Simone Klawitter Department of Environmental Economics and Policy, University of Technology Berlin Strasse des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Germany
The continuing rapid growth of the urban population in Israel has been one of the major challenges of Israeli politics and economics since its foundation. A sheer magnitude of environmental problems especially in the water sector are associated with urbanization. Water pricing is an increasingly common tool, applied to recover costs, to give the right incentives to water users, and to protect the environment. In practice, there is a great variety in type, level and structure of tariff systems not always meeting the needs of a sustainable water management. Therefore the paper will hopefully explain the complexity of water supply and water pricing issues as well while giving sufficient background information and justifications of the present situation of the urban area Tel Aviv – Jaffa.