So far, we have discussed the water crisis on the global and national levels. This post will examine the water situation in a country where programs successfully alleviated the national water crisis.
Israel’s water supply comes mostly from the Sea of Galilee, the primary source, and aquifers, which provide 1150 million cubic meters of water annually. Before the recent water crisis, Israel could rely on precipitation to supply its water. However, with increasing population, rising temperatures, and lack of precipitation, Israel was forced to re-evaluate its water policies.
In recent years, rain has decreased by 4-8%, which is approximately 600 million cubic meters of water. The lack of rain water, along with increased use, is causing water reservoirs to become salty and polluted. Further, if the water level of the Sea of Galilee falls below 215 meters, experts are worried that it will also become salty. This is because the pressure of the water prevents salt water springs, located under the sea, from releasing salt water. Additionally, sewage in the Judean Mountains and in Samaria damaged the mountain aquifer. (http://www.israelweather.co.il/).
Reverse Osmosis Desalination
http://www.mersen.com/
Although the problem could not be fixed overnight, policies and programs were created to conserve and increase water resources. In the 1980s, thousands of wells were drilled in an attempt to increase the water supply. However, excessive use caused much of the water to turn salty. Another method used to increase water supply is desalination, which began in 2000. Desalination involves removing salt and minerals from sea water, briny water, or waste water. The resulting water is used mostly as drinking water, although it is described as tasteless. The main problem with desalination is that is a very expensive and does not provide enough water to completely fix the problem. As of 2005, desalination provided less than 2% of all water used in Israel.
Thermal Desalination
http://www.mersen.com
The Government’s master plan involved building desalination plants, fixing unusable wells, and importing water from Turkey. It determined that the most reliable and least expensive method to solve the problem is water conservation, both in the domestic and agricultural sectors. Public water conservation campaigns were designed to increase awareness of water scarcity and reduce overall consumption. This is accomplished by encouraging citizens to save water and by improving efficiency and water management. In the agricultural sector, new irrigation systems have increased efficiency from 64 to 90% and have decreased water requirements from 8,700cum/ha in 1975 to 5,500cum/ha today. Furthermore, agricultural output has increased twelve fold, while total water consumption has remained almost constant. (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/).
On February 4, 2013, Israel’s Water Authority officially acknowledged the end of the national water crisis. This is a result of this year’s heavy winter rains and snow, along with increased desalination efforts and conservatory behavior on the part of the public. These efforts increased the water level of the Sea of Galilee to almost full capacity. Israel’s success in ending the national water crisis is remarkable and should be considered when creating policies to end water crises in other parts of the world. (http://www.israeltoday.co.il).
Do you believe that the methods used by Israel could be applied to the situations in the United States and in other parts of the world? Which methods wouldn’t work and what is your reasoning? After examining the success of Israel, is there hope that one day we will be able to end the global water crisis? What methods would be most successful and how could we implement them on national and global levels?
Works Consulted:
http://www.israelweather.co.il/english/page2.asp?topic_id=70&topic2_id=79&sub_topic_id=1
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/scarcity.html
http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23658/Default.aspx
People have discussed the promise of desalination technology for a long time, and it is an example of how technological innovation addresses a need and makes a group of people more sustainable. Their approach to lacking pure water is admirable given the geopolitical climate. They did not try to rely on neighboring supplies because, simply, they could not. Israel’s constraints forced advances in technology, in turn making it a role model for others. The primary issue I see with applying Israel’s model to the US is the scale. One wonders if the effectiveness of the model will be lessened too much if it is applied to a much larger problem (as would be the case with Western American communities).
Finally with this specific success story, it’s worth noting that desalination innovation in Israel could have profoundly positive diplomatic effects long term. If water supply becomes a commodity over which wars are fought in the future, the Middle East may be one less flash point — perhaps a glimmering hope for Arab-Israeli peace.
Its actually incredible hearing how much change one country can have on such a huge water crisis. However, unfortunately I don’t believe that it can be translated to larger communities. Israel has 2.47% of the population of the United States. To put it into perspective, the population of Israel is slightly greater than the population of Massachusetts. And because of that I don’t think that it is feasible to do here in the United States. On top of that, the cost of this program must be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. This is a price tag that many countries around the world just can not afford and therefore I can’t see it being successful in many other places.
With all of that being said I believe that the determination to find alternative solutions for water shortages is a spirit that can be shared with countries and people around the world. While not every country has the capacity or resources to use the technology that Israel is currently employing, there is always a way to improve and prevent more people from going hungry.
The success that Israel has had in water conservation is quite impressive, however, I don’t believe this type of program could be as effective in many other countries, especially large ones such as the United States. For one, Israel is approximately the size of New Jersey, which means it has a much small space and population to deal with in terms of conservation efforts. Another aspect that influence’s Israel’s dynamic is the fact that it is a relatively new country, and therefore change and innovation is more ingrained in the lives of Israeli citizens as Israel has needed to constantly change in order to survive.
If a large country could decrease it’s consumption the same way that Israel has, that would be great. But the structure and legislation would have to be different.