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Sep 21, 2009

Rain, Rain, Don't Go Away

Some countries are "brown". Everything is desolate, the landscape is parched and little grows. Think Ethiopia, Sudan and countries like that. All the images we see from there are "brown" because of how little rain they get and how dry it is.

we are in the middle of one of the worst droughts that we have experienced in recent history. Yet,
Israel is far from "brown". It is "green" with trees and grass and flourishing with buildings, pools, ponds,, fountains, malls, etc. Water seemingly everywhere.

Which makes it unusual and interesting how excited we get at the slightest rainfall. It rained for a few minutes yesterday and we are all excited. The kids started screaming in excitement when the first drops fell and spent the next few minutes scampering in the rain.

You'd think from our reactions that we were living in a "brown" country, when we are living in a "green" one. I guess we all appreciate the water, as we have begun cutting back on our usage - shutting the water while brushing teeth, taking short showers, minimizing watering gardens, etc. plus the high prices were paying in water taxes now for going over the allotment, and even a few drops of rain so early in the winter season gives us optimism that it will be a rainy winter and we will be able to return to our normal wasteful lifestyles...

And on that note, I wonder if once they approved the high water prices, if it rains a lot and we get back to a situation where we have plenty of water, will they remove the taxes and put the prices back down to normal or will they leave them in place regardless??

6 comments:

  1. Two points to consider about your question:

    1) This is a country which nixed planned desalination plants because it started raining.

    2a) The increased water rates are basically a tax, and tax cuts are popular; and
    2b) In Israel, every year is potentially an election year.

    ReplyDelete
  2. We will never be in a situation where we take water for granted. Even if we have record rainfalls, there is no way to keep the water from year to year and we always have to be prepared for drought.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The truth is that we *SHOULD* be in a brown country its just that over the last 60+ years we have invested a huge amount of time, money and manpower into making it a green country. We have developed some amazing technology to allow us to this. (A fact for which we should be quite proud).

    Anyway any amount of rain is welcome.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am sure they will promise to move after they get rid of the TV tax.

    ReplyDelete
  5. ehwhy,

    The difference is that most people actually pay their water bills.

    :)

    ReplyDelete

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