Land contamination is now not simply the issue of builders and residence consumers in Sde Dov in Tel Aviv. An replace issued by the Ministry of Environmental Safety, the Ministry of Well being, and the Authorities Water and Sewage Authority submitted to the Supreme Courtroom in current days reveals that dozens extra websites are suspected of getting contaminants within the soil, which may delay development and advertising and marketing for years to come back.
These doubtlessly contaminated websites embrace Herzliya Airport, the Sirkin IDF base in Petah Tikva, and the Glilot space, lands on which 1000’s of flats are deliberate for the approaching years.
The state’s response was submitted as a part of a petition filed by the Adam Teva V’Din environmental ssociation and Prof. Alon Tal, which calls for that the supervision of the usage of PFAS compounds (Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) chemical compounds which may be current in these lands, and are thought of poisonous, be regulated. Nevertheless, the Israel Lands Authority (ILA), which has marketed and can market a lot of the land in query, notes that apart from Sde Dov, the assessments haven’t but revealed any findings that flip the websites into contaminated however solely make them “suspicious” websites.
4,500 chemical compounds
PFAS compounds are a gaggle of about 4,500 artificial chemical compounds which are thought of warmth and fats resistant and troublesome to interrupt down chemically. That is why they’re discovered, for instance, within the coatings of pans and pots. Based on the Ministry of Environmental Safety, PFAS compounds have been found in groundwater monitoring wells, wells for ingesting water manufacturing, in streams, in industrial wastewater, in soil, in wastewater therapy plant effluents (wastewater therapy services), and extra.
In 2022, Adam Teva V’Din and Tal filed a petition requesting that the Ministry of Environmental Safety screens the presence of those substances in soils. Based on the state’s response, which was despatched in current days, the ministry is at the moment dealing with 35 suspicious websites. A few of them, such because the Israel Aerospace Industries web site in Yehud, the Caesarstone web site and Pi Glilot in Beersheva, have already been discovered to be clear.
Nevertheless, in keeping with the state’s response and a letter not too long ago written by Water Authority director common Yechezkel Lifshitz, to ILA enterprise division director Sigal Gabay, among the many websites discovered to be contaminated are big complexes meant for residential use: the previous IDF base at Sirkin in Petah Tikva, Kiryat Haim air terminal, Sde Dov, the Glilot space and lots of different websites that served or are serving as airfields (Ramat David, gas storage areas at Ben Gurion Airport, Rosh Pina Airport and Herzliya Airport), gas storage areas and energy vegetation (Ashdod and Hadera).
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A couple of month in the past, Lifshitz wrote, “The Water Authority is working persistently to detect and map PFAS contamination at websites with potential danger, together with the Sde Dov space in Tel Aviv, the place the authority performed groundwater analyses as early as 2022. Lately, the authority has additionally detected these compounds at different websites designated for growth, comparable to Pi Glilot Ramat Hasharon, HA 27 and the Sirkin camp.”
Essentially the most pressing places when it comes to the presence of contaminants are the Sirkin camp in Petah Tikva, the place 8,500 housing models are deliberate and Herzliya airport, the place 1,500 housing models are deliberate.
No requirements but
One of many issues with figuring out the extent of contamination with PFAS compounds is that there’s nonetheless no present normal. The Ministry of Environmental Safety is selling new requirements, however with the publication of a draft for public feedback, it has already precipitated a stir, given what looks like a relative leisure in contrast with worldwide requirements. Based on the state’s replace to the Excessive Courtroom, workers work is being carried out to finish the requirements.
Adam Teva V’Din warns that the state prefers to disregard the findings. For instance, the affiliation notes that though the land in Glilot is suspected of being contaminated, work is underway there beneath the Metro plan, risking employees, and with none plans to clear the land. The affiliation acknowledged that if the work continues, they may take into account petitioning to cease it.
In distinction, the ILA stresses all websites are solely “suspected of contamination,” however not people who have truly been confirmed to be contaminated. ILA inspector Yossi Mizrahi says, “Aside from Sde Dov, there isn’t any web site beneath investigation for full PFAS. All of the websites the place contaminants have been used previously have been grouped collectively in an inventory, and they’re suspected of contamination. A few of them are big websites, and it’s sufficient for five% of them to be contaminated for them to be declared as such. We is not going to approve development earlier than the land is purified.”
Printed by Globes, Israel enterprise information – en.globes.co.il – on July 9, 2026.
© Copyright of Globes Writer Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2026.
