Inter-sector water allocation in Israel, 2011-2050: urban consumption versus farm usage

Abstract According to the Water Authority of Israel, Israel’s water economy is on the brink ofa crisis. Demands are increasing, exceeding the capacity of the natural sources,which are being depleted. Water, as a resource in short supply, necessitated admin-istrative actions in order to attain its efficient utilization, in accordance with thegoals set by the state. In addition, the issue of water allocation in Israel is stronglyconnected to internal politics and not necessarily to a clear overall policy. Thisarticle presents a simulation model which examined a large number of differentscenarios and returns the possible outcomes of water allocations in a routine situ-ation of uncertainty. The findings show that even under ideal conditions, a watershortage in Israel is inevitable and urban consumption will demand the largestallocation of water. As a result, the Israeli rural sector will be required to reorganizethe water allocation system and production structure. Introduction This article discusses the question of water allocation inIsrael, which couples agricultural demands and urban devel-opment pressures. This coupled system approach differsfrom current conventional planning processes that look ateach sector separately. In light of the fact that there isincreasing demand for scarce water resources, a decisionwas made to determine the scale of future desalinationrequired to supply urban demand. This article seeks toexamine whether existing planning assumptions indeedmeet the demand of the system as a whole.The introduction includes an overview of water resourcesand the question of water ownership, with a review of currentwater allocation structure and demand. Following the intro-duction comes a section describing the structure of themodel and its constraints, then the simulation findings, dis-cussion and conclusions.