A Knesset committee agreed to establish a state commission of inquiry into Israel’s water crisis.
The Knesset State Control Committee said Monday it would set up the commission to investigate why the recommendations of professionals and government decisions were ignored. It will be charged as well with making recommendations for both the short and long term to ensure an adequate water supply.
Israel’s main source of fresh water, the Sea of Galilee, earlier this month reached its bottom red line, beyond which pumping water can cause irreversible damage. Experts have predicted it will reach its black line, beyond which pumping is impossible, by December.
Minister of National Infrastructure Benjamin Ben-Eliezer strongly supported establishing the commission, Israel’s business daily Globes reported.
“Not only do I not object to the establishment of the commission to examine the state’s failure in the supply of desalinated water,” he said, “I insist that the commission should be established and explain to everyone how a coterie of Ministry of Finance officials, however talented they may be, are capable of bringing misery to an entire nation.”
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