|
On January 25, 2010, after a lengthy process which extended nearly ten years, the Interior and Environmental Protection Committee of the Knesset (Israel parliament) approved stringent regulations on effluent quality. The new Public Health Regulations (Effluent Quality Standards), 2010, popularly known as the Inbar regulations, obligate both producers of wastewater and operators of wastewater treatment plants to treat their wastewater to the levels set in the regulations. Additional obligations relate to monitoring and control, reporting, and publication of information to the public. Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan has stated that approval of the effluent regulations will significantly improve the quality of Israel's water sources and rivers and will reduce soil pollution, while protecting public health. The aim of the regulations, submitted by the Minister of Environmental Protection and the Minister of Health, is to protect public health and prevent pollution of water sources by wastewater and effluents, which currently constitute half of Israel's water supply for irrigation. According to Minister Erdan, "these regulations position Israel on par with other developed countries when it comes to stringent environmental protection standards which focus on the prevention of water source pollution. The new regulations will allow for the reuse of effluents as a water source while at the same time improving public health and better protecting the environment, including ecosystems and biodiversity." The basis for the values set in the regulations was determined by a professional professional interministerial committee, known as the Inbar Committee (headed by Dr. Yossi Inbar, currently the Director General of the Ministry of Environmental Protection). The committee was established in the wake of a government decision, taken in July 2000, which called on the Minister of Environmental Protection to set up an interministerial committee to recommend effluent quality standards, which would internalize externalities, while assuring economic feasibility. The regulations, which are based on the committee's recommendations, establish an unprecedented number of parameters for effluent quality - 37 as opposed to only two parameters previously, and set maximum permissible levels for each of them. Special attention is placed on public transparency including the obligation to report and publish the results of effluent testing. The regulations impose the following obligations, among others, on producers of wastewater and operators of wastewater treatment facilities: - Treating wastewater according to the stringent values set in the regulations.
- Preparing monitoring and control plans for the wastewater.
- Sampling the effluents exiting the wastewater treatment plants.
- Recording the results of the tests conducted.
More Links:
|
