IASPS - News Behind the News

September 6, 2001

The Lowest Water Prices in the World?

In two articles in Ha'aretz a State tender on water receives bids below the world price for desalination of water. The Israeli Finance Ministry, which issued the tender, reports bids (from companies composed of Israelis and others) as low as 52.69 cents/cm. An unnamed finance ministry official says this means "importing water from Turkey is no longer worthwhile."

This report from Ha'aretz is the essence of Israel. Site readers know that we just reported the Finance Ministry's turnabout with respect to its long held objection to any plan to have the State buy or desalinate water. The Ministry fears a loss of state power in the reduction and market-based control of a "means of production." The objection to Turkey is incidental even though the failure to take advantage of a water deal with Turkey will mean the continuation of the state's foreign policy based upon accommodation with the Arabs.
 
The turnabout came a week after an IASPS Jerusalem conference of May 30, 2001 on buying water from Turkey. Now there is this announcement of bids on a Finance Ministry tender to desalinate water. We learn these bids are the "lowest in the world."

Suppose for a minute that Turkish water is not imported ---the prime minister, also following the Conference and with one of its ministerial attendees who pressed hard for this move, actually went to Turkey, with this minister, in early August, after which some Americans, Jews and others, were sounded for financing the transfer of water. What will happen next  --unless the water issue is itself miraculously solved?  Here's the prediction. The State will announce that, after all, the bids that were "the lowest in the world" in September 2001 were not quite so low. They did not include all of the "things" that the State was itself going to throw in, say energy costs (just for the sake of argument).
 
But of course, again supposing there is anything to talk about at all when the opportunity for a relationship with Turkey has been scuttled and the attempted accommodation with the Arabs has yielded its full complement of departed, youthful Israelis and still further governments of Restraint, by then Israel's water problem may be solved by reduced need for it. For example, there may be torrents of rain.