One thing that has bothered me (only one?) with Pesach in Israel is the water issue.

As you might know (or not), the country's water supply from the Kinneret is shut off and all water comes from underground aquifers.

The reason?

Certain groups claim that if a drop of Chametz falls in the Kinneret then the entire Kinneret becomes Chametz as there is no legal concept of "Batel b'shishim" when it comes to Chametz, and therefore you can't drink the water!

The only problem is that this is such a strange ruling, and worse, I couldn't find any real source for it (not that I looked very hard). Yet the country does it.

Finally, I found something on Treppenwitz (of all places) that discusses this question.

Rav Dov Lior writes:


A Bit of Chametz in the Kinneret Sea
Even a tiny amount of Chametz which mixes into food or drink on Pesach causes all of it to be forbidden. (This is true whether the Chametz mixes with food similar to itself or dissimilar.) However, all of this is relevant when the food or drink is detached from the ground, as in the case of a crumb of Chametz falling into a large pot or into a water reservoir (which the water was drawn into.) However, whatever is attached to the ground does not become forbidden. Therefore, there is absolutely no basis to be stringent and not to drink water from the Kinneret or any other natural body of water.