“Heaven-sent” was the feeling last year as winter rains filled Israel’s reservoirs and the inland lake, the Sea of Galilee.
But 2014 has been a different story, as a severe drought was declared by February.
Israel is 60 percent desert, and for the last 60 years it is has braced itself for dry winters like this one, possibly the driest ever. Yet except for growers of non-irrigated crops, Israel isn’t worried. Since 1948, Israel has planned, forecasted and built infrastructure, policies, research and technologies to withstand drought.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently offered to help California overcome its extreme drought –– affecting about two-thirds of its 38 million residents — using Israeli science, water conservation and desalination technology.
A few years ago there were just dreams, mostly unfulfilled. Now, Israeli entrepreneurs eager to transfer lifelong careers in engineering and high-tech to the more noble business of water are seeing the fruits of their labor.
A large pavilion at Israel’s annual Water Technology and Environment Control Exhibition and Conference (WATEC) displayed startup technologies from the simplest ideas to those that connect IT to the traditional world of water.
Visitors came from countries around the world to see these innovations. Some, like participants in Project Interchange-AJC, were on a mission to learn more about Israeli solutions needed back home.
Jordanian Prime Minister Abdalla Ensour and his cabinet approved a new plan to trade water with Israel. In a new Red Sea desalination project expected to cost $1 billion, Jordan will sell part of the resulting water to Israel in exchange for water from the Tiberias reservoir.
Middle East countries are known to face chronic water shortages.
“We will sell Israel water at a rate of JD1 per cubic metre and buy from them at a rate of JD0.3 per cubic metre. This process will save us the effort and cost of conveying water from the south to the northern governorates,” Ensour said, the Jordan Timesreported.
According to Jordanian Minister of Water and Irrigation Hazem Nasser, the agreement is legal based on Article 2 of the peace treaty signed with Israel in 1994, and is of “strategic national interest” to Jordan
