City councils named as Israel's biggest polluters
Data shows pollution in the sea and in Israel in general is gradually decreasing.
By Zafrir Rinat and Haaretz Correspondent Tags: Israel environmentMunicipalities comprise the primary source of pollution in Israel, according to figures announced Thursday by the Environmental Protection Ministry at a conference in Tel Aviv.
The figures particularly implicate the Dan Region Sewage Reclamation Project (Shafdan), which directs waste water into the Mediterranean Sea off of the Rishon Letzion coast.
According to the data, Shafdan causes considerably more pollution than any other source, because much redirected water that has undergone purification remains a pollutant. However, sources from the Environmental Protection Ministry said that the redirection of the waste water into the sea will stop in 2011, and will be dealt with on land.
On a more promising note, the figures show that pollution in the sea and in Israel in general has gradually decreased over the last few years.
Dr. Nurit Kress of the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research institute presented research that showed that industrial pollution has gone down substantially in the Haifa Bay and Kishon River.
The decrease is due in part to a drop in the rate of poisonous metals like mercury, which in the past were found in high levels in the waters and in fish sold on the market.
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