the evolution of national wastewater management regimes—the case of israel国家废水管理的演变,以色列的情况.pdf

Water 2010, 2, 439-460; doi:10.3390/w2030439 OPEN ACCESS water ISSN 2073-4441 /journal/water Article The Evolution of National Wastewater Management Regimes— the Case of Israel Sharon Hophmayer-Tokich The Twente Centre for Studies in Technology and Sustainable Development (CSTM), University of Twente, Postbus 217, 7500 AE, Enschede, Netherlands; E-Mail: s.hophmayer-tokich@utwente.nl; Tel.: +31-58-2849-000; Fax: +31-53-4894-850 Received: 7 July 2010; in revised form: 11 August 2010 / Accepted: 12 August 2010/ Published: 19 August 2010 Abstract: In the state of Israel wastewater management (WWM), the legal responsibility of municipalities, was neglected for decades, resulting in pollution of the scarce water resources and the environment. This trend was reversed during the 1990s. This paper analyses the evolution process of the national WWM regime and its effect on WWM at the municipal level, and explains the paradigm shift. It is found that both the long-term neglect and the paradigm shift can be attributed to the central government’s policies regarding WWM rather than to the local authorities. Keywords: wastewater management; wastewater policy; regime evolution; transitions; Israel 1. Introduction Israel is burdened by a serious scarcity of fresh water, with currently ca. 180 cubic meters (CM) per capita per annum [1], and has been facing for some years a real water crisis. One would expect that the sca