The issue of raw sewage may not be hitting the headlines in the Middle East like concerns over water scarcity, but in the Palestinian territories and Israel it’s a real problem. Inadequate waste water treatment plants in the Palestinian territories means that only 22.5 million cubic metres out of around 150 million cubic metres of […]
How green is your local beach? Soon you’ll be able to check its ranking. Israel’s Mediterranean beaches are an attraction for tourists and locals alike. The sand is soft, the water is usually pretty clear, the weather is great… but some beaches can be cleaner (and greener) than others. And the Environmental Protection Ministry plans […]
Not only does Jibal Faifa Water Company’s bottled water contain excess levels of cancer-causing chemical, but plastic bottles are the bane of the environment It comes as no surprise that water, that miracle of life without which we would quickly shrivel up and die, dominates the headlines. We are either witch-hunting BP for its role […]
A report published Sunday by the Israeli human rights group B’tselem, titled, “Foul Play: Neglect of Wastweater Treatment in the West Bank” found untreated wastewater to be a major source of pollution in the West Bank. 91 million cubic meters (mcm) of wastewater is produced each year in Israeli settlements, parts of Jerusalem, and Palestinian […]
As we saw in the recent Gaza and Lebanon wars, violent conflict can be a major obstacle to environmental protection in the Middle East. Recently, a letter signed by Issac Ben David, deputy director of Israel’s Ministry for Environmental Protection, and addressed to Major-General Gadi Shamni, commander-in-chief of Israel’s central command, contained even more evidence […]
Israel’s Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). As compensation for polluting the Yarmouk River, Israel will pump freshwater from the lake into Jordan As if the regional water scarcity wasn’t bad enough already, Israel will soon begin compensating Jordan with freshwater after oil waste and sewage contaminated the shared Yarmouk River water supply. After detecting pollution […]
An aquaduct in Petra – A Jordanian water conveyance system that is much less controversial! A major study published last week found levels of radioactive isotopes in Jordan’s Disi aquifer that far exceed international drinking water standards. The study, which was conducted by a team of Israeli, Palestinian, and Jordanian scientists and led by Duke […]
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 […]
For centuries, animals have been our first line of defense against toxins. A canary in a coalmine served as a living monitor for poisonous gases. Scientists used fish to test for contaminants in our water. Even with modern advances, though, it can take days to detect a fatal chemical or organism. Until now. Working in […]
The Middle East is pretty thirsty right now. Headlines from all over the region chronicle the increasingly serious drought conditions affecting agriculture, industry, and health. Unfortunately, new research from the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Science & Technology adds reason for even more concern. In their study, “High Naturally Occurring Radioactivity in Fossil Groundwater from the Middle […]
(“Polluted Sea – Bathing is Forbidden.”) The outcome of Israel’s parliamentary elections weren’t a great surprise for many people living in this country of 7+ million people. But now that the coalition government wrangling among the larger parties has begun, the big question among environments is whether any of important “green” issues will be dealt […]
Events over the past week indicate that Palestinian surface and ground water resources are in great danger. Last Friday, around three hundred Palestinians protested the reopening of an Israeli dump site near the West Bank village of Deir Sharaf, outside Nablus. The dump, which was closed several years ago, may pose a grave threat to […]
Israel’s water crisis has been in the news a lot lately. We have all heard how low the Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee) is, and seen suggestions on how to save water this summer. Although it receives much less media coverage, water scarcity has also become a major issue in the Palestinian Territories. This past […]
In the Middle East, water is never far from our minds. As Israel’s water shortage takes effect, the quality of our water is in brisk decline. Hot on the heels of this crisis, a team of researchers in Bar-Ilan University has developed an effective method for locating and measuring water contamination. The new method, developed […]