Make water not war

Stanley Weiss in an editorial in the New York Times wonders if the next war in the Middel East will be over water and not land? He is one of the believers that the water crisis in the Middle Ease can be solved with a large carrier bring water from Turkey to the region.

Weiss got a few irrelevent fact wrong:

In Israel, the pumps at the Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret), its largest reservoir, were exposed above the water level, rendering pumping impossible

This is not true. As I write this post the pumps at Sapir pumping station at Lake Kinneret are working. It will take some time before the water level will drop below the needed suction head.

Water, rather than land, could form the basis of an agreement between Israel and Syria, revolving in part around the disputed Golan Heights, the source of more than 55 percent of Israelג€™s fresh water.

I don’t have the exact number but I’m sure its well below 55%. I would be surprised if its more than 20%.

As I see it, the best way to solve the region water problem is with sea water desalination. The cost of one cubic desalinated sea water had drop to about 50 cents in the last Hadera bid. A series of plant in Israel, Gaza and Akaba (Jordan) may be the answer.