How Much of Israel’s Water Comes From the Mountain Aquifer?
The Knesset research service puts the Mountain Aquifer at about 20% of Israel’s water consumption. Oslo II Schedule 10 gives the basin volumes.
The Mountain Aquifer supplies about 20% of Israel’s water consumption, on the paper published by the Knesset Research and Information Centre, the Knesset’s own research service, on Israeli-Palestinian cooperation on water issues. That paper states the share without attaching a year to it and without a cubic-metre volume beside it, so it is a share of consumption rather than of supply capacity. The nearest dated volumes are the average annual estimates in Schedule 10 of the 1995 Oslo II agreement, which record 340 million cubic metres of the Western Aquifer used within Israel. Total water consumption in Israel was 2.24 billion cubic metres in 2019, on the State Comptroller of Israel’s 2021 audit.
| Figure | What it counts | Who published it | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| About 20% | Share of Israel’s water consumption supplied by the Mountain Aquifer | Knesset Research and Information Centre | No year stated in the paper |
| 340 mcm | Western Aquifer water used within Israel, average annual estimate | Israel and the PLO, Oslo II Schedule 10 | Average annual estimates, as signed 1995 |
| 103 mcm | North-Eastern Aquifer to Israeli users, from the Gilboa and Beisan springs including from wells | Israel and the PLO, Oslo II Schedule 10 | Average annual estimates, as signed 1995 |
| 40 mcm | Eastern Aquifer to Israeli users in the Jordan Valley, from wells | Israel and the PLO, Oslo II Schedule 10 | Average annual estimates, as signed 1995 |
| 679 mcm | Total annual recharge across the three basins | Israel and the PLO, Oslo II Schedule 10 | Average annual estimates, as signed 1995 |
| 2.24 billion cubic metres | Total water consumption in Israel, all sources | State Comptroller of Israel | 2019 |
| About 1,800 sq km | Recharge area of the Mountain Aquifer | Knesset Research and Information Centre | No year stated in the paper |
The Mountain Aquifer supplies about 20% of Israel’s water consumption
The Knesset Research and Information Centre, the research service of Israel’s legislature, states that the Mountain Aquifer supplies about 20% of Israel’s water consumption. The paper carries the share as an approximation, gives no year for it, and sets no volume beside it. It is a share of what Israel consumes, not of what the aquifer could yield, and the Centre publishes no annual series behind it.
Schedule 10 records 340 mcm of the Western Aquifer inside Israel
Schedule 10 of Article 40 of the Oslo II agreement, in the English text published by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a party to it, sets out three basins with figures it calls average annual estimates rather than measurements. The Western Aquifer totals 362 mcm, of which 340 mcm is used within Israel, 20 mcm goes to Palestinians and 2 mcm to Palestinians from springs near Nablus. The North-Eastern Aquifer totals 145 mcm and the Eastern Aquifer 172 mcm, with 78 mcm of the Eastern basin listed as remaining quantities to be developed, and the Schedule states total annual recharge of 679 mcm.
Israel consumed 2.24 billion cubic metres of water in 2019
The State Comptroller of Israel, the state audit institution reporting to the Knesset, recorded total water consumption in Israel of 2.24 billion cubic metres in 2019 in its 2021 audit of the prevention of pollution and salination of water sources. The same audit gives the coastal aquifer a total volume of about 35 billion cubic metres, which is a stored volume rather than an annual yield, and puts the known volume of polluted water at 2.3 billion cubic metres, about 6.5% of that stored volume.
The 20% share and the 2.24 billion cubic metre total come from different bodies, on different periods, and are not published as one series. Multiplying one by the other produces a Mountain Aquifer volume that neither body published.
The recharge area is about 1,800 square kilometres
The Knesset Research and Information Centre, again in the Knesset’s own paper on water cooperation, puts the recharge area of the Mountain Aquifer at about 1,800 square kilometres and the total collection basin at about 6,000 square kilometres. The same paper counts about 2,800 groundwater drillings in Israel. Its figures on wastewater in the West Bank sit alongside those measurements.
- Recharge area of the Mountain Aquifer: about 1,800 square kilometres.
- Total collection basin: about 6,000 square kilometres.
- Groundwater drillings in Israel: about 2,800.
- Wastewater produced in the West Bank: about 27% by Israelis and about 73% by Palestinians.
- Wastewater from Israeli towns and villages in the West Bank: about 19 million cubic metres a year, of which about 85% is treated in wastewater treatment plants and about 15% is not treated.
No Israeli body here publishes an annual extraction series
None of the Israeli publications carried on this page gives a year-by-year Mountain Aquifer extraction figure, a safe-yield figure for the aquifer, or a breakdown of Israel’s supply between groundwater, surface water, desalination and recycled water. What the State Comptroller of Israel published in its 2021 audit is monitoring coverage and pollution, which is a different quantity from abstraction.
| Figure | What it counts | Period |
|---|---|---|
| 72% | Share of monitoring sites in which pollution was found | November 2020 |
| 13.5% | Share of 2,184 known fuel facilities that were monitored | November 2020 |
| 17 of 35 | Fuel tank farms not monitored | November 2020 |
Source: State Comptroller of Israel, 2021 audit on the prevention of the pollution and salination of water sources, Israel’s state audit institution. Monitoring sites are selected sites, not a sample of the country’s water.
Which figures on this page may not be multiplied together?
Every figure here comes from an Israeli official body or from an agreement Israel signed, and the three sets are not one series. The Knesset Research and Information Centre’s 20% is undated and is a share of consumption; the State Comptroller of Israel’s 2.24 billion cubic metres is a 2019 total; Schedule 10’s basin figures are average annual estimates recorded in 1995 and are not a current measurement. The 20% may not be applied to the 2.24 billion to derive a volume, and the coastal aquifer’s 35 billion cubic metres is a stored volume that may not be compared with any annual figure. The pollution and monitoring shares each carry their own denominator and are not shares of Israel’s water.
Questions readers ask
Who publishes the 20% figure?
The Knesset Research and Information Centre, the research service of Israel’s legislature, publishes it in its paper on Israeli-Palestinian cooperation on water issues.
What year does the 20% cover?
The Knesset Research and Information Centre attaches no year to the share, so it cannot be dated from that paper.
How many cubic metres is 20% of Israel’s water?
No Israeli body carried here publishes that volume. The State Comptroller of Israel recorded 2.24 billion cubic metres of total consumption in 2019, but the two figures come from different bodies and periods and are not published together.
What are the three basins of the Mountain Aquifer?
Schedule 10 of the Oslo II agreement, in the text published by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, names the Eastern, North-Eastern and Western aquifers, at 172 mcm, 145 mcm and 362 mcm respectively.
How much of the Western Aquifer is used inside Israel?
Schedule 10 of Oslo II records 340 mcm of the Western Aquifer’s 362 mcm as used within Israel, an average annual estimate.
What is the total recharge of the aquifer system?
Schedule 10 states total annual recharge of 679 mcm and states that all its figures are average annual estimates.
Are the Schedule 10 figures allocations?
Schedule 10 is headed as data concerning aquifers and describes existing extractions, utilization and estimated potential. Israel and the PLO put the quota schedule in a separate document required under Schedule 8.
How large is the aquifer’s recharge area?
The Knesset Research and Information Centre puts the recharge area at about 1,800 square kilometres and the total collection basin at about 6,000 square kilometres.
How many groundwater wells does Israel have?
The Knesset Research and Information Centre counts about 2,800 groundwater drillings in Israel and gives no per-basin split.
Does Israel publish how much water it draws from the aquifer each year?
No Israeli body carried here publishes an annual Mountain Aquifer extraction series or a safe-yield figure. The State Comptroller of Israel published monitoring and pollution coverage instead.
How much of Israel’s water is polluted?
The State Comptroller of Israel put the known volume of polluted water at 2.3 billion cubic metres in 2020, about 6.5% of the coastal aquifer’s stored volume of about 35 billion cubic metres. That is a share of one aquifer’s stored volume, not of national supply.
Does the Oslo II water article cover Gaza?
Article 40 of Oslo II governs the West Bank. Paragraph 25 leaves the existing Gaza arrangements unchanged, as detailed in Schedule 11.
Sources
- Israel and the PLO, 1995. The Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (Oslo II), Article 40 and Schedule 10, Annex III. Text published by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Official or primary record.
- Knesset Research and Information Centre. Israeli-Palestinian Cooperation on Water Issues. knesset.gov.il. Official or primary record.
- State Comptroller of Israel, 2021. Prevention of the Pollution and Salination of Water Sources, Their Monitoring and Rehabilitation. Annual Report 72a, part two. mevaker.gov.il. Official or primary record.
