Nitrate pollution in the drinking water of a number of communities in the Sharon area may spread if the overall rise in this type of pollution continues.

"The whole coastal plain is facing exceptional nitrate levels," Shalom Goldberger, environmental health engineer at the Health Ministry, said last week.

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In a few communities, the ministry has already made special preparations to allow water use.

"In Rishon Letzion a facility to treat nitrates was established, and in Nes Tziona polluted water has been diluted with water from another source. We have instructed the residents of Bet Oved not to drink the water or cook with it, but residents continue to do so," Goldberg said.

Use of the local tap water for cooking and drinking has been probited for the past few weeks in Moshav Benai Dror in the Sharon due to nitrates that exceed allowable levels.

Nitrate pollution occurs when sewage and chemical fertilizers containing nitrate compounds penetrate the water table. Last year's Hydrological Service report on the situation in 2005 revealed high concentrations of nitrates in agricultural areas from Binyamina in the north to Rehovot in the south.

About half the water in the coastal plain aquifer is currently provided by local suppliers and not by the national water company, Mekorot. To overcome the pollution these suppliers must either find ways to purify the water, or connect to the Mekorot system.

In most places where nitrates exceed allowable levels, those levels are determined by new standards. When the old standards were in place, no particular health problems associated with exposure to nitrates were noticed.

Goldberger says that while no immediate danger is posed, standards must be maintained because the presence of nitrates in the water is a health problem in general.