How One Tiny Country in a Desert Leads the World in Water

The term “perfect storm” is used everywhere in today’s vernacular but nowhere is it more appropriate than with climate change and water. As our warming planet spawns more frequent and deeper droughts fresh water supplies are becoming scarcer. Several sources predict that we will run out of clean water in the next 20 to 40 years—if we continue using more water at the same rate. South Africa will run dry by 2030.

One country that is not on the list and will likely never be on the list is Israel. In case you can’t find this tiny country on a map it’s in the middle of a desert and it is home to 8 million people.

So, what does Israel do right?

1. Israel sets the price of water equal to the actual cost. When you pay the true cost of an item you can buy it you don’t waste it and the seller will be able to make more items. Since
2. Israel separates politicians from water. Whether in the U.S. or Israel you can bet that your average politician will keep prices low to gain votes. All decisions in Israel are made by regional organizations.
3. Israel pioneered drip irrigation in 1959 and utilizes it for 75% of its crops. Drip irrigation saves as much as 60% and increases crop production by as much as 90%. The United States drip irrigates 35% of its farmland. The rest of the world averages 5%.
4. Israel recycles about 90% of its wastewater into water, Most of it goes to farms that draw on 72% of it for their water. That’s the highest in the world. Spain wins the silver medal for reusing wastewater to the tune of 17%.
5. Israel is the world leader in desalination. It’s four largest plants output a mind-boggling 360 million gallons per day. The world’s largest desalination facility is the Sorek plant just south of Tel Aviv. The company that built it, IDE Technologies, builds desalination plants around the world, including the largest such plant in the U.S. in Carlsbad, California. Desalination will provide close to 90% of Israel’s potable water by 2030.

The result of all this forward thinking is that a country constructed mostly out of desert, plagued with droughts and crammed with people produces 20% more water than it needs.  One might think that the world’s richest country (us) can replicate Israel’s success. Here, in the U.S., we are 11 trillion gallons of water short. Turf wars between jurisdictions result in the victors siphoning off the water from the losers—like Los Angeles bleeding the Owens Valley in its famous water wars. We ignore our crumbling infrastructure and lose about 2.1 trillion gallons of water every day (16%) to leaky pipes. It’s as higher than 50% in other countries. We leave our water and wastewater infrastructure up to politicians.

We don’t have to be water stressed. Israel showed us how. To read the story of Israel’s history of innovation Check out Seth Siegel’s Let There Be Water. It’s a little dated (2017) but the basic facts are the same. It’s a great story and, moreover, it proves that, when you see a country that has problems with water sufficiency, you are not seeing technical hurdles. You are looking at a failure of leadership. For a more recent update check out https://www.israel21c.org/how-israel-used-innovation-to-beat-its-water-crisis/.

Israel cannot afford to be too cocky. As I write this, I notice that Israel no longer has the surplus it did when Let There Be Water was published. The last few years has brought droughts more severe than ever experienced amidst large population growth. But I trust that good governance, a culture of innovation and necessity as the mother of innovation will keep Israel as a world leader in water security. Maybe it can lead in combatting the source of those increasing droughts—climate change. But that’s a big topic for another day.