Water supplies are barely adequate to maintain a quality standard of living.They have overused an underlying aquifer to such a degree that much of the land is now below sea level. Meanwhile Turkey has been building a vast complex of dams at the headwaters of the Euphrates River that will drastic ally reduce water flow to downstream Syria and Iraq. In 1999, a landmark study of water in Israel and the Palestinian lands found that ancient underground aquifers were being drained dry, scarce rains flow unused, and rivers diverted for water-intensive tropical agriculture. A groundbreaking comprehensive study involving collaboration among Israeli, Palestinian, and Jordanian experts urged their governments to jointly manage watersheds (Associated Press, 1999).