Natural
Health Foods
& Vitamins
Quenching The Thirst
Israel's growing population and dropping
rainfall is turning water shortage
into a national crisis.
NECHEMIAH MEYERS
Israel Correspondent
Rehovot, Israel
in the former Soviet
Union is expected to prompt
almost a quarter-million of
its citizens to make aliya over
the next three years. While surely
something for Israelis to
cheer about, many here
are asking if the country
can supply enough water
to quench the thirst of
this latest wave of new-
comers, let alone enable
them to wash their
clothes, brush their teeth
and flush their toilets.
This is because Israel
faces an increasingly
severe water shortage.
Indeed, the country's population has
increased 25 percent during the past
decade, while its water supply has
remained where it was a decade ago.
Worse, the Israel Hydrological
Service recently released statistics
showing why the level of the Sea of
Galilee, Israel's main reservoir, has
dropped dangerously low. Sparse rain-
fall in the region has cut the water
coming into the lake from the north.
The Banyas, a tributary of the Jordan,
is now providing only 50 percent of
nrest
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ANNOUNCING
THE BRONFMAN
YOUTH
FELLOWSHIPS
IN ISRAEL
2000
or the fourteenth consecutive
summer, a group of outstanding
Jewish teenagers in the U.S.
and Canada, coming from a wide
variety of backgrounds and entering the
twelfth grade of school, will be recipients
of the Bronfman Youth Fellowships*. They
will spend five fulfilling weeks of study,
dialogue and travel in Israel.
F
U.S. vs. ISRAEL ANNUAL WATER USAGE
The Bronfman Fellows will be selected on the basis of character,
intellectual interests, special talents and leadership qualities. Merit, not
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activities begin June 27th, with a return from Israel August 3rd. All
meal's will be kosher, and Sabbath activities will be in keeping with
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the sanctity of the day.
Based in Jerusalem, the Fellows will engage in an intense
interaction with a diverse rabbinic faculty and counselors, representing
a wide range of Jewish perspectives. They will explore Jewish texts
against the background of Israel's land, culture and customs ... meet
with Amitei Bronfman, our Israel counterpart program ... take part, at
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* Fellowships cover all expenses
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Completed applications must be
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For a descriptive brochure and application
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The Bronfman Youth Fellowships in Israel
163 Delaware Avenue, Suite 102
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Telephone: (518) 475 721 2
Fax: (518)475 7207
E-mail: YFl@bronfman.org
Website: www.bronfman.org
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its flow during an average autumn. A
similar drop has been recorded in
water from the Dan River and other
sources.
So far, the shortfall is being dealt
with through a 40 percent cut in
water formerly allocated to farmers.
However, that too has its limits if agri-
culture isn't to disappear completely
from the Jewish state.
What is urgently
required are measures
both to save water and
to increase the supply of
that precious commodi-
ty. To be sure, the prob-
lem has been exacerbated
by three years of drought
and near drought. Yet,
such periods are normal
in the region. And it's
not that Israelis are
wasteful. At 100 cubic meters per per-
son (26,417 gallons) each year, Israelis
use considerably less water than U.S.
residents, whose use is 220 cubic meters
per person (58,118 gallons).
It is not the planners, however, who
are to blame for the current situation.
Rather, the politicians take this honor.
As long as only farmers suffered from
a water shortage, the lawmakers
ignored the problem.
Now that everyone is liable to suf-
fer, avoidance is no longer an option.
4't
".• •
*
♦
.