25,000 people from 100 countries are attending the 2015
Water Technology and Environment Control Exhibition (WATEC) conference held in
Tel Aviv this week, one of the largest water technology events in the world,
featuring 150 exhibitors and dozens of speakers.
By Einat
Paz-Frankel, NoCamels
Despite
tensions in the region, 25,000 people from 100 countries are attending the 2015
Water Technology and Environment Control Exhibition (WATEC) conference held in
Tel Aviv this week, one of the largest water technology events in the world,
featuring 150 exhibitors and dozens of speakers.
According to
the UN, 1.2 billion people (almost one-fifth of the world’s
population) live in areas where water is scarce, and another 500 million people
are nearing this situation. This pressing issue is met at WATEC this week
with a host of Israeli solutions, from seawater desalination and water
conservation, to grey water recycling and wastewater treatment. Other pressing
issues on the agenda include drip irrigation (an agricultural technology
developed and perfected in Israel primarily by Netafim) and water purification.
Many WATEC attendees
are looking to bring such solutions to their countries. And so is Mark LeChevallier,
director of innovation and environmental stewardship for American Water, one of
America’s largest publicly traded water utility companies. His company is
“looking into the Israeli water companies and water-related technologies,
trying to find the next big thing and import it to the US,” says LeChevallier,
who’s currently meeting with Israeli entrepreneurs at WATEC in order to find
projects to collaborate with.
Nuno Fragoso
and Angeles Ramos, executives at Spanish engineering firm EPTISA who are attending
the conference, tell NoCamels they’re looking for water technologies to be used
in arid areas of Southern Spain, but not only. “We have projects all around the
world, we can help Israeli companies expand into Latin America,” Fragoso
says. Angeles says EPTISA is looking “to form a consortium of strong
companies that can solve water shortages. I believe Israel can provide these
solutions.”
Chinese
executive Yanhua Ca of Umore Consulting Group, says she has brought three of
her clients – large, Chinese manufacturers – to WATEC. “They’re looking for
industrial wastewater solutions, specifically recycling and treatment
technologies.”
According to
Israel’s Minister of Economy Aryeh Deri, who spoke at the conference,
Israel is a “global leader in developing innovative and breakthrough
technologies to manage scarce water resources.”
Since 50
percent of Israel is made up of desert – and with recurring droughts – over the
years the Israeli government, scientists and companies have developed
cutting-edge solutions to avoid water shortages.
Now, most of Israel’s drinking water comes
from desalination plants that are scattered around the country. “Israel has
become an oasis of water technologies,” Deri told a mixed crowd of Israelis and
internationals at a WATEC panel discussion on Tuesday.
As retold at
the conference, Israel used to rely on natural resources for its water, like
the Sea of Galilee, but quickly discovered that “Galilee is really a pond,” as
desalination expert Ron Yachini of IDE humorously put it, and that the
Jordan River is “famous and holy but lacks water,” as former Israeli president
Shimon Peres said at the event.
Now that
Israel doesn’t solely rely on natural water, its remarkable water management
solutions inspire others – including countries in Africa, Asia and America – to
implement technologies developed in the Startup Nation.
“Israeli
drip irrigation technologies can transform the lives of millions”
According to
William Samoei Ruto, Kenya’s deputy president, only 4 percent of Kenya’s
available water is used, and the country is looking for solutions to make the
other 96 percent usable. The African country looks to Israel, “the superpower
of water,” for solutions, he said. “We don’t want to reinvent the wheel.”
Drip
irrigation – an Israeli technology that carefully dispenses drops of water to
plants, thus conserving water – is especially important for agriculture in
Africa, Ruto said. “We have come here with open minds to benefit from Israeli
technologies that can transform the lives of millions in our
Governor of
Arizona Doug Ducey said Israel and his state share the same climate and that he
feels “truly honored and privileged to be given an unparalleled opportunity to
collaborate.” He praised the fact that 80 percent of Israel’s sewage water is
reused; combined with extensive desalination for drinking water, these efforts
give Israel significant water supplies. “You figured it out,” he said.
And while
Arizona is looking forward to collaborating with Israel, California, which is
suffering from extreme drought, already provides proof that Israeli water
technologies can be successfully implemented elsewhere in the world. Israeli
company IDE and its partners are currently building a desalination plant just
outside San Diego, which could potentially provide Californians with 54 million
gallons of water a day. The plant is using technology Israelis have been using
for years, reverse-osmosis, which involves forcing seawater through a film with
tiny holes that allow only water molecules to pass through, while the larger
salt molecules cannot.
According to
Richard Bloom, a California Assembly member attending WATEC, “up until now,
Sacramento homes didn’t have water meters, because water has been taken for
granted for so long; this needs to change. We never gave another thought to
water, and now we’re forced to conserve water and learn from Israel, a world
leader in the field.”