At the sight of the International Water Management Institute's world map Projected Water Scarcity in 2025 and simultaneously thinking of the proverbial showery weather in my hometown and all the rivers, creeks, and lakes around here, I wonder whether Clemens Messerschmid is right. But it's him who is the hydrogeologist, not me.

By now, Clemens Messerschmid's friends in Ramallah and Jerusalem understand the message of his dagger-like stares when they're caught washing dishes with the tap water flowing nonstop. Even when he is not around, they close the tap, thanks to this 43-year-old hydrogeologist from Germany.

Messe...

At the sight of the International Water Management Institute's world map Projected Water Scarcity in 2025 and simultaneously thinking of the proverbial showery weather in my hometown and all the rivers, creeks, and lakes around here, I wonder whether Clemens Messerschmid is right. But it's him who is the hydrogeologist, not me.

By now, Clemens Messerschmid's friends in Ramallah and Jerusalem understand the message of his dagger-like stares when they're caught washing dishes with the tap water flowing nonstop. Even when he is not around, they close the tap, thanks to this 43-year-old hydrogeologist from Germany.

Messerschmid cheerfully confirms this. But this place, he says, is far from being an arid country with meager water resources, as is commonly thought. In Berlin and Paris, he notes, annual rainfall is less than in Jerusalem and Ramallah, respectively: 550 millimeters in Berlin compared to 564 millimeters in Jerusalem, based on a 150-year average (the Israel meteorological service puts the figure at 554 millimeters). Paris gets an average of 630 millimeters, while the yearly average in Ramallah, from 1975-2004, was 689.6 millimeters.

When Palestinians say there is not enough water in the country, this is one of four Palestinian misconceptions that Messerschmid lists. When the Israelis say the same thing, it is a myth that serves a specific purpose - preserving an unjust distribution of water resources that discriminates against the Palestinians. This is one of five Israeli "water myths" on another list.

Water, water everywhere (haaretz.com)
Deutsche Fassung

As for the impacts of the Israeli "security fence", see the essays (in German language) by C. Messerschmid and C. Haydt, and my clip Clemens Messerschmid (2003): Palästinas Wasserressourcen und Israels Trennmauer (Palestine's water resources and the Israeli Wall).

Messerschmid is working in several international water projects in the West Bank, currently in the position of Research & Coordination Advisor to the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) for the Proje...

As for the impacts of the Israeli "security fence", see the essays (in German language) by C. Messerschmid and C. Haydt, and my clip Clemens Messerschmid (2003): Palästinas Wasserressourcen und Israels Trennmauer (Palestine's water resources and the Israeli Wall).

Messerschmid is working in several international water projects in the West Bank, currently in the position of Research & Coordination Advisor to the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) for the Project "The Sustainable Management of the West Bank and Gaza Aquifers" (SUSMAQ) of University of Newcastle and PWA.