One of the most urgent problems humanity has to deal with is
securing supplies of fresh drinking water for the world’s population. Globally,
2-billion people, a quarter of the total population, do not have access to safe
drinking water and 3.6-billion do not have access to proper sanitation
facilities.
SA suffers from water shortages and faces additional
challenges with regard to water management.
It is ranked the 40th driest country in the world, with
fresh water resources under immense pressure. Floods in KwaZulu-Natal destroyed
essential water infrastructure in April last year, and as a result of a
heatwave water cuts were introduced in Gauteng, which caused sanitation issues.
There were also water restrictions in the Eastern Cape as a
result of drought. In this context the experience of a small, semi-arid country
like Israel can be beneficial. To understand the Israeli approach to water one
has to start at the beginning — the bible. In the bible the word “water”
appears 600 times, “cloud” 130 times and “rain” almost 100 times — and there
are different words for different kinds of rain. Flood, 61 times. Dew, 35
times. And in one of the most famous episodes of the bible, Moses struck a rock
to obtain drinking water. Moving from bible times to modern Israel, one of the
most important decisions of the early days of it, based on the good of the
people. As a result, even private land owners are prohibited from drilling for
water without specific permission from government.
All water used has, by law, to be measured, and each home or
business has to install a meter to indicate how much water is used, and how
much they should pay for it. Moreover, government claims ownership even to rain
water wherever it falls.
This approach might be considered authoritarian, yet it is
widely accepted as one of the pillars of Israeli success. Another such pillar
is education — Israeli schoolchildren are taught water conservation from first
grade. It is not uncommon to see Israeli children asking their parents to stop
wasting water. By the time these children grow up, water conservation is simply
part of their lives.
A key element is the financing of the water. In 2008 the
Water Authority of Israel succeeded in passing a law that ensured households
pay the real price of the water they consume. The resultant price increases
caused widespread public discontent, as people were getting the same water but
paying more. But gradually the population accepted that major infrastructure is
required to get clean water to their homes, desalination installations and
sewage treatments plants, and reduce dependency on rain.
Each municipality has established a separate water company.
These companies received the fees households pay for water and must use it to
improve water infrastructure. Farmers have to pay the real price for water too,
but in return are guaranteed a permanent and sufficient supply of water, even
during the dry season.
One of the major causes of water loss worldwide is pipe
leaks. In some cities such losses reached 40% or more. In Israel in 2006 the
average figure was 16%. The Water Authority decided that this was unacceptably
high, and incentives were offered to cities to reduce water losses.
Municipalities were turned into innovation hubs, and one product was distant
meter reading.
Meters were connected to a cellular device that sent
information to municipal control rooms. If abnormal consumption is registered
there is probably a leak. The device has saved considerable amounts of both
water and money for consumers.
The biggest water consumer in Israel is the agricultural
sector. In the 1950s Israeli farmers consumed more than 70% of available water,
partly due to the use of archaic flood irrigation methods. Then drip irrigation
was developed, which not only saved a considerable amount of water but also
significantly improved production since each plant got exactly the amount of
water it needed.
Conserving existing sources of water was essential for the
survival of Israel. But these sources continued to be sparse and new sources
had to be developed. One of these is the recycling of sewage water. Initially
Israel was channelling its sewage through a dedicated pipeline that dumped it
into the sea.
However, in 1973 a new sewage treatment system was completed
that allowed recycled sewage water to be used for agriculture.
The search for new sources of water continues. Ever since
the early days of humanity attempts have been made to convert salt water into
potable water. Israel has been one of the pioneers in desalination and
Mediterranean desalination plants now provide 80% of the water used by households.
The Soreq, the largest Israeli desalination plant, is located about 1.6km from
the sea and produces 165-million gallons of fresh water a day. Due to the
unique technology used, this is the cheapest desalinated water in the world.
As with its other technological achievements, Israel is
sharing its expertise in water management with other countries, including SA.
One of the most prominent Israeli NGOs in the field of water is
Innovation Africa, run by Sivan Ya’ari. It uses Israeli
technology to bring running water and solar power to the remotest corners of
Africa. Right now in SA alone, more than 500,000 people enjoy running water
thanks to Innovation Africa.
Israel does not have solutions to all of Africa’s problems.
However, we have accumulated enough experience to be able to construct a
creative environment that enables countries to deal with their challenges.
Israel is looking forward to sharing this experience with SA, and in a few
weeks the
Israeli embassy in Pretoria, together with the Jewish National
Fund, will be hosting representatives of the Israeli Water Authority in SA.
• Belotserkovsky is Israeli ambassador to SA.