Zalul Association's 2007 Sea Report determines: There is a palpable danger to the health of the public in the aftermath of absolute lawlessness in giving permits for flowing sewage to the sea.

Zalul launches an extensive campaign against activity by the permit committee as a result of the report's findings.

Zalul's annual report on the water quality along Israel's beaches and the rivers that flow to the sea focuses this year on examining the types and terms of permits given to factories and municipalities for releasing wastewater into the sea.  The uniqueness of this report is its ability to view, for the first time, the activity of the committee and its decisions in relation to the permits that were given and to the lab checks of sewage that was actually released to the sea.  Until now, this important information, the rules, conditions and flow amounts to the sea, were hidden from the public eye.  This is the first time that this information has been exposed to the public and its significance to the public made clear.

The main findings of the report:

·         In Israel, over one hundred bodies have permits for releasing sewage, of various types, to the sea and to the rivers.

·         Zalul defined seven regional "high risks" areas in the Mediterranean Sea, in which contaminated sewage is released that constitute a health risk to the public, both as a result from washing in the sea and as a result from ecological injury (eating fish that have pollutants accumulated in their body). The areas are: Nahariya, the Gulf of Acco, the Gulf Haifa, Herzliya, Gush Dan (Tel Aviv), Palmachim and Ashdod.

·         The list of the pollutants that were permitted to flow to the sea include upwards of 50 types of different pollutants in excessive amounts, several of which are directly dangerous to people.

·         Of the approved substances permitted to be released to the sea by the Committee on an annual basis are approximately 130 ton of pesticides, 5 tons of arsenic, 15 thousand tons of organic pollutants, 1,300 tons of ammonia, 5 tons of phenol and over a ton of cyanide.

·         The majority of the ammonia is approved for release to the Gulf of Acco, the majority of the phenol is approved for release in Ashdod and the Gulf of Haifa, one-third of the amount of cyanide and one-quarter from the amount of the arsenic are approved to be released along the Gush Dan coastline by means of the Shafdan, about 20% of the approved phosphorous released in the country is released to beaches in Herzliya, and approximately 1,500 tons of barium (75% of the approved barium released in Israel) is approved for release to Palmachim beach near Rishon Letzion.

·         The conditions of the permits and the actual sewage released in the Gulf of Acco was examined and compared. The actual sewage released was found to be dozens to hundreds of percent higher than that which was approved.  In spite of this, no measures have been taken to limit this excessive polluting.

·         In summary, the permits given by the committee to release industrial and municipal wastewater goes against the 1983 Barcelona Convention Protocol for the protection of the Mediterranean Sea against pollution from land-based sources.

The report concluded that the variety of substances released to the Mediterranean Sea constitute a real danger to public health. The committee, under the auspices of the government, operates in contrast to the law and under a veil of secrecy.

In the aftermath of the report findings and its conclusions, Zalul launched a nation-wide public campaign against the committee to moderate permits under the slogan: "One committee, so much pollution."

During the campaign, Zalul will act to change the procedures by which the committee is formed, from its internal procedures, to the formation of its decisions and the criteria by which it works, and how it conducts its external operations, i.e. the transparency it needs to adopt in the advertising of permits for sewage release that are approved for different bodies (factories and local authorities) according to law.