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Arava spills on solutions to L.A. water shortage

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 11, 2008 at 7:58 am

From the Jewish Journal:

A recent conference at UCLA’s School of Law, “Transboundary Environmental Management in the Arava and Beyond,” proposed that Los Angeles might gain some ground regarding its often-contentious water policies if the city turned to Israel’s example.

The Sept. 9 forum, sponsored by the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, a leading teaching and research program in the Middle East, suggested that both Israel and Los Angeles have made many of the same mistakes when trying to develop water in arid, dry lands and could learn a great deal from each other when dealing with issues of water scarcity.

“There are very strong parallels between what’s going on in the Western United States and what’s going on in the Middle East,” said Peter Gleick, the keynote speaker at the conference.

Gleick, a MacArthur Fellow and co-founder of the Pacific Institute, an Oakland-based environmental research organization, said both countries are struggling with the issue of how to best share their water supplies with neighbors. Although Israel, according to Gleick, faces the more complicated problem of sharing water from sources like the Sea of Galilee, natural underground aquifers and the Jordan River with its Jordanian and Palestinian neighbors, the dilemma in both countries is much the same.

Moreover, Gleick said, these transboundary issues extend far beyond conflicts about water. With an abundance of vehicles and factories in both regions, combating air pollution can be an equally contentious issue.

Despite the scope of the problems, Gleick insists that each region’s failure to disentangle environmental challenges stems from a lack of direction rather than a lack of attainable solutions. “I don’t think the water crisis is the result of a lack of resources, a lack of money … but a lack of a vision of where we want to be,” he said.

Read the rest of this story from the Jewish Journal by clicking here.

October 11, 2008 · Filed Under General Water Issues, International Water Issues