Chronicles of a Water Crisis: Litzman Sheds Crocodile Tears and MK Tirosh Advocates Civil Disobedience
Keren Neubach is angry. Not only did the government pass a drought “tax,” on water usage over a certain quantity, the water authority raised the price of water by 50% beginning in January. Yesterday Neubach invited three people to speak on her morning program on Reshet Bet about water policy.
Neubach and MK Ronit Tirosh of Kadima claimed the tax was pushed through illegally, bundled with the bill on the state budget. The money doesn’t go toward infrastructure or anything connected to the water crisis, like desalination plants. It was blackmail.
MK Yaakov Litzman of Agudath Yisrael complained about the effect of high water rates on poorer families. Even MKs whose grandchildren visited them over the Sukkot holiday were shocked by their bills. Neubach pointed out that families in lower-income areas are more likely to have poor infrastructure that causes leaks, and of course they suffer most if water rates go up.
So MK Tirosh advocated civil disobedience, advising citizens not to cooperate with the water authority’s request for the number of people in each household. She and Neubach also suggested canceling your standing bank order, delaying payment, deducting extra fees, and “flooding” the water authority with pointless questions. The idea is that the water authority would never dare cut off anyone’s water supply.
