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Facing worst
drought in history, Israel relies on innovations, cuts
In the sands of the Negev Desert here, small groves of
eucalyptus, olive and pomegranate trees grow in shallow depressions dug out to
catch floodwater, a method used by the Nabateans thousands of years ago.
The ancient technique is one way Israelis are trying to
harness every drop of water, an effort that has become critical as the country
reels from its fourth straight year of drought.
Experts say Israel is in the worst water crisis it has ever
seen.
"We don't have any water to waste," says Elisha
Mizrahi, the director of the Jewish National Fund's Southern Region, which
initiated the project. Mizrahi looks out onto the groves, the only hint of
green for miles.
As Israel's population swells, increasing water demands have
exacerbated the effects of below-average rainfall rates and less consistent
rainfall, which some scientists suggest are a consequence of global warming.
The country’s three main reservoirs, including Lake
Kinneret, have passed their "red," or emergency, lines. If the water
levels continue to drop, Israel may have to limit water use from the Kinneret
in the wintertime.
The government has cut back on water allocations for farmers
and industry, and the Israeli public is being urged to reduce usage in an
aggressive TV campaign featuring a woman whose face cracks up like a parched
piece of earth as an ominous voice-over intones, "We don't have any water
to waste."
Israel has made great strides in using recycled sewage water
for irrigating farmland. About 75 percent of sewage water is treated and then
used for agriculture, easily making Israel the world's leading nation in the
field. The runner-up country, Spain, recycles only 12 percent of its
wastewater.
"We are creating a source for irrigation that otherwise
would not be used," Avi Gafni, a JNF hydrologist and research coordinator,
says while standing in front of one of the 200 reservoirs the JNF has built in
Israel to store treated sewage water. "Every drop of water can make the
land here potentially into agricultural land."
The reservoirs comprise about 16 percent of the total volume
of Israel's water reserves. About 30 percent of Israeli water used every year
is recycled wastewater or desalinated water.
But the water savings aren't enough in this parched land.
Compounding the crisis is the country's reliance on ground
water, which provides about two-thirds of Israel's drinking water.
"With the depletion of the water table from the ground,
there are opportunities for saltier water to seep in and contaminate the fresh
water," said Avner Adin, the founder of the Israel Water Association and a
professor at Hebrew University's Department of Soil and Water Sciences.
"These are very difficult processes to reverse,"
Adin says, warning that the water shortage may become "a catastrophic
situation if not handled properly."
Some water experts say the current crisis could have been
averted had Israel followed through on its plans after the last water crisis,
several years ago, to build a series of new desalinization plants.
The Israeli government approved their construction as far
back as 2002, but the rate of building slowed when Israel experienced several
years of above-average rainfall and the government delayed construction of the
plants.
Israel has two desalinization plants, and a third one is
about a year away from completion. But the country's desalinization capacity is
just one-third of what it was supposed to be according to the government's
plans.
Last month, the Knesset established a state commission of
inquiry to determine why the government's desalinization recommendations were
not implemented.
"This is not a water crisis; it's a political
crisis," says Arnon Soffer, a geography professor at Haifa University.
Uri Schor, a spokesman for Israel's Water Authority, the
government agency responsible for water issues, says expanding desalinization
capacity "is a process."
The desalinization plant in Ashkelon is the largest of its
kind in the world, he notes, and by 2020 Israel will have built enough plants
to desalinate 750 million cubic meters of sea water per year.
"This will stabilize the water situation in the medium-
and long-term," Schor told JTA.
In Israel, about 1.1 billion cubic meters of water per year
go to agriculture -- including recycled sewage water. About 766 million goes to
domestic use and some 120 million goes to industrial use.
Along with the desalinization plants, Schor says Israel's
strategy to tackle the water problem is to continue its pioneering work in
recycling sewage water for agriculture.
In the short term, however, the plan is to reduce usage by
cutting agricultural and industrial allocations, raising household consumer
water prices and running public awareness campaigns. The higher water prices
also will help pay for the desalinization plants and the extensive new pipeline
networks they will require.
Booky Oren, the president and CEO of Miya-the Arison Water
Initiative, a $100 million company that invests in water technology, says
Israel -- the country that first brought the world drip irrigation techniques
-- must harness its talents in water management.
"The difference about today is that there are the
technological tools to cope with this crisis," says Oren, a former
director of Israel's national water company, Mekorot, who touts Israel as the
Silicon Valley of water technology. "When people take responsibility and
don't wait for rainfall alone, we can assist nature and help find
solutions."
Among Israel’s water-related innovations are electromagnetic
sensors that check for water contamination and hi-tech water purifying filters
used everywhere from industrial plants to fish farms worldwide. One Israeli
company, Watersheer, has developed a small filter for personal drinking water
use that is being marketed to hikers, armies and developing countries.
Waterfronts-The Israel Water Alliance is working to
encourage investors, private companies, and Israeli universities and research
centers to develop new water technologies so that Israel can be a leader in the
field.
As the sun begins to set, Arie Schreiber, a farmer from
Kibbutz Nerim in the western Negev, near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip,
visits the orchards his kibbutz tends. Part of a larger plot of orange, lemon,
tangerine and date trees farmed together with other local kibbutzim, the 1,000
acres or so of groves are fed by recycled wastewater.
The situation could not be any more different than when he
first arrived at the kibbutz in 1949. The surrounding land then was virtually
impossible to farm.
"It's become a good business," Schreiber says,
gesturing to the rows of trees planted in the sand. "A little bit of water
and a lot of technology."
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