our website at www.zalul.org or our blog at http://zalul.wordpress.com.

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