1 Salik, D., Plan for Protection of Water Quality in the Watershed: Summary of Existing Situation (1973, in Hebrew).Google Scholar

2 Sarig, S., “Fisheries & Fishbreeding in Israel in 1972” (1973) 8 Fisheries & Fishbreeding in Israel no. 2, p. 29.Google Scholar This was a drop from 8% in 1971. Id.

3 Intermediary Report: Plan for the Kinneret Watershed (May, 1973, in Hebrew) 60.

4 Mintzker, N. and Shaham, G., Treatment & Disposal of Waste Water: Master-plan for the Kinneret Watershed (1973, in Hebrew) 56.Google Scholar

5 Sporadic mining of Kinneret pebbles began before 1948. Organized mining began in the 1950's, and by 1965, Kibbutz Ha'On was mining 600 tons a year. Rodcd, R. and Levy, Y., Survey of Decorative Stones in the Delta East of Lake Kinneret (Ministry of Development, Geological Institute, 1972, in Hebrew) 2.Google Scholar Digging continued at this pace until 1971, when it was made illegal. Id.

6 Interview with Harpaz, Amos, Director, Minhelet haKinneret, 8 April 1974.Google Scholar

7 Oren, , “Physical & Chemical Characteristics of Lake Tiberias” (1972) 116 Bull. of Research Council of Israel 1.Google Scholar

8 Interview with Ezra Hankin, Head, Dep't of Drainage Affairs, Water Commission, 15 April 1974.

9 In that year a meeting of scientists studying the lake produced the protocol from which the above list of subjects was taken. Tahal, , Protocol No. 2: Discussions of Studies on the Kinneret (1964, in Hebrew).Google Scholar

10 The Tabgha blind prawn is endemic to a single warm spring near the lake. Lulav, S., “The Kinneret Region” in Lake Kinneret, General Background (Nat'l Council for Research & Development, 1973) 5 at 7.Google Scholar

11 Oren, , Bibliography of Lake Kinneret (1968).Google Scholar

12 See Water Quality Research in Israel (National Council for Research & Development, 1972) 29, 46, 49.

13 See Harpaz, A., “Prevention of Pollution of the Kinneret: Organizational Aspects” in The Kinneret & its Watershed (Israel Nat'l Committee for Biosphere & Environment, 1972) 63.Google Scholar

14 Interview with Ehud Gavrieli, Coordinator of Steering Committee, Masterplan for the Kinneret Watershed, Ministry of Interior, 28 February 1973.

15 The description of the valley was taken from the following sources. Natif, A., Drainage & Erosion, Summary of Present Situation, Masterplan for Kinneret (1973, in Hebrew)Google Scholar; Oren, supra n. 7; Schattner, I., The Lower Jordan Valley 11 Scripta Hierosolymitana (1962)Google Scholar; The Kinneret & its Watershed (Israel Nat'l Committee for Biosphere & Environment, 1972).

16 The Dead Sea is also not singled out for discussion, but Israel's water code applies equally well to this salty body of water.

17 Facts for the discussion of eutrophication in the text were taken from the following sources: Pollution of Lake Erie, Lake Ontario & the International Section of the St. Lawrence River, (Int'l Joint Comm., 1970) 35; Water Pollution Part III, Senate Sub-comm. on Air & Water Pollution, 91st Cong., 2nd Sess. (1970) 953; Davis, R.J., Investigation of the Pollution Problems of the Lake Kinneret (1971) Part IIGoogle Scholar; Marcardo, A., Eutrophication of Lake Kinneret and Ways to Arrest It, Masterplan for Kinneret (1973, in Hebrew).Google Scholar

18 The law of the minimum holds “… that where more than one condition must be satisfied in order to produce a given event, that condition which is least abundant with reference to demand requirements will determine the magnitude of the consequent event… Because algae can normally satisfy carbon requirements from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and from the natural carbonate in water, efforts to control aquatic production settled very early upon nitrogen and phosphorus. Recognition of the fact that blue-green algae, and perhaps other types as well, can also draw nitrogen from the atmosphere, led to the conclusion that attempts to control growth solely by limiting availability of dissolved nitrogen in water would also be of little purpose. By process of elimination, then, attention has come to focus on phosphorus; and observations about the gross availability and the form of dissolved phosphorus strengthen the probability that it is the route to controlling the increased productivity problem”. Cost of Clean Water (Annual Report of Administrator of the EPA to the Congress of the U.S., 1971) vol. 1, p. 31.

19 See R.J. Davis, supra n. 17 at 1; A. Marcardo, supra n. 17 at 39; Serruya, C., Signs of Eutrophication of the Kinneret, Man in an Antagonistic Environment (Marinov, ed., 1971, in Hebrew) 180Google Scholar; Tsaban, H., Care of the Kinneret Watershed, Man in an Antagonistic Environment 208.Google Scholar

20 Most tests for eutrophication have been theorized for cold lakes, and the Kinneret is a warm lake. Talk by Colette Serruya, Limnological Laboratory, to the Environmental Protection Service, 5 May 1974.

21 Id. For a contrasting view, see Salik, supra n. 1 at 26, 27.

22 C. Serruya, supra n. 19.

23 Masterman, E.W.G., Studies in Galilee (1909) 20–28.Google Scholar

24 See e.g. Hays, J., TVA on the Jordan (1948).Google Scholar See also Stevens, G., Jordan River Partition (1965).Google Scholar

25 See discussion in A. Natif, supra n. 15 at 5.

26 Interview with Colette Serruya, Director, Kinneret Limnological Laboratory, 11 February 1973.

27 Lulav, S., “The Kinneret Region” in Lake Kinneret, General Background (Nat'l Council for Research & Development, 1973) 9.Google Scholar

28 Mintzker, N. and Cohen, G., Water Supply, Masterplan for the Kinneret Watershed (1973) 15.Google Scholar

29 Id.

30 For a full discussion of the project and its effect on the lake, see A. Natif, supra n. 15, at 3, 5.

31 The soil of the Huleh has been inaccurately described as peat. Peat is that soil whose composition is 97–99% mineral and 1–3% organic material. The “peat” in the Huleh is 50–60% organic matter. Yoram Avnimelech, Lecture to Workshop on the Kinneret Watershed, 28 March 1974.

32 Although this theory has been challenged by scientists. Interview with Yoel Geifman, Kinneret Limnological Laboratory, 18 April 1974. Geifman maintains that the sediment did not settle in Lake Huleh, but continued into the Jordan. Id.

33 Dredging the Jordan channel took place in two stages. In 1963, the upper Jordan was dredged, and in 1967, the section of the Jordan between the Huleh and the Beit Yaacov bridge. Dredging activities poured sediment and nutrients into the lake, but once completed, they lessen the nutrient load to the lake. Interview with Ezra Hankin, Head, Dept. of Drainage Affairs, Water Commission, 15 April 1974.

34 Natif, supra n. 15, at 7, 8.

35 Admittedly rough figures place its nitrogen contribution between 50% and 75% of the total reaching the lake, and its phosphorus contribution between 45% and 85% of the total. Mekorot, , Studies of Lake Kinneret & Its Watershed (Report: Summer 1973) 6.Google Scholar

36 Hays, J., TVA on the Jordan (1948).Google Scholar

37 For a discussion of the plans leading to construction of the National Water Carrier, see N. Mintzker and G. Cohen, op. cit., supra n. 28 at 5.

38 Id. at 16.

39 Unless otherwise indicated, the data presented in the text on farming methods are taken from Mintzker, N. and Shaham, G., Agriculture in the Area, Master-plan for the Kinneret Watershed (1973, in Hebrew).Google Scholar

40 Marcardo, supra n. 17, at 51.

41 Id. at 5.

42 Mintzker & Shaham, supra n. 39, at 38.

43 Marcardo, supra n. 17, at 51.

44 Data on pesticide use were taken from Mintzker & Shaham, supra n. 39, at 40.

45 Tahal, , Protocol No. 2: Discussion of Studies of the Kinneret (1964) 2.Google Scholar

46 Marcardo, supra n. 17, at 20.

47 Mintzker & Cohen, supra n. 28, at 2. The National Carrier and fifteen companies are controlled by Mekorot. The rest are private. Id.

48 R.J. Davis, supra n. 17, at 8.

49 Data on sewage produced in the basin appear in Mintzker, and Shaham, , Treatment & Disposal of Sewage, Masterplan for the Kinneret (1973, in Hebrew).Google Scholar

50 Id. at 14.

51 Id. at 8.

52 Figures on tourism in the basin were taken from Intermediary Report, Master-plan for the Kinneret (May, 1973) 60, 61.

53 Report: The Blunders Continue in Activity Aimed at Protecting the Kinneret (Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, July, 1973) 4.

54 Teclaff, L. & Teclaff, E., “Saving the Land-Water Edge from Recreation for Recreation” (1972) 14 Ariz. L. R. 39, 40.Google Scholar

55 Interview with Shmuel Sarig, Head, Laboratory for Fish Diseases, Ministry of Agriculture, 4 April 1974.

56 Id.

57 Interview with Shlomo Bahalul, Fisherman, Inspector, Nature Reserves Authority — Minhelet haKinneret, 18 April 1974.

58 Telephone Conversation, Moshe Gino, Fish Officer, Ministry of Agriculture, 19 April 1974.

59 Marcardo, supra n. 17, at 43.

60 Id. at 50.

61 Water Law, 1959, sec. 20 (13 L.S.I. 176).

62 Preparation of material for this section involved examining ministry files in Tiberias and Nazereth, and interviews with the following persons. Haim Cohen, Health Inspector, Ministry of Health, Tiberias. 23 December 1973; Daniel Frank, Health Inspector, Ministry of Health, Nazereth, 20 March 1974; Haim Livnat, Health Inspector, Ministry of Health, Safed, Telephone Conversation, 17 April 1974.

63 See e.g. secs. 53, 54. Prior to 1973, the Ministry of Health was in effect limited to a supervisory role because it had to operate through local communities. Interview with Hillel Helman, Ministry of Health, Environmental Health Division, 18 December 1973. In 1973, the Public Health Ordinance was amended, allowing the Ministry to proceed against offenders without the help of local authorities. Public Health Ordinance (Amendment No. 5) Law, 1973, 27 L.S.I. 260.

64 See sec. 52B and regulations for drinking water in (1974) K.T. no. 3117, p. 555.

65 The Licensing of Businesses Law, 1968 (22 L.S.I. 232) simply does not prevent pollution of a natural body of water, unless such pollution creates a health hazard or creates a nuisance.

66 Interview with Dr. Eliyahu Matan, formerly District Doctor, Ministry of Health, Nazareth, 4 March 1974.

67 The cases, all brought by the Tiberias branch office of the Ministry of Health, are A. G. v. Ashdod Yaacov, Ct. F. 1/62, Magis. Ct. Tiberias, Dec. 1963; A. G. v. Kibbutz Massada, Ct. F. 3/63, Magis, Ct. Tiberias, December, 1963; A. G. v. Kibbutz De gania Bet, Ct. F. 1/64, Magistrate Ct. Tiberias, 1964. In all three cases, the charge was one in nuisance in violation of the Public Health Ordinance, secs. 53, 54. Kibbutz Ashdod Yaacov was charged with improper maintenance of their aeration ponds. No verdict was ever issued in the case. The Ministry of Health's actions against Degania Bet and Massada ended in the court levying fines of 10 and 25 pounds respectively. Both cases involved improper maintenance of sewerage works and dumping of raw sewage into the lower Jordan.

68 See discussion, infra at n. 73.

69 See letter from M. Horowitz, Public Health Dept., Ministry of Health, to Nazareth District Office, Ministry of Health, 19 June 1973 (File 20/3, Health, Nazereth).

70 The planned spraying operations raised objections from the Nature Reserves Authority and from the District Doctor of the Ministry of Health, Nazereth. See letter from Dr. Matan to Shmuel Sarig, Dept. of Fisheries, 5 April 1973; letter from Dr. Matan to Dr. B. Hefer, Agricultural Research Station, 17 May 1973. As of December, 1976, the Ministry continued its spraying operations every summer. A. Harpaz, (personal communication) 17 December 1976.

71 Sec. 29 of the Public Health Ordinance requires the Minister of Health to regulate sanitary conditions in hospitals.

72 Telephone conversation, Haim Livnat, Health Inspector, Ministry of Health, Safed 17 April 1974.

73 See File 14/62, Ministry of Health, Nazereth.

74 Interview with Haim Cohen, Ministry of Health, Tiberias, 23 Dec. 1973.

75 File 14/17, Ministry of Health, Nazereth.

76 Planning & Building Law, 1965, sec. 56 (19 L.S.I. 344).

77 Meeting No. 115, 3 Feb. 1976.

78 Outline Plan, Water Quality Control in the Kinneret Watershed, Ministry of the Interior, Nov. 1975, p. 131.

79 The Water Commissioner tried to stop publication of a summary of the report cited (preceding note) because he realized that the report recommended setting up a broader based Lake Authority than he was willing to venture. Telephone conversation, Ehud Gavrieli, Coordinator of Kinneret Outline Plan, Ministry of the Interior, 10 Jan. 1977.

80 The Bathing Places (Regulation) Law, 1964 (18 L.S.I. 170).

81 Interview with Bahalul, Shlomo, Minhelet haKinneret, Nature Reserves Authority, 18 April 1974.Google Scholar Mr. Bahalul, who supervised the cleaning of the Kinneret beaches in 1969–70 told the author that conditions were so bad in places, men vomited. Id. Mr. Bahalul's remarks about the neglect of the beaches were verified by the engineer for the northern district of the Ministry of Interior. Telephone conversation, Yitzhak Leibovitz, Chief Planner, Northern District, Ministry of Interior, 19 April 1974.

82 Bahalul Interview (preceding note).

83 Municipalities Ordinance, 1 L.S.I. (N.V.) 247 at 282; Local Councils Ordinance, 1 L.S.I. (N.V.) 315.

84 Local Authorities (Sewerage) Law, 1962, 16 L.S.I. 81.

85 See Report: Solid Waste Pollution in Israel (Israel Nat'l Committee on Biosphere & Environment, 1973, in Hebrew) 87, 88, 93, 94.

86 “Listen, the problem is basic to democracy. Do you want the heads of cities to be rubber stamps collecting taxes, when education, roads, sewerage etc. are in the hands of the central government?” Interview with Shaul Arlozeroff, Deputy Water Commissioner, 27 December 1973.

87 Ports Ordinance, sec. 60, 2 L.S.I. (N.V.) 233.

88 Id. Supplement 1.

89 Id. at sec. 60. Specific sections against pollution of port waters by dumping of waste in or near port waters appear in Ports Authority Regulations, secs. 15, 171–181 (1971) K.T. no. 2650, p. 306.

90 The Ministry is empowered to license boats under the Shipping (Vessels) Law, I960, 14 L.S.I. 60. Regulations prescribing the conditions for cleanliness on sightseeing boats and forbidding the dumping of trash from such boats appeared by authority of the Commodities and Services (Control) Law. See Order Concerning Commodities & Services (Control) Law (Small Vessels Carrying Paying Passengers) (1972) K.T. no. 2824, p. 841.

91 Oil in Navigable Waters Ordinance, 1936, P.G. 612 Supp. I, p. 234 sec. 2(a).

92 Telephone Conversation, David Perry, Legal Advisory, Shipping Section, Ministry of Transportation, 29 April 1974.

93 Fisheries Ordinance, 1937, P.G. 637 Supp. I, p. 157.

94 HaReuvani, M., “Nightly Ambushes Against Fisherman for Poisons in the Kinneret”, Maariv, 15 May 1974 p. 6 col. 7.Google Scholar

95 A. Harpaz, (personal communication) December 1976.

96 Talk by I. Berg, Machon HaNepht, to Workshop on the Kinneret, 1 April 1974. See also Prevention of Pollution of Sea & Ground Water (Machon HaNepht, 1971).

97 Letter from I. Kariv, Director of Mekorot, to the Minister of Agriculture, 19 February 1965. File No. 121–8/1, Mekorot, Jordan Unit, Nazereth.

98 Meeting of M. Kantor, Water Commissioner, S. Kantor, Mekorot, Y. Gold-smidt, Mekorot, A. Barak, Head of Jordan Unit in File No. 121–8/1, Mekorot, Jordan Unit.

99 Interview with Avraham Shem Tov, Head of Jordan Unit, 5 April 1974.

100 Summaries of all reports are available in File No. 121–8/1, Mekorot, Jordan Unit.

101 Rhode, Wilhelm, How to Study & Protect Lake Kinneret (1966).Google Scholar

102 Shem Tov Interview, supra n. 99.

103 Interview with Yoel Geifman, Kinneret Limnologica! Laboratory, 18 April 1974. There have been problems in the maintenance and operation of such a system. Harpaz interview, 29 November 1975.

104 The party relaying this information asked that he remain anonymous.

105 Interview with Colette Serruya, Director, Kinneret Limnological Laboratory, 11 February 1973; “Water Quality Research in Israel” (1972) Nat'l Council for Research & Development 29.

106 Dr. Colette Serruya, Personal Communication, 5 May 1974.

107 This and the following information on the Kinneret Committee was relayed to the author by Rafi Kotzer. Interview with Rari Kotzer, Assistant to the Minister of Health, 6 April 1974.

108 Id.

109 This and the following information was relayed by Haim Gofer. Interview with Haim Gofer, Kibbutz Ginossar, 23 December 1973.

110 Davis, R.J., Investigation of the Pollution Problems of Lake Kinneret (1971) 1.Google Scholar

111 Interview with Menahem Kantor, Water Commissioner, 3 April 1974.

112 Gofer Interview, supra n. 109. Gofer's story is backed up by news reports of the period. See Kotler, Y., “A Lake is Dying: Secret Report on the Kinneret”, Haaretz, Additional Section p. 15, December, 1971.Google Scholar

113 Y. Kotier (preceding note).

114 Protocol No. 12, Kinneret Committee, p. 1, 17 September 1971.

115 Lecture by Ehud Gavrieli, Coordinator of the Masterplan for the Kinneret, to the Workshop on the Kinneret Watershed, 13 May 1974.

116 Interview with Ehud Gavrieli, supra n. 14; Report: The Kinneret, Has There Been an Improvement in the Situation? (Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, 1972).

117 The Water Commissioner denies this. He maintains that he was aware of the problems in the Kinneret prior to 1971, and acted accordingly. Interview with Menahem Kantor, supra n. 111. The facts do not support the Water Commissioner's argument, however. In researching numerous files, it became clear that the Water Commissioner acted as a stumbling block in protecting the Kinneret, rather than a guiding force. The fact that the Water Commissioner refused to set up a Lake Authority; the fact that the initiative for the Kinneret Committee did not come from him; the fact that not one community sewage purification system in the basin meets standards for protection of Lake Kinneret; the fact that the Water Commissioner stifled the Bob Davis report, indicate that prevention of pollution of the Kinneret was not a top priority item for the Water Commissioner.

118 Drainage and Flood Control Order (Establishment of Kinneret Drainage Authority), (1975) K.T. no. 3403, p. 124.

119 Most of the information set out in the text on Minhelet HaKinneret was gleaned from interviews with its Director, Amos Harpaz. The fact that the Minhelet has not been swallowed up by the Kinneret Drainage Authority galls the Water Commissioner's legal advisor, as it runs counter to her opinion. Interview with Ora Tamir, 12 November 1976.

120 At a cost of IL.27,000. Harpaz Interview, 8 April 1971.

121 Report: The Kinneret, Has There Been an Improvement in the Situation? supra n. 116, at 3.

122 Sec. 20B.

123 Mining Ordinance, II Drayton, Laws of Palestine, sec. 8(1) (e), p. 338.

124 Letter from David Spiegel, Commanding Officer, Tiberias Police Department to Water Commissioner, 22 March 1974.

125 Id.

126 Bahalul Interview, supra n. 81.

127 A. Harpaz, Personal Communication, 17 Dec. 1976.

128 Discussion with Adir Shapira, Deputy Director, Nature Reserves Authority, 3 April 1973.

129 A. Harpaz, Personal Communication, 17 Dec. 1976.

130 At that point the sewage becomes a national, not a local problem. Interview with Gdalyahu Shelef, a former advisor to the Ministry of Health, 5 Nov. 1973. For years the town of Safed has poured raw sewage into Nahal Amud from where it flows into the Zak, Kinneret. Y., “Survey of River Pollution in Israel” (1973) 16 Teva Vaaretz no. 4, pp. 192, 193.Google Scholar

131 A. Harpaz, Personal Communication, 17 Dec. 1976.

132 See Teclaff, L. and Teclaff, E., “Saving the Land-Water Edge from Recreation for Recreation” (1972) 14 Ariz. L. R. 39.Google Scholar

133 For example, the Lake Tahoe Basin. Id. at 57. The concept of regional watershed planning is well established in England and France. See Environment and Regional Planning, No. 17 (Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society, NATO, 1973) 1.32, 1.36.

134 Interview with Menahem Kantor, Water Commissioner, 3 April 1974.

135 Despite a clearly defined recommendation to that end in the Kinneret Outline Plan for Protection of Water Quality 38.

136 Apparently the Kinneret Drainage Authority has been authorized to handle sewage, but no announcement of such authorization has been published in Reshumot. Interview with Ora Tamir, Legal Advisor, Water Commission, 12 November 1976.

137 Water Regulation (Prevention of Pollution of Lake Kinneret by Livestock) (1973) K.T. no. 3020, p. 1490.

138 Bahalul Interview, supra n. 81. One reason for the lack of designated points stems from the Water Commissioner's refusal to confront the agricultural sector of the economy. The Minhelet drew up plans for washing pens near Wadi Hamam, using water from Kibbutz Migdal to wash the animals. The Kibbutz refused, objecting to the use of their water to wash Bedouin cows. The Minhelet was, therefore forced to change its plans. Id. Bahalul said that he received no support from the Water Commissioner's legal staff in his fight against Kibbutz Migdal. Id. Yet the basic tenet of the Water Law, and its first sentence, declares that Israel's water sources are public property, to be controlled by the State for its inhabitants. As of December, 1975 one place for washing animals was properly functioning in the town of Kinneret. In three other places there were problems—Tabha, Betaiha and Migdal. Harpaz Interview, 29 Nov. 1975.