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A water official measures the Kinneret's water level on Monday. (Yaron Kaminsky) Last update - 11:06 08/07/2008 Former water chief: Faucets could run dry this summer By Eli Ashkenazi, Haaretz Correspondent Tags: Kinneret After the water level of Lake Kinneret fell below the "red line" on Monday, the former head of the Water Commission, Dan Zaslavsky, said on Tuesday he feared Israel's faucets could run dry by mid-summer. Zaslavsky said in an interview with Israel Radio that pumping from the lake will stop soon because the water level will fall below the level of the pumps, thereby cutting off the supply of towns who receive their water from the National Water Carrier. The water level fell beneath the lower red line of 213 meters below sea level, below which further pumping could damage the water quality. As a result, the Water Commission announced an emergency water conservation plan Tuesday morning. Advertisement Dr. Zaslavsky told Israel Radio that the shortage will severely harm agriculture, with damages that could total "enormous" sums. The former Water Commission head also criticized Finance Ministry officials who oppose the desalination of sea water due to high costs. He said that the economic damage likely to be caused by an irregular water supply will far exceed the sum needed to invest in desalination. Water level expected to reach record lows by end of summer "Even before I came here this morning, I was in a bad mood," said Shuli Chen, the Water Commission official who has been measuring the Kinneret's level for the last eight years, a moment before opening the meter box in the Rimonim Galei Kinneret Hotel in Tiberias on Monday. He was almost certain of what the meter would show, and he was right. When the country's main water source hits the lower red line at the beginning of July, with the worst of the summer still to come, it is not just Chen who has reason to worry. Granted, Israel has been in this situation before: Seven years ago, Chen pointed out, the lake was at its lowest level since measurements began by the end of the summer 214.87 meters below sea level, or 1.87 meters below the current level. But this year as well, the level is expected to fall to 215 meters below sea level by summer's end, and the country's other two main water sources, the coastal and mountain aquifers, are in equally bad shape. "We need to pray for a serious rainy winter," Chen said grimly. "An average winter won't suffice. If there is not a serious flow of water into the Kinneret this winter, our situation will be very bad." Water experts define the problem simply: Demand for water outstrips supply. But this problem has other consequences as well: It affects the Kinneret itself. About a week ago, for instance, a previously unknown species of algae suddenly appeared on the lake, looking like greenish stains overlaid by foam. It disappeared a few days later, as suddenly as it had come. But researchers are still puzzling over why it appeared to begin with. "Until the mid-1990s, the emergence of [different] algae could be accurately predicted based on the season," said Dr. Tamar Zohary, head of the Kinneret Limnological Laboratory at the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research Institute. Since then, however, the lake has become more unstable and less predictable. Another indication of the lake's growing instability is the sudden influx of leeches on some of its beaches in recent years.Researchers attribute this instability primarily to human actions such as pumping  that have caused rapid and extreme fluctuations in the Kinneret's level. Once, the difference between the lake's highest and lowest level of the year was only about 1.5 meters. In recent years, however, this difference has sometimes been as high as six meters. "That's a serious difference for a system that has grown used to stable fluctuations," said Zohary. "A wide range of levels is terrible for the lake. It creates stress on the ecological system." For instance, researchers believe that rapidly changing water levels are behind the recent onslaught of leeches: The fluctuations have caused the water's quality to deteriorate, which in turn has led to a decline in the population of snails that eat the leeches' eggs, so more leeches are being born. Man has also affected the lake in other ways for instance, through pollution and fishing. Chen says that Israelis' fixation on the Kinneret's water level is unique. "There are thousands of lakes in the world, but only the Kinneret is the focus of so much interest, with people following every centimeter of fluctuation in the level," he said. So far, however, this interest has yet to translate into a serious national effort to heal the lake's ills Bookmark to del.icio.us   History undersea Israeli lifeguard stumbles upon ancient relic during morning swim. Elections, Hebrew style U.S. presidential hopefuls use Hebrew to woo the Jewish community.   1.   Israel is Rapidly Running Out of Water 04:13  |  Johan Odin 08/07/08   2.   Water....life`s energy 07:16  |  Hans 08/07/08   3.   Yet the Left insisted on violating Shemitta law 07:38  |  Binyamin Dissen 08/07/08   4.   #1 Thanks for the link, Johan Odin 08:59  |  Johnboy 08/07/08   5.   No problem yet... 09:25  |  Goy 08/07/08   6.   It`s the Introduction of Bridal Showers Causing this 09:30  |  Michael 08/07/08   7.   Start turning off the water now!! 10:15  |  TW 08/07/08   8.   Water is too precious to be wasted on avocados 10:25  |  Clickfool 08/07/08   9.   take the Palestinians as an example 10:46  |  Sarah 08/07/08   10.   Water Shortage 10:49  |  Jan van Mil 08/07/08   11.   Gain immediate 15% boost by cutting Kinneret water to Gaza! 10:55  |  Dr. L. Brnd 08/07/08   12.   water tankers from the US 11:01  |  taxpayer 08/07/08   13.   Gee arent u getting enuff water from ... 11:12  |  raminPersianPride 08/07/08   14.   Iriyat Beer Sheva just planted lawn along... 11:28  |  Noa 08/07/08   15.   The Lebanese have been stealing water from Israel. That is 11:31  |  a 08/07/08   16.   Binyamin (3) aren´t there people obeying Shemitta year 11:33  |  Jew- and Bookburner 08/07/08   17.   So what your saying is 11:33  |  Chris Linthwaite 08/07/08   18.   #4 Johnboy-Yeah, most believe Israeli Occupations are About Land 11:35  |  Johan Odin 08/07/08   19.   is anything professionally organized in this country? 11:39  |  another goy 08/07/08   20.   Learn from australia 11:43  |  jem 08/07/08   21.   Dr. Leonard Bernard - Palestinians Have Right to Far More Water 11:49  |  Johan Odin 08/07/08   22.   #4 johnboy has NO qualms about STEALING resources 12:16  |  CK Tan 08/07/08   23.   water 12:50  |  Sean 08/07/08   24.   Water shortage 13:22  |  Millicent 08/07/08   25.   Water Shortage - Political Shortage! 13:37  |  Jacob 08/07/08   26.   Time for a Med-Dead or Red-Dead Canal 14:40  |  Rich 08/07/08   27.   Kadima Finds Yet More Ways for Israel to Commit Suicide 14:49  |  Ovadiah ben Avraham 08/07/08   28.   To all Israelis: Welcome to Jordan! 14:53  |  Said 08/07/08   29.   Ministers here need no credentials 15:08  |  ecr 08/07/08   30.   idiots who cant do simple arithmetic 15:11  |  victor hardman 08/07/08   31.   Johan Odin,"palis better stewards of the land"? 15:19  |  The Equalizer 08/07/08   32.   To another goy #19 - Short answer to your question 16:10  |  S 08/07/08   33.   Need to PRAY? 16:27  |  Michael Cecil 08/07/08   34.   Need to PRAY? 16:29  |  Michael Cecil 08/07/08   35.   Bottled water in Gaza 16:33  |  NG 08/07/08   36.   its the market price stupid 16:42  |  Smith 08/07/08   37.   New law? 17:03  |  Bob 08/07/08   38.   so what...? 17:22  |  ravi 08/07/08   39.   The Climate Is A Global Issue- We are responsible 17:35  |  jem 08/07/08   40.   If they have no water, let them drink wine 17:43  |  Marie Antoinette 08/07/08   41.   Quick Fix !! Buy bottled Italian water !! 17:49  |  Yisrael 08/07/08   42.   clickfool 18:03  |  havamike 08/07/08   43.   # 32 S sugarcoating numbers 18:54  |  Axel 08/07/08   44.   Reminds me of an old joke 19:04  |  Veritas 08/07/08   45.   #21 Odin, your "facts" are as wrong as your spelling of my name 19:10  |  Dr. L. Brnd 08/07/08   46.   Well, even if Haaretz does not like it: 19:15  |  Andreas 08/07/08   47.   #1 - Johan Odin 19:17  |  MichaelF 08/07/08   48.   Slowman, I am instructing you to stop working NOW! 19:39  |  Dr. Anshel Pepper 08/07/08   49.   #38...ravi 20:35  |  Nemesis 08/07/08   50.   Axel #43 about the sugarcoated numbers 20:56  |  S 08/07/08   51.   49...nemisis... you real? 21:19  |  ravi 08/07/08   52.   #21..Odin 21:33  |  Nemesis 08/07/08   53.   # 51 nemesis 21:56  |  Axel 08/07/08   54.   absurd agricultural policies 21:59  |  potobac 08/07/08   55.   #53..axel 22:15  |  Nemesis 08/07/08   56.   ravi 51 22:18  |  nemesis 08/07/08   57.   Binyamin Dissen is correct #3 22:20  |  Dror 08/07/08   58.   #13 raminPersianPride 23:12  |  Boycott 08/07/08   59.   US Water Aid. 23:14  |  Cool B 08/07/08   60.   Nemesis - Because 23:26  |  Thor 08/07/08   61.   American way of live has it`s disadvantages 23:42  |  Mark B. 08/07/08   62.   #60..Thor/Odin 00:11  |  Nemesis 09/07/08   63.   For the Man with the Serious Vowel Problem, # 45again 00:14  |  Clickfool 09/07/08   64.   in the land of milk and honey 00:15  |  wh 09/07/08   65.   # 55 nemesis 00:16  |  Axel 09/07/08   66.   What is the problem--Just take more from the Palestinians 00:22  |  Labhras 09/07/08   67.   Israel running out of water? 01:05  |  Nezam el Jenini 09/07/08   68.   @11 Dr. L. Brnd 01:34  |  Mark B. 09/07/08   69.   #61..axel 02:24  |  Nemesis 09/07/08   70.