Large reservoir built near border with Syria
Assad won't like hearing it: In past few months, large reservoir being built in Golan Heights, very close to Syrian border, next to destroyed city of Quneitra. Objective: To improve irrigation system on Heights, reduce dependence on pumping water from Kinneret
Only a few meters from the Quneitra Reservoir, the Polish-UN post is located, and next to it, the border fence and the ruins of the city of Quneitra, which was completely destroyed during battle in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. From day to day, the UN officials make sure to visit the construction site and closely follow the operations. Syrian soldiers even watch from time to time the tractors and trucks working round the clock to finish constructing the reservoir.
Site of the reservoir. Only meters from Quneitra (Photo: Hagai Aharon)
Construction of the reservoir is only one of many ambitious projects on the Golan Heights whose objective is to change the face of the water industry in the north. Currently, 250 cubic meters of water flow from the Golan Heights to the Kinneret, about a third of the total water taken from the Kinneret. In 1978, the agricultural cooperative union, Mei Golan, was established in Katzrin. Mei Golan is responsible for building the new reservoir.
Administrative Chairman of Mei Golan, Ori Durman, emphasizes, "Both the drilling project and the Quneitra Reservoir project have the explicit goal of adding water to the State of Israel. We are investing in both building reservoirs, drilling, and supplying treated waste water. The overall project will be paid for by the end of 2008, and it is important to emphasize that it is being carried out with full cooperation with the various government bodies."
'Golan Heights will be painted green'
About 55 percent of the water on the Golan gets to the reservoirs from the eastern border to the Heights, a fact that, until the establishment of Mei Golan, resulted in a huge loss of water, which, instead of getting to Golan towns, flowed straight from the Kinneret to the slopes of the Golan, on the Syrian side of the border.
According to statistics from the Golan water industry, Syria enjoys a flow of 210 cubic meters of water a year, most of which come at the expense of the Jordanians. The State of Israel only encounters a problem in the area of the Yarmuch, where the water flows on both the Syrian and the Israeli sides of the border.
For the people of Mei Golan, this is a Zionist mission, which contributes to the Israeli water industry. Tzuki Deutsch, the director-general: "The project of building reservoirs, which we started in the 80s, has reached a significant point in recent years. Since the start of the company's activities, between 27 to 33 towns on the Golan Heights enjoy water used for agriculture. From our perspective, there are three reasons for these reservoirs to be built: The first is connected to the clay-like earth, which don't permit the absorption of water after 150 mm of rainfall; the second reason is the increase in rain in the area; and the third reason is the fact that alongside the reservoirs, there is no plant life, which allows an easy flow of water to the reservoirs.
The company hopes that within the next three years, the Golan Heights will be painted green by the spread of plant life nourished by the water.
