VZCZCXYZ0004
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTV #1400/01 1821348
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 301348Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7332
INFO RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 0002
RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD 0133
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 4073
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 4356
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 2370
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS 4823
RUEAEPA/HQ EPA WASHDC
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHDC

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001400 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/IAI, NEA/REA and OES/ENV 
USDA FOR FAS/OCBD 
EPA FOR INTERNATIONAL 
AMMAN for ESTH 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV EINV TBIO IS PA JO
SUBJ:  Trilateral Water Meeting: Planning to Meet Scarcity 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: The Trilateral Water Working Group (TWWG) of 
Israeli and Palestinian water authority managers met in Tel Aviv on 
June 12, under USG chairing at USG auspices, to review the region's 
water supply situation.  Substandard rainfalls for four years have 
left natural water sources at record low levels, risking ecological 
damage to Lake Tiberias and underground aquifers if previous 
consumption rates continue.  PA officials say illegal tapping of 
resources exists because Palestinian water rights have been ignored, 
creating a severe shortage, especially in Gaza.  Israeli authorities 
reviewed their own drought conditions and the actions they are 
taking to address them.  Israel believes the PA should undertake 
more wastewater recycling for agricultural use. The status of 
several water and wastewater development projects was reviewed. 
Slow implementation of these projects was attributed to ongoing 
security concerns and problems in getting supplies into Gaza and the 
West Bank.   GOI officials said that access into PA areas for pipes 
and other project materials can be arranged, given sufficient 
information.  Both parties agreed that the coming year will need 
ongoing adjustment to scarcer, costlier water supplies.  End 
Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) The TWWG meeting June 12 came in a period of flux, amidst 
press reports of bidding procedures over major new desalination 
facilities and the airing of several mega-projects proposed to 
resolve the region's water worries, such as a Red Sea-Dead Sea 
channel providing both water and electricity.  Further, issues of 
environmental pollution, waste treatment and public health are 
increasingly allied to the problem of water management.  In Gaza, 
the tension between Hamas and Fatah within the PA started to 
register in the Palestine Water Authority (PWA), which until now has 
resisted politicization.  A new head of the PWA replacing a veteran 
of previous negotiations also lent importance to the meeting.  While 
no official transcript is made of TWWG proceedings, post repeats 
below the memorandum done following the meetings for the information 
of Washington agencies and posts with interest in the topic. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Begin Memorandum: 
 
Welcome & U.S. Presentation 
 
Introductory remarks by USAID D/Dir David Harden noted the long 
history of the Working Group, which started in 1996 after the Oslo 
Peace Accords in 1994.  For twelve years the group has met 
periodically to address both policy and practical questions relating 
to the sourcing and distribution of water.  In recent years the 
treatment of waste water has become an integral part of TWWG 
discussions.  Harden stressed the importance of maintaining contacts 
among professional government managers throughout the changes in 
political atmosphere.  Harden also praised the guidance of Chuck 
Lawson who has chaired the Working Group over its history, but will 
shortly be leaving the State Department.  All the parties echoed 
thanks to Lawson for his work.  Lawson expressed appreciation to the 
group for its hard work over a dozen years, and welcomed Dr. Shaddad 
Attili as the new chairman of the Palestine Water Authority (PWA), 
replacing Fadel Al-Kawash. 
 
The Situation in Palestinian Areas 
 
Attili described the water situation in PA areas as a drought, now 
extended for several years.  Attili expressed disappointment that 13 
years after the Interim Agreement was signed, the Palestinians are 
receiving no more water than they were in 1995.  Under the 
agreement, both sides agreed that Palestinians have approximately 
118 million cubic meters (MCM) a year available to them.  According 
to Attili, that figure has not changed much in the intervening 
years.  The agreement made available an additional 70-80 MCM/year, 
mostly from the Eastern Aquifer.  Attili said that not much of that 
additional water had been developed.  The Israeli team noted that 
Israel sells approximately 50 MCM/year to the Palestinians in the 
West Bank.  The matter of water rights due to Palestinians has been 
ignored, Attili believes (though he recognized that that issue is to 
be addressed in the permanent status water negotiations).  The 
present dire situation presses some people to drill illegal wells, 
and Attili said this only hurts the PWA as it damages the aquifer. 
Attili said the Israeli government refuses to grant approvals to dig 
new wells or to construct new waste water facilities as long as 
these illegal wells remain open.  Attili is commited to closing 
illegal wells, and asked for Israeli assistance to do this: 
provision of sufficient water is the only way to suppress illegal 
 
drilling. 
 
Regarding Gaza, Attili said that 85 percent of the water distributed 
exceeds the accepted standards for dissolved nitrates.  Tap water is 
brackish and unhealthy, and the condition of the Gaza aquifer is 
deteriorating.  The lack of fuel and intermittent power supply 
seriously affects water pumping and waste water operations.  Attili 
said only about 65% of wells are operating, and the volume of water 
pumped is down 60% from last year's levels due to inadequate power. 
Attili added that the Hamas takeover in Gaza has vastly complicated 
the PWA's work.  Hamas took over the PWA's Gaza offices about ten 
days ago, seizing cars and other property, and locking employees out 
of the office. 
 
Attili also discussed the effluent situation from Ariel that is 
flowing into Israel and polluting the aquifer both Israel and the PA 
must draw on.  Shaddad stressed the need to work together on 
wastewater treatment issues.  Three of Gaza's wastewater treatment 
plants are non-functional, with the result that 60,000 cm per day of 
untreated or poorly treated wastewater are pumped into the 
Mediterranean from Gaza and 30,000 cm per day from Rafah. 
 
Asked about his "vision" for the PWA, Attili said that the problems 
he faced were so dire that his vision consisted only of crisis 
management.  He said international donors are providing sufficient 
funding for projects, but the pressing need of the health of the 
aquifers is not being adequately addressed.  He also cited a 
critical need to address delays in permitting for wells and other 
projects that necessitate costly penalty payments to contractors. 
 
Israeli Emergency Action 
 
Israel Water Authority (IWA) Director Dr. Uri Shani began his 
overview by noting the measures taken by the GOI in its National 
Water Emergency Plan adopted June 1, 2008.  Agricultural users have 
been cut back by 40 percent, and various demand management policies 
have gone into effect.  He defined the red-line level and black-line 
levels of Lake Kinneret (Tiberias), previously the major source for 
Israel's National Water Carrier Mekorot.  The red-line is defined as 
the point beyond which withdrawing water from the source may risk 
ecological damage to the lake or aquifer.  The black-line is the 
point beyond which such ecological damage could be severe and 
irreversible.  Shani expected Israel to reach the red-line level in 
Lake Kinneret during July, and he was determined that the black-line 
level should not be reached. 
 
Shani noted that over half of all water used by Israeli agriculture 
is treated wastewater -- about 70 percent of the annual wastewater 
Israel generates.  The GOI will invest heavily in the coming five 
years to build facilities to treat the 80 mcm of Israeli wastewater 
that is not currently recycled.  A NIS 12 billion investment in 
desalination plants is planned in coming years.  Ultimately, 
desalination will supply two-thirds of Israel's domestic use water. 
 
 
Responding to the questions of water rights and legal entitlements, 
Shani observed that the region's natural water is simply decreasing, 
for a variety of reasons including rainfall patterns and global 
warming.  The reality is that we cannot share what we do not have, 
so discussion of rights does not solve the problem.  Water in the 
future inevitably will be a more expensive resource, although Shani 
promised that water allocations made to the PA would not be cut, 
even under the Emergency Plan measures. This amount the IWA 
understands to be 118 mcm, plus about another 50 mcm that the PWA is 
purchasing from Israeli suppliers.  Shani said the PWA's recent 
request for an additional 8 mcm would also be met, but cautioned 
that the Palestinians have to develop a water recycling capacity. 
 
Joint Water Committee Activities 
 
Attili noted that holding a Joint Water Committee (JWC) meeting was 
hard to do: he has tried to organize it for several months, but 
Israeli Civil Administration did not approve.   Members of the 
Israeli delegation responded that political circumstances had at 
times intervened, making such meetings impossible.  The confusion of 
authority in PWA offices in Gaza at the time of the TWWG is an 
example.  Regarding the implementation of JWC water projects listed 
at the August 14, 2007 JWC, the parties agreed that a number have 
been completed, though others remain incomplete due to a political 
situation that makes entry of construction materials difficult. 
Joint training in water management (held under the auspices of the 
Regional Water Data Banks project) was held in Tiberias, Israel, May 
25-29; Israeli and Jordanian professionals attended, but due to 
access problems the Palestinian delegation could not participate. 
All parties agreed that it was essential to resolve access problems 
for the training courses to be effective. 
 
The Gaza wastewater situation was reviewed, and all parties agreed 
it needs to improve.  Unreliable power has halted treatment plant 
operations, although pumping to infiltration ponds continues.  With 
new pipes expected from France by September, the World Bank's North 
Gaza Emergency Sewage Treatment project will become operational 
after they are installed. 
 
USAID projects in Beit Jala and Nahal Oz were reviewed.  In Beit 
Jala the first phase is nearing completion, but USAID 
representatives noted that additional approvals are needed to 
undertake phase II work.  The Israeli Civil Administration has 
positively reviewed the plans, but no permits have been issued.  The 
Nahal Oz connection to Mekorot was confirmed as still incomplete. 
While this work was planned and Norwegian assistance funds were 
programmed for the work, there is no action underway to finish the 
connection because of security concerns in Gaza.  The Palestinian 
and Israeli teams agreed that a new waste water treatment facility 
for the Hebron area is a top priority, and they expressed 
disappointment that the USG had not yet taken on the project again. 
(Note: the USG had agreed to fund the Hebron waste water treatment 
project, but the project was put on hold when Hamas took control of 
the PA in 1996.  The funds for the project were subsequently used 
for other activities.  End note.) 
 
The date for the next TWWG meeting was not set; however the 
consensus was to expect a meeting in six months. 
End of TWWG Memorandum. 
¶4.  This cable has been drafted jointly by Embassy Tel Aviv and 
Consulate General Jerusalem. 
 
Jones