The issue of securing water sources, especially against the potential acts of terrorist organizations, has become increasingly important in the aftermath of September 11th. An Interview with Yacov Zack, Israeli water-security expert, and president of the International Organization for Standardization’s (IOS) water security committee. The committee is currently creating water-security and monitoring standards to be issued in 2011.
The use of water sources, cisterns and canals as a means to harm an enemy or a hostile population can be dated back to Biblical times. Throughout history, water has been at the center of conflicts, especially in those parts of the world where it is a valuable or scarce resource. Today, water remains a powerful tool for those dictators and terrorists who seek to poison or dehydrate a population.
Yacov Zack, international expert in the field of water-quality security, states that the threat against the most valuable liquid for all life forms is quality-deterioration. “The simplest example of a harmful event is an earthquake, as the earth’s surface is suddenly altered. In this case there isn’t just the risk that a river’s trajectory will be changed, destroying reservoirs and causing floods, but also that the residual water will contaminate the subterranean water, destined for potable use, thus posing a true risk for a population”.
Nevertheless, earthquakes are not the main threat facing Western countries today. After the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers on September 11th, 2001, and despite no direct connection between the tragic event and water, red lights quickly went off in the security industry. The recklessness, planning and cruelty of the attacks, which claimed the lives of 2,749 victims, demonstrated to the world that the malicious imagination of terrorist organizations knows no boundaries. The world began to understand that it must organize itself, and take the appropriate measures to protect potential targets, water sources being among them.
What are the types of deliberate attacks that we know of today?
There’s no limit. For example, several years ago a group of terrorists reached the vicinity of the American Embassy in Rome, carrying toxic substances. The belief is that they had intended to contaminate the drinking water on premises. But the use of biological or chemical substances is not restricted to terrorists. Even legitimate governments hold arsenals of these non-conventional weapons, and some have even made use of them. For example, Saddam Hussein against the Kurds in Iraq in the late eighties, and the Egypt-Yemen war in the 70s.
It should be noted that, at least up until now, governments have used this type of weaponry in bombings, and not to poison water sources. Nevertheless, chemical and biological substances eventually make their way to water sources, reservoirs, and subterranean waters.
What experience does Israel have in the field of water-security and water-quality?
The accumulated experience dates back to Biblical times, but awareness of the problem was heightened with the creation of the State of Israel and the Israeli Water Authority. The main artery of Israel’s water industry is the National Aqueduct, whose constructed began at the beginning of the 1950s, and to which most of Israel’s water plants are connected. It’s length is approximately 130 Kilometers, and it’s purpose is to balance the supply of water in the country, the efficient use of the resource, and its movement from the rainy north, to the center and the south of the country, which suffer from water shortages.
The political problems surrounding the work on the National Aqueduct began when Syria and Lebanon began to obstruct the sources of the Jordan River (the Banias, Dan and Hatzbani Rivers) by installing dams. The dams prevented the flow of water to the Jordan by isolating it from its sources. Later, in the 60s, the National Aqueduct was the main target of an attack by the terrorist organization “Fatah”.
The awareness of the need to protect Israel’s water supply is among the highest in the world. Hence, most water sources, drilling sites and reservoirs in Israel are protected by reinforced cement structures, electrified fences, and CCTV. Water quality is monitored by routine processes, and when there is suspicion of water contamination a public advisory is released that residents should avoid consuming the water in a given zone until results are analyzed.
Thanks to the broad experience that it has accumulated over the years, Israel is leading the European team which is responsible for creating ISO’s 17294 international standards; to determine which measures must be taken to protect the water industry, how to react in case of contamination, what actions must be taken to most efficiently normalize the water quality, etc.
How long have you been working on the ISO 17294 legislation?
The work began in mid 2008 and is projected to be completed in 2011.
In addition to the honor of presiding over the commission responsible for establishing standards, does the job carry any other value?
Of course. From an industrial and commercial perspective, a country involved in creating standards is, for the obvious reasons, at an advantage.
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