Clean beach index - Haifa is in a bad state
The Ministry of Environmental Protection summarizes the state of the beaches within the borders of the Israeli authorities in 2020. The situation in Haifa is not good, especially on the undeclared beaches.
The municipality of Haifa focuses its cleaning efforts mainly on the declared beaches, which were also awarded the "Blue Flag" sign, while the beaches that are not declared for bathing, fall far behind in the level of cleanliness and we see a significant retreat even compared to 2019, which also did not register high marks.
The undeclared beaches are left behind
We note that within the borders of the city of Haifa there are several kilometers of undeclared beaches for bathing and among them (from north to south): Kiryat Haim Industrial Zone Beach, Shemen Beach, Rambam Promenade, Huldah Promenade, Bat Galim Promenade, Rosh HaCarmel and Shekmona Reserve (Hecht Park area) .
We will also note that some of the waste on these beaches was ejected from the sea and some was left in the area by residents who had picnics or bonfires and left the garbage behind. The garbage remains in place in the absence of enforcement (and fines) on these residents.
A bonfire at Surfers' Beach with rusty nails left from the burnt wooden floors in it (Photo: Yaron Karmi)
Following the decrease in the level of cleanliness on these beaches, Haifa also loses parts of the support amounts from the Ministry of Environmental Protection, due to the fact that it did not meet the cleanliness goals (the numbers will be presented later in the article).
It should be noted that on some of Haifa's beaches (mainly on the Mount of Carmel) there are clean-up operations by volunteers, with the beach division of the Haifa municipality assisting with equipment, such as garbage bags and gloves, as well as in the removal of the waste collected by the volunteers.
Clean beach index by authorities - 2020
The Ministry of Environmental Protection publishes the situation on the beaches according to permission. The situation in Haifa is highlighted in red.
The blue column represents the year 2019
The light blue column represents the year 2020
According to the index, Haifa's beaches are among the dirtiest in Israel, with only 33% clean indices.
Here we note again that there is a weighting of declared and undeclared beaches.
Haifa lags behind also in the area of the number of fines given to beach polluters
In this context, we note that the cooperation between the local authority and the Ministry of Environmental Protection is important in order to raise the level of enforcement.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection informed Lahi Pa:
As part of the Ministry of Environmental Protection's Clean Coast Program, the National Unit for the Protection of the Marine Environment initiated assistance to the coastal authorities in carrying out enforcement actions on the beaches during the summer months. The assistance is provided through the reinforcement of the inspection force, by Israel Police officers, who accompany the inspectors on behalf of the Coastal Authority in the inspection and enforcement operations, with the aim of creating a deterrent against waste criminals on the beaches and reducing the damage to the coastal and marine environment. As part of the enforcement reinforcement program, about 300 operations were carried out within the scope of 13 coastal authorities.
During these operations, about 3,367 fines were handed out, of which about 1,012 fines were for cleaning violations, in the amount of up to NIS 750 per fine. For comparison, in 2019 at the same time, 285 fines were handed out for cleaning violations. The main change is due to increased activity as well as changes in bylaws (Carmel Beach).
Haifa lost part of the support budget due to not meeting the cleaning goals
The Ministry of Environmental Protection supports the authorities with a special budget for cleaning the beaches, but the budget is conditional on meeting the cleaning goals.
In the period: April 2019 to March 2020, the support target was NIS 449,426, however, due to the failure to meet the targets, only NIS 393,248 was paid, while an amount of 56,178 was deducted from the support.
In 2020, the support budget has not yet been paid, since the matter is still being evaluated by the ministry.
The Haifa Municipality responded:
The clean beach index refers to the undeclared beaches, which extend in Haifa along a strip of over 10 km.
This long stretch of beach is located for the most part in close proximity to polluting industrial plants and along the Haifa Bay, where a large amount of waste is emitted from the sea, and therefore it is not possible to compare these beaches with other beaches.
The support of the Ministry of Environmental Protection for 2020 has not yet been transferred, and in any case the municipality, which attaches great importance to the issue, allocates the lion's share of the budget for cleaning the undeclared beaches.
In this framework, the cleaning of the undeclared beaches is carried out by permanent workers, who use mechanical tools, which the municipality purchased especially for this purpose.
Haifa Municipality maintains a close and fruitful collaboration with the Ministry of Environmental Protection. The small number of fines issued by the Ministry of Environmental Protection indicates the cleanliness maintained by the municipality and that most of the plastic waste is emitted from the sea.
Meanwhile, it is also worth noting the high level of maintenance of Haifa's declared bathing beaches, which are maintained at the highest level and are praised in all the reviews conducted on them.
Thanks to this maintenance, the beaches are awarded the prestigious "Blue Flag" every year, awarded by the "International Fund for Environmental Education", indicating that the beaches meet the most advanced and strict international standards. Recently, the national committee decided to validate the 12 blue flags that Haifa received, based on the tests The strictness, which examined, among other things, the level of cleanliness on the declared beaches.
The Municipality of Haifa will continue to do as much as possible to maintain the cleanliness of the declared and undeclared beaches and at the same time work to promote a bylaw to prevent the use of disposable tools on the beaches.
Klish came home immediately.
How do you remove a mayor, do you really have to wait for 5 years to pass???
She works *for us* - let's get rid of her!!!
What an amazing cliche mayor. In terms of all indicators, Haifa is in retreat since it was elected mayor.
Home!
Since Kalish entered the mayorship of Haifa, there has been a retreat in all functions of the municipality. Such a beautiful and special and high-quality city like Haifa is becoming neglected in all areas... just cry!!!!!!
The municipal supervision is not functioning.
In Meierhoff Square, there is a hardware store and a housewares store and a clothing store that scatter huge amounts of goods on the floor of the square, up to the middle of the square.
In addition, there are alms groups with amplifiers and occasional peddlers, as usual.
With the arrival of the new mayor, the city inspectors disappeared, completely.
The people of Israel live like in a skit by Gadi Yigil:
Tell me what your junk is and I'll tell you who you are.
If you like nature, beach and beautiful scenery, don't leave trash for your next visit.
And the property tax continues to be unjustifiably high
It is clear that the city's beaches are flocked by sections of clans and rascals who, in the absence of enforcement on the beaches, do what they want. Bonfires, throwing cigarettes, urinating dogs, shouting and spitting, fruit and watermelon peels, cigarette boxes and plastic bags. What's the problem, atonement, push a little in the sand and cover it so they don't see, leave you alone now.
The municipality of Haifa does not care about the well-being of the residents and the cleanliness of the city's streets, do you expect it to care about the beaches?