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Heralding Israel's Environmental Consciousness ince Biblical times, Israel and her neighbors have faced a S limited supply of fresh water.

A small, semi-arid country with limited natural resources, Israel's environmental policy is based on the belief that, in the long term, only the conservation ethic will foster healthy and economic development of the country.

This month's issue of ESFrT is de- voted to the environmental manage- ment and water resource problems of Israel and the eastern Mediterra- nean countries. The guest editor of this special issue, Uri Marinov, was the first director of the Environmen- tal Protection Service and the Min- istry of Environment (MOE), serv- ing in that capacity from 1973 until July 1992. These organizations have been involved in every major plan- ning decision in the country, from siting a new coal-fired plant to in- troducing an environmental man- agement plan for the Sea of Galilee and its watershed. During this time the environmental program of the MOE created a national consensus on environmental protection. The MOE is responsible for 16 laws.

Discussing environmental man- agement in Israel, Marinov and co- author Deborah Sandler say this management plan has been the ba- sic guide for environmental manag- ers over the past 20 years. Israel mandated that an environmental impact statement (EIS) be submitted to the planning authorities for ap- proval. These authors report that since 1982, no large-scale project has been approved without an envi- ronmental assessment.

As we move into the 21st century, 25 nations are experiencing water shortages. Half of the world's popu- lation will he affected by these shortages, according to Joyce Starr, author of an article on the quest for water. The past several years have been the driest in a half century. In 1989, for example, the discharge from the Euphrates River fell to al- most one-half its capacity, accord- ing to World Bank Data. During the summer of 1988, the Nile dropped to its lowest point in a century. In a

1254 Environ. Sci. Technol., Vol. 27, No. 7, 1993

B Y S T A N T O N S. M I L L E R worst case scenario, Egypt's crop production would be crippled be- cause almost all farming depends on Nile flood irrigation. Starr finds that Egypt's water needs are in- creasing at an alarming rate because of the country's astonishing popula- tion growth, projected at 75 million by the year 2000.

The protection of coastal re- sources in Israel and eastern Medi- terranean countries was a need rec- ognized 20 years ago, according to an article by Valerie Brachya, head of the Environmental Planning Di- vision of the MOE. Seventy percent of the population and economic ac- tivities in Israel are concentrated in a narrow strip along the coast. A land use plan for Israel's Mediterra- nean coastline was approved in 1983 and was followed by a re- source management plan for the coast. Turkey and Israel have initi- ated environmental impact assess- ments for planning, and Syria has proposed one.

Large-scale reuse of sewage efflu- ent was initiated in 1972 when the National Sewage Project was estab- lished, according to Yoram Avni- melech, who holds a chair in water and soil science in the Department of Engineering at the Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology. In Is- rael wastewater reuse for irrigation

is about 66% of total sewage, com- pared to about 2.4% in the United States. The reuse of sewage for irri- gation raises public health ques- tions, but Israel has found a tech- nique to avoid problems such as exposure to a variety of pathogens. When effluents are applied through a drip irrigation system, no aerosol is formed, and the only human con- tact with the water occurs when that part of the crop to be consumed touches the soil, he says.

The use of oceans in this area is a persuasive instrument for peaceful cooperation. A team of scientists and engineers from two dozen insti- tutions in Israel, Egypt, and the United States works on the funda- mental needs for food, water, and land protection, according to Robert Abel in his paper, "Cooperative Ma- rine Technology for the Middle East." Realizing that marine fish is a food supply that survives without fresh water, Israel and her neigh- bors are cultivating marine fish as a food supply.

In conclusion, Israel has found in- ventive solutions to age-old prob- lems, including the use of sewage effluent through an innovative drip irrigation technique and the use of marine water to farm fish as a food supply for the region.

Stanton S. Miller is managing editor of ES&T.

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