Bathing season marred by beach closures due to sewage flows

According to international statistics, the Mediterranean Sea is considered one of the most polluted seas in the world.

By EHUD ZION WALDOKS
sewage 88 (photo credit: )
sewage 88
(photo credit: )
Excessive sewage flowing to the sea forced the closure of beaches along the coast to the public 19 times in 2008, according to the Zalul group's annual report, released Wednesday. Zalul is an NGO which monitors Israel's seas and waterways. The report, published ahead of the end of the official bathing season this coming Tuesday, said that 13 out of the 19 instances occurred during the official bathing season which lasts for about six months - from just before Pessah to just after the High Holidays (May to October). In comparison, during 2007, beaches were closed 63 times, 30 of them during the official bathing season. However, the author of the report, lawyer Shahar Brinenberg, Zalul's Project Coordinator for the Mediterranean Sea, cautioned against relying on the comparison to indicate improvement. The report did not measure how many days the beaches were closed each time, he noted, which might have indicated some sort of improvement. The numbers just show the beaches were closed less frequently in 2008 than 2007. For the second year running, Acre's beaches were closed for nearly half the bathing season because of high levels of pollution. The Health Ministry did not even open the beaches until three months into the season because Karmiel's waste treatment facility had allowed sewage to flow into the sea. In light of Zalul's pressure campaign, Karmiel mayor Adi Eldar met with the environmental protection, national infrastructures and interior ministers and decided on an interim solution: To build a pipe from their waste treatment facility to the Acre facility to deal with overflow. Eldar turned to Zalul at the beginning of the month to help him pressure the government to build the pipe, which is to be constructed by Mekorot. Haifa's beaches were closed the most frequently in 2008. At least two out of the four times, a malfunction in the sewage system caused the beaches to be closed. In general, according to the report, most of the beach closures were the result of malfunctioning urban sewage systems. In Netanya, Zalul filed a complaint with police for illegal release of sewage. Other cities where the beaches were closed to the public at one or another included: Bat Yam, Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Herzliya, the Dead Sea, Tiberias, Nahariya and the Gan Raveh regional council (Palmahim Beach). According to international statistics cited in the report, the Mediterranean Sea is considered one of the most polluted seas in the world.