Residents of Moshav Bnei Dror in the Sharon region have been forced for the last week to rely on container trucks or bottled water to obtain water for drinking and cooking, after the Health Ministry detected an excessive concentration of nitrates in the well that normally serves the moshav.

Residents complained that they were not notified via the media that the water in their taps was unsafe, as is standard practice; instead, they learned about the problem only when they found a notice in their post office boxes. But since many moshav residents do not check their post office boxes every day, several of them learned about the problem only about a week ago - even though Health Ministry official Etti Burla had sent a letter to the moshav secretary on December 24 telling him that the water was unfit to drink and asking him to notify residents.

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Moshav secretary Effi Reuven stresses the announcements were distributed to post office boxes and were also posted on the internet.

According to Burla's letter, the nitrate level in the well has been rising gradually for the last year, and now exceeds the level deemed fit for drinking. However, Bnei Dror is not slated to be hooked up to Mekorot Water Company - which would provide it with safe tap water - by June 2007.

According to Shalom Goldberger, the Health Ministry's chief environmental engineer, the well's nitrate level exceeds the permitted maximum only "slightly," and does not carry the severe health risks that higher concentrations would entail.