      
Principles of Water Legislation
Israel’s water management legislation is guided by the following principles:
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That water resources are
public property and that water resources may not be privately owned;
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That every person has the
right to a water allocation for recognized purposes;
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That due to the scarcity of
available water resources a prioritization, in quantity as well as in quality,
has to be instituted;
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That the allocation of water
resources will be effected centrally to ensure an optimal use of the limited
water resources;
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That the consumers, through
their representatives, have a right to provide their input to the determination
of Israel’s national water policy and on the rules relating to allocations,
priorities and tariffs;
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That the government has the
right and obligation to take action for the prevention the pollution of water
resources.
The principal laws that
regulate the management of Israel’s water resources, water supply and quality
are:
The Water Law regulates the
management of Israel’s water resources, their preservation and their allocation
for use. Enacted in 1959, and most recently amended in May 2006, the Water Law
creates an administratively regulated water resources management. Pursuant to
the Law all water resources in Israel are owned by the public (not by the state)
and there are no private water rights or resources.
"The water resources of the
State are public property; they are subject to the control of the State and are
destined for the requirements of its inhabitants and for the development of the
country."
(Article 1 of the Water Law)
Neither private individuals
nor the State own water resources. All water resources are public property. The
State, through the
Governmental Authority for Water and Sewerage (the
“Governmental Authority”) controls, manages and allocates the water resources as
a trustee for the benefit of its inhabitants and for the development of the
land. Water may be used only by permit issued by the Director of the
Governmental Authority and for the water use purposes specifically listed in the
Law (domestic, agricultural, industrial uses etc.) The right to use water
terminates once the specific purpose of the use ceases to exist. The water
entitlement is not an eternal one and is renewed annually.
The Law entrusts the
Governmental Authority and its Director with the obligation, and ensuing powers,
to preserve the country’s water resources, in terms of quantity and quality,
to
regulate the production, supply and consumption of water, to determine
priorities in case of shortage, to enforce environmental standards and prevent
pollution of water resources, to design and implement water supply schemes,
to
regulate the payment for water, etc.
The main feature of Israel’s
water resources management is the fact that they are subject to an
administrative regulation. Since there are no private
water rights, water is
allocated for use by the Director. The allocation of water is done by
administrative decision. All water uses (production, supply, consumption,
discharge and recharge) require an annual entitlement permit. In case of
water
shortage, the Law allows the establishment of a special water supply regime that
controls the allocation of water.
Israel’s water supply system
is operated by public and private water enterprises. A Government formed
national water company – Mekorot – is responsible for bulk water supply in
Israel, and operates the national water carrier that transfers water from Lake
Tiberias (Sea of Galilee).
In order to facilitate the
development of water supply systems, the Law introduces special planning
procedures that take into account the unique character and needs of water
infrastructure development.
Payment for water may either
be in the form of a price negotiated between supplier and consumer or a tariff
determined by the Board of the Governmental Authority. In addition to the price
or tariff the Board may impose a differential (source based) extraction levy.
The levy serves as a principal tool for regulating the use of different
resources for water supply.
The Law stipulates that all
paid-for water must be measured. Each consumer is required to have his own,
separate, measuring device thereby ensuring that not only the supply is measured
but also how much is consumed by each individual consumer. The
Director of the
Governmental Authority may order a self-supplying consumer to measure the water
extracted by him.
By initiating, in 1955, the
obligation to measure each water supply, the Government implemented a successful
control mechanism over the country’s water resources. The information derived on
water supplied to and consumed by each and every consumer, allows the Director
of the Governmental Authority to manage both the preservation of the water
resources as well as to control their use. The 1955 Water Measurement Law was a
first step into the creation of an administratively regulated water sector (See
chapters on Water Rights and
Water Uses).
The Water Drillings (Control)
Law, 5715-1955 regulates the drilling and installation of wells and stipulates
that a permit issued by the
Director of the Governmental Authority is required
for these. Since ownership of the land does not entail the right to drill a
borehole or to extract groundwater, a drilling permit is required also for the
drilling of a well by a landowner for his own use.
An applicant for a drilling
permit has to specify the drilling location, the quantity of water which the
applicant wishes to draw from the well, if successful, and whether the proposed
well is a replacement for an existing well or a new well.
The Law connects the drilling
permit to the ultimate purpose of extracting water. The Law provides that one of
the criteria to be employed by the Director of the Governmental Authority in
considering a drilling permit application will be whether he will, ultimately,
issue a production permit for the well. The Director of the Governmental
Authority may impose conditions upon the permit with respect to the diameter of
the well, its depth or the amount of water to be drawn from the well.
The permit holder is required
to commence drilling within 3 months from the date of the permit and is required
to conduct a trial drawing from the well within one year from the date of the
permit.
The permit holder is obliged
to advise the Director of the Governmental Authority on the results of any trial
extractions and may commence regular extraction from the well only if he holds a
valid Production Permit and after a measuring device has been installed on the
well.
The Law is an integral
component of Israel’s water resources management policy. It strengthens the
control over water extraction by extending the licensing requirements also to
the pre-extraction phases thereby strengthening the control over the use of the
country’s scarce water resources.
The Law regulates the creation
and operation of authorities for the management of streams and springs.
Complimentary to the Water Law that created a framework for the nation-wide
regulation of Israel’s water resources, and the
Drainage and Flood Control Law
that regulates surface water drainage systems, the Stream and Springs
Authorities Law decentralizes certain of the water resources management
functions by allowing the assignment of some of these to Authorities that are
granted jurisdiction over the drainage basin of a stream or other water source.
The Authorities are composed of representatives of government, local
municipalities, local water users and public representatives. The Authorities
are entitled to regulate and/or operate streams (or part thereof) and springs
with the view of maintaining a suitable water level. They are entrusted with the
planning and demarcation of streams, with the maintenance thereof and the
removal of any health hazards affecting the stream as well as the distribution
of water from the stream to interested parties.
The Law has to be read in
conjunction with the Drainage and Flood Control Law since a Drainage Board may
be entrusted with the functions of a Stream Authority as well. By combining the
two functions, all relevant aspects of river basin management are regulated by a
single body.
The Law regulates flood
control and drainage activities for the protection of Israel’s land and surface
water resources. The Law stipulates that surface waters, including drainage
waters may not be diverted from or to a waterway without a permit issued by the
Director of the Governmental Authority.
The Law calls for the
formation of a National Drainage Board that, together with regional, basin
based, drainage authorities, regulates flood and drainage flows. The National
Drainage Board, comprises 20 members, 12 out of which are non-governmental ones,
representing the agricultural sector. The National Board determines drainage
policy and is in charge of the review and approval of local drainage plans.
The local drainage authorities
are in charge of drainage regulation in their area of operation and are
required, where need arises, to plan and construct drainage systems. The
construction of a drainage system requires approval by the National Drainage
Board.
Prior to the enactment of the
Water and Sewerage Corporations Law, 5761 – 2001 the municipalities, in
accordance with their statutory obligations pursuant to the Municipalities
Ordinance supplied water and sewerage services within their municipal
boundaries. The Law provides for the gradual transfer of water and sewerage
services from the municipalities to corporate entities.
The 2001 Law signaled a first
step in the transformation of the administratively managed water sector to a
more commercially oriented one. The objectives of the Law include, inter alia,
the assurance of a high quality service (availability and quality) at affordable
prices to all customers, the ensuring that income from the supply of the water
and sewerage services will finance infrastructure investments, and the enabling
of private sector investments for infrastructure, including through
public-private partnerships (PPP’s).
The process is initially a
voluntary one, i.e. the municipalities may transfer the service provision to
public service entities (the “Water and Sewerage Corporations”) and at a later
stage it will become compulsory that the municipalities cede the service
provision of water and sewerage services to Water and Sewerage Corporations. It
is envisaged that by 2010 all municipal water and sewerage services will be
transferred to Water and Sewerage Corporations. The Corporations may serve the
area of one or more municipality, although in the latter case all municipalities
in the service coverage area have to agree thereto.
The Corporations are subject
to obligations in terms of supply coverage and level of service and are required
to obtain a permit for their operation from the Ministry of the Interior. The
tariffs and service charges for each of the Corporations are subject to review
and approval by the Public Utility Commission for the Water and Sewerage
Corporations.
The Corporations may be owned
either by the municipality (ies) in whose service area they operate or by
private investors.
The Government may intervene
in the operation of the Corporation, including transferring the provision of the
services to another entity in case of failure in service provision, including in
case of bankruptcy.
The sanitary regulation of
drinking water is entrusted to the Minister of Health pursuant to the 1940
Public Health Ordinance and is not affected by the
2006 reform in the management
of the water sector . The Ordinance empowers the Minister of Health to issue
regulations inter alia on the sanitary quality of drinking water, on sanitary
conditions of water resources supplying drinking water and on the sanitary
conditions of the design, construction and operation of drinking water
facilities.
Drinking water may not be
supplied if it does not meet the sanitary conditions as established by the
Minister. The Ordinance further requires that drinking water suppliers regularly
control the sanitary quality of the water through recognized laboratories and
stipulates that public health officials have the authority to ban the use of a
water resource for drinking purposes if it does not meet the established
sanitary standards.
The regulation of drinking
water sources compliments the overall regulation of the water sector by the
Governmental Authority. Thus for example, the producer of drinking water needs a
production license from the
Director of the Governmental Authority
as well as a
license from the Ministry of Health for the supply of the water for drinking
purposes.
Pursuant to its authority, the
Minister of Health has issued detailed standards on the sanitary quality of
drinking water as well as regulations on the protection of resources that serve
for the extraction of drinking water.
The description
of Israel’s water legislation is for informational purposes only and does not
constitute a legally binding version or interpretation thereof.
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