Made in Israel: Water

Summary

This insightful transcript from "The 700 Club" covers Israel's innovative approaches to managing its limited water resources. Despite desert conditions and scarce natural water supplies, Israel has harnessed technology to turn potential curses into blessings. With initiatives like desalination of the Mediterranean Sea, recycling wastewater, and pioneering drip irrigation, Israel not only meets its own water needs but also aids neighboring countries. These solutions have transformed not just agriculture within Israel but have offered sustainable models to global regions facing water scarcity.

Highlights

• Israel has used technology to address its severe water shortages, turning a desert curse into a blessing. 🏜️
• Desalination from the Mediterranean Sea is set to make Israel a net water exporter. 🌐
• The country recycles 80% of its wastewater, far surpassing any other nation. 🚿
• Innovations like drip irrigation significantly reduce water use while increasing agricultural yield. 🌾
• Israel’s water technologies, recycled and desalinated water, support both national and international needs. 🌍

Key Takeaways

• Israel turns desert challenges into opportunities with innovative water management. 🌵
• Desalination from the Mediterranean now supplies much of Israel's drinking water. 🌊
• Israel is a leading global recycler of wastewater, reusing 80% annually. ♻️
• Drip irrigation technology boosts yields while conserving water. 💧
• Israel's practices are adopted worldwide, helping solve global water shortages. 🚰

Overview

In a land largely covered by desert, where water is a scarce resource, Israel has carved a niche for itself as a leader in water technology. From Moses’s time, where striking a rock was a miracle for water, to now utilizing advanced desalination techniques, Israel demonstrates resilience and ingenuity. By leveraging the Mediterranean Sea and pioneering water-saving practices, the nation secures its drinking water and even assists in addressing regional shortages.

Israel boasts significant achievements in water conservation and management. Notably, the country turns its recycled wastewater into more than 60% of its irrigation resources, leading the world in this respect. Through technological advancements like using UV light for purification and drip irrigation, which conserves water while boosting agricultural output, Israel stands as an example of efficient resource utilization.

Beyond its borders, Israel's techniques are making waves. By introducing drip irrigation and desalination methods globally, Israel is aiding other countries as they tackle their own water issues. The export of such innovative strategies illustrates a commitment to helping other regions fix the global water problem, embodying the Hebrew mission of 'Tikun Olam' - to repair the world.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:30: Israel's Initial Water Challenges The chapter discusses Israel's initial water challenges, highlighting that over half of the country is desert and facing a severe water shortage. It mentions Moses leading the people to a land that lacks oil, water, and has poor soil quality, emphasizing the difficulties Israel faced thousands of years ago in making the best out of its scant natural resources.
• 01:30 - 02:30: National Water Carrier and Desalination The chapter titled "National Water Carrier and Desalination" discusses how Israel approaches water scarcity using technology and innovation. The main sources of drinking water in Israel are the Sea of Galilee and two underground aquifers, making the country's water supply heavily dependent on rainfall. In response to this vulnerability, Israel began the construction of the national water carrier in 1953 to address and manage its water resources more effectively.
• 02:30 - 04:30: Innovative Water Solutions and Recycling This chapter discusses Israel's innovative approach to water management and technology. It highlights the historical development of a system comprising pipelines, canals, and reservoirs to transport water from the Sea of Galilee to other parts of the country. The chapter emphasizes Israel's ability to transform challenges, perceived by some as risk factors or curses, into opportunities and blessings. This adaptability and innovation in water solutions have been a notable success for Israel.
• 04:30 - 06:30: Desert Fish Farming and Irrigation Israelis initially relied on pipelines for water supply, but it wasn't sufficient for the growing country. Consequently, they turned to the Mediterranean Sea, a historical center of the ancient world, to find solutions for their water needs.
• 06:30 - 11:30: Drip Irrigation and Global Impact The chapter titled "Drip Irrigation and Global Impact" discusses Israel's significant advancements in water management. A key focus is on Israel's technique of desalination using seawater reverse osmosis, which enables the production of 450 million cubic meters of drinkable water daily from the Mediterranean Sea. This process allows for rapid transformation of seawater to potable water, highlighting its potential global impact and contribution to solving water scarcity issues.

Made in Israel: Water Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 more than half of this country's land is Desert and we have a severe water shortage Moses led us to Israel a country that has no oil no water not too good soil and we had to make the best out of it thousands of years ago Moses had a
• 00:30 - 01:00 strike a rock to get water in the desert well today Israelis are taking a slightly different approach using technology and creativity in Israel the main sources of drinking water are the Sea of Galilee and two underground aquifers if rainfall is short so is the nation's water supply in 1953 Israel started building the national water
• 01:00 - 01:30 carrier a system of pipelines canals and reservoirs that carry water from the Sea of Galilee to the rest of Israel so we didn't have water okay we developed water technology one of the things that Israel has excelled in is taking what some people would see as risk factors or as curses and turning them into blessings from the time of bilam the Jewish people have always been able to somehow turn the curse into a blessing
• 01:30 - 02:00 the pipelines were a good start but Israel's fresh waterer Supply wasn't enough to support a growing country so Israelis started looking West to the Mediterranean for thousands of years the Mediterranean Sea was the center of the ancient world the crossroads between Europe Asia and Africa and now it's one
• 02:00 - 02:30 of Israel's greatest natural resources Israel is desalting so much of its drinking water that the majority of our drinking water's origin will be the Mediterranean Sea by the end of next year today Israel produces 450 million cubic M of drinkable water a day through a process called seawater reverse osmosis water can go from the ocean to the faucet in less than 90 mes
• 02:30 - 03:00 minutes the Israeli technology is now used in more than 40 countries around the world and thanks to the Mediterranean Israel May soon have something that was once Unthinkable a water Surplus in this country we don't have much water except somehow by the end of this decade Israel is going to become a net water exporter just on today's news there was a item about how is Israel is stepping up the
• 03:00 - 03:30 export of water to Jordan in order to supply water for all the Syrian refugees who are fleeing into Jordan while Israel produces drinking water from the sea many farmers are getting water for their crops literally out of thin air ancient Israelites used stones to collect the Dew every morning now an Israeli company is using plastic trays to do the same the trays were developed
• 03:30 - 04:00 by talad Technologies which means God's doe in Hebrew every morning these trays channel the Dew straight into the roots of the plants they also prevent weeds from growing between the plants and reduce water usage by up to 50% Israeli Farmers have always made good use of their water but it wasn't long before they realized that in order to survive they also needed to start
• 04:00 - 04:30 reusing it today Israel recycles 80% of its Wastewater the closest competitor is Spain with 10% so we recycle more than eight times more water than any other country on the planet Israelis developed a way to purify waste water using ultraviolet light this treated water is then used to irrigate crops if you use it for vegetables then You' like to clean it they extend that you can almost
• 04:30 - 05:00 drink it so it is treated to a very high degree today 60% of the water that is irrigating fields in Israel is produced water and not natural water and I'll give you an example of our farm here on the kibuts we grow jojoba and we use only sewage water only treated waste water to irrigate our jojoba and this is done all over
• 05:00 - 05:30 Israel Israel may be short on fresh water but the country's netive desert is sitting on an underground ocean too salty to drink or desalinate so Israeli settlers found a new way to use it you cannot really fight nature nature will fight you back we found out after the years that is better to cooperate and to coordinate with what you've got you want Gan is one of a growing number
• 05:30 - 06:00 of Israelis who have left the ocean to go fishing in the desert they build Fish Farms using the warm salty water from underground it's ideal for raising saltwater fish like tilapia seab bass and baramundi the place here is working without chemicals without anything it's very healthy it's friendly for the environment and it's good for us in a matter of the pocket we are making good
• 06:00 - 06:30 money and this is the the bottom line at this kabut in the Nea desert even the fish waste is put to use every week the water in these tanks is replaced and pumped underground to irrigate the nearby Olive Grove the fish waste in the water makes an ideal natural fertilizer as you can see on the side the olives are growing around the farm around the fish and are doing very well without any other chemicals only by the
• 06:30 - 07:00 nutrients of the fish Israel has taken this idea to other countries struggling with water and food shortages we're taking African villages teaching them how to essentially build Fish Farms if you look at around Lake Victoria the Nile perch were dying and Israelis are now going in to teach the farmers how to grow them in ponds so that you can actually continue to eat the Nile perch over the years Israelis
• 07:00 - 07:30 also found new ways to use less water and as always they started in the desert there's the story of the Arava sometimes as 20 mm of rain annual fall very harsh climate and still thanks to drip irrigation this became the vegetable Barn of Israel 65% % of
• 07:30 - 08:00 vegetable export out of Israel mainly to Europe is coming from the Arava today even the driest parts of the desert are blooming with help from a process called drip irrigation the idea is older than the state of Israel itself when the first settlers came here young people came from the city and they wanted to be farmers and they came to kib and they faced many challenges
• 08:00 - 08:30 aridland High salinity not enough water and there was even a time when they considered moving to another place but then benuron came who was a leader with a real vision and he said guys if you want to move it's okay but further south not back to the north and we stayed here and we continued and we did some EXP
• 08:30 - 09:00 but still we were struggling then we met the guy who invented drip irrigation that guy was an engineer named Simka Blas he got the idea for drip irrigation after seeing a tree that was larger than the others around it after digging around the roots he found it was being watered by a leak in an underground pipe so this gave him the idea but it took him some years
• 09:00 - 09:30 actually until a plastic was introduced to start and and make experiments with drippers that will emit water in small drops and this is basically drip irrigation Bloss met the farmers of kabut hin and together they started a company called Neta which means drops of water in Hebrew soon they boosted their crop yield by 50% and use 40% less water to do it drip
• 09:30 - 10:00 irrigation saves a lot of water producing more getting more yet not harming the environment for almost half a century the company has lived up to its slogan grow more with less not just in Israel but in0 countries around the world from sugar cane fields in the Philippines to tea plantations in Tanzania you know
• 10:00 - 10:30 India is now our number one country the results looking at the yield increase were amazing 50% of the farmers got an increase in yield between 25 and 50% another 25% of the farmers got an increase in yield of up to 75% Nim even designed a system that works solely on gravity for places like Peru
• 10:30 - 11:00 where remote Mountain Farmers don't have electricity the plant doesn't know the difference the plant doesn't know that you don't have a $20,000 computer behind the dripper and it works beautifully everyone is talking about water scarcity 70% of the water that we have available in the world is used for agriculture now if we save only 15% % in
• 11:00 - 11:30 agriculture we can more than double the available water for drinking and sanitation in Hebrew we have a a term which is called tun which is fixing the world and this is basically what D irrigation does this is my personal goal and challenge