ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION

ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION

Maintenance of Cleanliness Law (Amendment #2), 1991

The Maintenance of Cleanliness Law, approved in 1984, has constituted a major breakthrough in environmental improvement in this country. The recent amendment to the law broadens the applicability of the law to cover waste thrown from a vessel and broadens the definition of littering in the public domain to include illegal pasting of announcements and the like. The amendment also formally completes the transfer of resposibility for the implementation of the law from the Ministry of the Interior to the Ministry of the Environment.

The law establishes that in cases where it is proved that waste was thrown from a vessel, its owner, captain, operator or any other individual responsible for the vessel will be held accountable unless he can prove otherwise, namely that the act was performed without his knowledge and he undertook all reasonable means to prevent the disposal and discover the identity of the litterer.

Within the category of littering in the public domain, the amendment establishes that anyone who illegally writes, draws, sketches or engraves on the real estate of another, or anyone who illegally pastes, hangs, places or affixes any form of writing, notice, announcement or sign will be presumed to be a litterer of the public domain. In such a case, anyone mentioned within the context of the announcement as the one who ordered the preparation or pasting of the notice shall be deemed to be the one responsible unless he can prove otherwise and that the act was performed without his knowledge and he undertook all reasonable means to prevent the action.

Water Regulations (Prevention of Water Pollution) (Cesspools and Septic Tanks), 1992

To facilitate a more effective enforcement of the Water Law of 1959, the Ministry of the Environment has drafted several sets of regulations. The most recent regulations, signed in February 1992 by the Prime Minister, within his capacity as Minister of the Environment, relate to prohibitions and restrictions on the construction of new cesspools and septic tanks as well as on existing ones, inclusive of timetables for the gradual elimination of cesspools under certain conditions. Cesspools, existing largely in the rural sector of Israel, constitute a major cause of groundwater pollution. Implementation of the regulations should lead to significant improvement in this area.

The regulations prohibit the construction of cesspools for industrial wastes and prohibit the construction of domestic cesspools in settlements in which sewage systems exist. In settlements in which no sewage system exists, or exists in only part of the settlement, cesspools are prohibited in buildings serving more than twelve residential units. In such settlements, domestic cesspools may be installed subject to the following conditions:

- the cesspool will only absorb sewage from a residential building which does not contain more than three residential units and in which no reasonable possibility exists to install a sewage system or a sewage treatment installation;

- the cesspool will only absorb sewage from a residential building with more than three but less than thirteen residential units, subject to the written approval of the Minister of the Environment or his appointee;

- the sewage outlet pipe from the building will be connected to a septic tank sealed against leakage, which will be connected to the domestic cesspool.

The property holder will empty a septic tank or stopped-up cesspool from accumulated sewage, as required, to prevent its overflow. Emptying will be by means of a special sewage vehicle and the contents will be emptied solely into an installation for the treatment of sewage.

In the case of existing cesspools, holders of cesspools are instructed as follows:

- to stop-up a cesspool not in use, following emptying - within three months of the commencement of the regulations;

- to disconnect the sewage outlet pipe from an industrial cesspool within one year and to connect it to a sewage system, if it exists, or to the installation for sewage treatment approved by the Minister;