One of Israel's best kept secrets is buried deep in the computer files at the Environment Ministry, which greatly fears the exposure of this secret file containing a list of all the pipelines spilling industrial and municipal waste into the sea.

For years dozens of factories and local authorities have been dumping waste water into the sea in which we swim. This dumping continues because almost every month a special Environment Ministry committee meets to renew the authorities' dumping permits. Without these generously distributed permits, such dumping would be a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment. In the past, following public pressure, the ministry's Website published a partial list of permit recipients. This list contained partial information only, and not, for example, the exact composition of the waste dumped, or the possible effects of the waste on humans and the marine environment.

About a year ago, this list was removed from the Website and reclassified as top secret - and for good reason. The ministry, the polluting factories and the local authorities are afraid of the publication of the information. To correct this situation, Zalul, the Association for the Environment and Preservation of the Dead Sea, initiated a bill calling for the quarterly publication in the press of all recipients of Environment Ministry permits to dump waste water into the sea. The press notices would specify the quantity and composition of the waste water, and would include an affidavit signed by the head of the factory or local authority stating that to the best of his knowledge the waste posed no threat to public health.

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Surprisingly, this initiative encountered opposition from the Justice Ministry, which found an original claim to defend the secrecy of the composition of the waste - publicizing it might infringe the factories' industrial secrets. This claim, of course, is unreasonable, not least because Israeli law states that the non-disclosure of the content of dumped waste cannot be justified by claims of protecting commercial secrets. Every effort should be made to amend the law or to exact an order from the environment minister that the list of permit recipients be published and accessible to all.

The writer is the executive director of Zalul, the Association for the Environment and Preservation of the Dead Sea.