How Israel’s Water Tech Leads by Example in a Thirsty World

There is a reason that scientists get excited when they find any hint of water on Mars — water is the source of life, and is one of the Earth’s most vital resources. Water anywhere is a reason for joy.

Water is also a limited resource. That is why the steps Israel has taken to conserve water are both exciting and important to understand.

From drip irrigation to wastewater reclamation, in the years since its founding, Israel has used a wide variety of innovative methods to conserve water and ensure that the whole country has enough water to drink and enough water to grow food, according to Israel21c. Below are just a few of the ways in which Israel has been a leader in the field of water conservation.

From the National Water Carrier to Drip Irrigation
The history of Israel’s innovative approach to water began with the Father of Zionism, Theodore Herzl. As early as 1902, in his book Alteneuland, Herzl envisioned a plan where water could be transported at great distances for the as-of-yet established Jewish state.

And indeed, after the country’s founding, that plan was brought to life, when Mekorot, Israel’s national water company, started building a national water carrier, which was created to bring water from the Kinneret in the north of the country all the way down to the central and southern parts of Israel.

However, the amount of water provided by the national system was simply not enough to provide both water for households and agriculture. Luckily, in 1959, a man named Simcha Blass and his son Yeshayahu created a trailblazing method to help Israel conserve water: the drip irrigation system.

According to a blog in the Washington Jewish Week, drip irrigation is a system that delivers water slowly and directly to the roots of a plant through a network of hoses, valves, and drip nozzles. This significantly reduces the amount of water that is lost through evaporation in comparison to other systems. Currently, drip irrigation is used to water more than three quarters of Israel’s crops, saving immense amounts of water.

Water Reclamation and Desalination
But Israeli innovation didn’t stop there. According to Israel21c, by the 1980s agriculture was using over 70 percent of the country’s safe water supply. Israeli engineers decided they needed to also use other sources of water already available. In 1985, Israel started treating wastewater and recycling it for agricultural use. By 2015, Israel was leading the world in wastewater reclamation, setting a goal of recycling 95 percent of its wastewater by 2025.

Another revolutionary method in water conservation for the country has been desalination, a process in which sea water turns into fresh water. This comes as Israel began its first long-term reverse osmosis desalination program in 1999. According to Washington Jewish Week, more than 90 percent of drinking water in Israel is desalinated.

A New State-of-the-Art Center
Finally, Israel’s national water company, Mekorot, has recently opened a new, state-of-the-art national centralized water control center, Haaretz reports. This center serves as the brain of Israel’s water infrastructure. The hope is that it will be able to protect the national water supply from things like cyber threats, natural disasters, and technical failures.

Israel’s variety of methods for conserving water show that resource conservation needs to utilize a multi-pronged approach: from eliminating waste, to taking advantage of resources in the best possible way, and thinking of innovative solutions for complex problems, Israel is leading the way in teaching the world how to preserve its resources.