Report: Israel is in worst shape for water resources
By JPOST.COM STAFF
02/12/2011 10:35
Indian thinktank report claims Mideast countries can make "blue peace" with water management, solve deadlocks between Israel, PA, Syria.Talkbacks (1)An Indian thinktank, Strategic Foresight Group, released a report that claims that Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian territories are in the worst shape in the Middle East with clean water resources, citing a 500-700 million cubic meter water deficit each. Middle Eastern counties will have no choice to cooperate as water resources in the region dwindle causing shortages, the report said.
The investigative report was launched by Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey, who, according to AFP, said "The report comes to an alarming conclusion; five of the seven countries are experience a structural shortage and debit of most of the big rivers has declined by 50 to 90 percent since 1960."
Calmy-Rey also called for stronger cooperation between Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey on managing the scant available water resources, adding water's potential to create a "blue peace," adding that "In the future the main geopolitical resource in the Middle East will be water more than oil."
The report warned, however, that "The countries that are friendly today may be antagonistic tomorrow and the ones which are enemies today may be friends tomorrow," adding that "The history of merely last ten years in the Middle East demonstrates how quickly the geopolitical scene changes."
The report claims to have provided a "regional perspective," explaining that watercourses both above and below surface do not adhere to "political boundaries." The investigation highlights the shrinking of the Dead Sea to a small lake by 2050, depletions of the Yarmouk and Jordan Rivers, as well as the drying-up of the Euphrates River due to droubt, and also added that the technical solutions developed in Israel to water issues will only last for a short period of time.
Commenting on water issues in Israel and the Palestinian territories, the report cited a "fundamental misunderstanding between water experts" on both sides concerning thewithdrawal from available aquifers. The report stressed that a peace accord will allow the Palestinians and Israelis to a "fair management of water resources by equitable participation of both parties."
As for joint Israeli-Jordanian-Palestinian water resource management, the report said that the ongoing Red-Dead Sea Canal (RDC) project, a 112 mile pipeline from the Red Sea to the Dead sea would be used both to replenish dwindling waters in the Dead Sea, as well as creating desalinated water for all three parties by using hydro-electric power created by the 400 meter drop from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba, Eilat's coastline.
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By JPOST.COM STAFF
02/12/2011 10:35
Indian thinktank report claims Mideast countries can make "blue peace" with water management, solve deadlocks between Israel, PA, Syria.Talkbacks (1)An Indian thinktank, Strategic Foresight Group, released a report that claims that Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian territories are in the worst shape in the Middle East with clean water resources, citing a 500-700 million cubic meter water deficit each. Middle Eastern counties will have no choice to cooperate as water resources in the region dwindle causing shortages, the report said.
The investigative report was launched by Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey, who, according to AFP, said "The report comes to an alarming conclusion; five of the seven countries are experience a structural shortage and debit of most of the big rivers has declined by 50 to 90 percent since 1960."
Calmy-Rey also called for stronger cooperation between Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey on managing the scant available water resources, adding water's potential to create a "blue peace," adding that "In the future the main geopolitical resource in the Middle East will be water more than oil."
The report warned, however, that "The countries that are friendly today may be antagonistic tomorrow and the ones which are enemies today may be friends tomorrow," adding that "The history of merely last ten years in the Middle East demonstrates how quickly the geopolitical scene changes."
The report claims to have provided a "regional perspective," explaining that watercourses both above and below surface do not adhere to "political boundaries." The investigation highlights the shrinking of the Dead Sea to a small lake by 2050, depletions of the Yarmouk and Jordan Rivers, as well as the drying-up of the Euphrates River due to droubt, and also added that the technical solutions developed in Israel to water issues will only last for a short period of time.
Commenting on water issues in Israel and the Palestinian territories, the report cited a "fundamental misunderstanding between water experts" on both sides concerning thewithdrawal from available aquifers. The report stressed that a peace accord will allow the Palestinians and Israelis to a "fair management of water resources by equitable participation of both parties."
As for joint Israeli-Jordanian-Palestinian water resource management, the report said that the ongoing Red-Dead Sea Canal (RDC) project, a 112 mile pipeline from the Red Sea to the Dead sea would be used both to replenish dwindling waters in the Dead Sea, as well as creating desalinated water for all three parties by using hydro-electric power created by the 400 meter drop from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba, Eilat's coastline.
READ MORE
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