Environmental group says 100 million cubic meters of rainwater wasted every year

Around 100 million cubic meters of rainwater, equivalent to a tenth of Israeli households’ water use in a year, goes to waste each winter because there is no government policy to manage it, the environmental advocacy organization Adam Teva V’Din warns, as storm warnings hit the headlines.

This amount is also equal to the quantity of drinking water produced by a desalination facility in a year, in a process that emits around 75,000 tons of global warming gases into the atmosphere, the organization says.

“Mainly, 100 million cubic meters of water is an amount of water that we need very much, for drinking, agriculture, rehabilitating the groundwater and streams, and all the natural water sources that have been drying up in recent decades.”

The organization says it is working with local and national governments to try to obtain agreements for a long-term, properly budgeted national storm preparation plan, as part of broader preparation for the effects of climate change.

Rain in the northern coastal city of Netanya, February 19 2021. (Flash90)