National laboratory stops testing drinking water due to funding shortfall
An environmental advocacy group’s lawyers on Wednesday threatened the Health Ministry and the Water Authority with legal action after it emerged that the ministry’s laboratory had stopped testing drinking water for certain contaminants because of a funding shortfall.
The laboratory has stopped testing for the chemicals known as PFAS, chlorite, chlorate, and perchlorate, all of which can endanger public health when found in excessive quantities. That development was laid out in a letter that the laboratory’s director, Dr. Noa Tejman Yarden, sent to senior health officials this month.
Unless the necessary funds are provided, the laboratory will halt all chemical and microbiological tests at the beginning of next year. Microbiological testing looks for traces of the waterborne bacteria that cause sicknesses such as Legionnaire’s disease and cholera.
The tests are normally carried out at the water source, within the water system, and in medical institutions.
Tejman Yarden’s letter cited a “serious lack of resources” such as chemicals, substrates, and equipment. It said there was no budget for new supplies, nor any expectation of receiving those funds.
In light of the situation, Adam Teva V’Din, an environmental advocacy group, sent a letter to acting Health Minister Haim Katz and Water Authority director Yechezkel Lifshitz calling for the resources and testing to be renewed immediately.
The advocacy group’s letter demanded responses by December 1, “so that we can consider our next steps, including taking legal action.”
It noted that the Health Ministry was legally responsible for supervising the sanitary quality of drinking water and seawater at official bathing beaches, while the Water Authority was required by law to ensure the availability and quality of water.
“Epidemiological studies indicate that exposure to contaminants and toxins in drinking water can cause serious health effects, including increased risk of cancer and impaired cognitive development,” it said.
A spokeswoman for Adam Teva V’Din told The Times of Israel that the organization was weighing a petition to the High Court if the authorities failed to act immediately.
A Water Authority spokesman said that water quality was “solely the responsibility of the Health Ministry.” A Health Ministry spokeswoman, meanwhile, said the testing would “not stop.” But she was unable to explain how, or to give further details.
Adam Teva V’Din’s letter argued that the particular importance of testing for PFAS — an acronym for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances — was underlined by the Health Ministry’s own actions. It cited the many instances the ministry had ordered groundwater drilling to stop because unusual levels of these contaminants had been found.
“The possibility that Israelis are consuming contaminated water from drinking water wells that have not yet been tested, and which might have been closed if routine testing had taken place, is unacceptable and requires urgent attention,” Adam Teva V’Din said.
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