Drinking Water Standards
"Water Engineering", Vol. 47Tzvi Levinson and Gil Dror, Adv. October 2006
In Israel, there are more than one standard for drinking water. The standard for drinking water supplied to households through pipes is regulated by the Public Health Regulations (Sanitary Standards for Drinking Water), 1974. The standard for drinking water of mineral or spring water is regulated by the Public Health Regulations (Mineral and Spring Water), 1986. In addition, the Israeli Institute of Standards published in 1994 an Israeli standard (No. 1501) for drinking water in containers. The article makes a comparative analysis of the above mentioned standards and finds unsystematic differences between them.
The results clearly show that for reasons that are not specified in the law, different water sources are subject to variable requirements, creating disharmony in this area of Israeli legislation. Our recommendation in the article is therefore, to proceed promptly with the unification of all the relevant standards.