1. Ambassador Dainel Carmon
W
ater has been the source of life since the
dawn of time. As our world develops
rapidly, today many countries are facing
immense challenges in the field of water as many
regions slowly become water scarce.
Until a few years ago, Israel was no different.
During the first decade of the 21st century, Israel
suffered from one of the harshest droughts in
West Asia's history and from an acute shortage of
water.
Across the country, Israelis were told to cut
their shower time by two minutes. Washing cars
with hoses was outlawed and those few wealthy
enough to absorb the cost of maintaining a lawn
were permitted to water it only at night. Some
farmers had to uproot many trees and plants
since they could not provide
enough water for them. Israelis
were not far from the moment
someone would open a tap
somewhere in the country and no
water would come out.
Public awareness campaigns
were put in place and extreme
measures were taken by the
government to save water but also,
and more importantly - to invest in
Israel's water future.
Due to comprehensive measures
and steps that were taken since
2007, Israelis no longer fear of any
water shortage despite country's
population growth and continuous
decline of rainfall in a country that
half of it is desert.
A number of desalination plants have been set
up that today provide more than 75% of the
domestic consumption in Israel. At the same
time, Israel has become the world leader in
recycling and reusing waste water for agriculture.
It treats 86% of its domestic waste water and
recycles it for agricultural use - about 55% of the
total water used for agriculture.
Israeli farmers have been
implementing advance irrigation
methods for many years, most
famous is 'Drip Irrigation' that
saves water and fertilizer by
allowing water to drip slowly
to the roots of many different
plants by using a network of
valves, pipes, tubing, and
emitters.
Other technologies, such as
advanced urban water
systems, aimed at minimised loss of water
within urban water systems, can bring
considerable saving of water in every
metropolitan city around the world.
Israel has proven itself to be a reliable partner
for India in a number of fields including defence,
agriculture and food security. It is time for us to
take this cooperation one step further and to
expand it to another field that directly affects
each and every one of us. Water has been
identified by the leadership in both India and in
Israel as the 'Next Big Thing' that the two nations
can and should collaborate.
Recently, a number of Israeli and Indian water
delegations from the private and the public sector
have conducted visits both in India and in Israel
to learn about the water challenges India is facing
and to be able to suggest relevant solutions for
these challenges.
As former head of MASHAV, Israel's Agency for
International Development Cooperation and as
former Deputy Permanent Representative of
Israel to the United Nations, I am personally
familiar with the importance of water for
sustainable development in every country and
the measures and programmes of the
international community and international
organisations in order to ensure better access for
clean water all over the world. In this regard,
Israel and India are "in the same boat" and are
required to take further actions to ensure
continuous quality water supply to rapidly
developing economies.
India Water Week, taking place between April 4
and 8, provides the perfect platform for relevant
stakeholders from India and around the world to
participate and share their experience in targeting
and overcoming water challenges. Israel is
excited to take part in the event as 'Country
Partner' and will be represented in the event by
Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Uri
Ariel.
Water, like energy, is not a renewable
resource. Nevertheless, countless advanced
technologies enable us today to use this
invaluable resource smartly and efficiently, reuse
and recycle it and even create it through sea
water desalination. The challenge of water is
global and will become bigger as population and
economies continue to grow all over the world.
Only through a joint effort and collaboration
between countries will we be able to achieve
'Water Security' and make sure each and
everyone of us maintains the right of access to
clean water for generations to come.
CONSUMER CONNECT INITIATIVE
Desalination, in recent few years, has
emerged as an efficient technology that
is capable of removing salts, minerals
from both saline and brackish water and
making it suitable for human
consumption. Couple of reports released
earlier have indicated that India has
installed more than 190 desalination
plants by 2013 and the desalination
market has been growing progressively
at a CAGR above 15 per cent over the
last five-year period which recorded
revenues to the tune of USD 0.52 billion
in 2013.
"One of the reasons for the growth of
the market is that the capital and
operating cost for desalination have
tended to decrease over the years
significantly. Even though energy prices
have increased, the desalting cost has
been decreasing due to various factors
like decrease in membrane cost,
increase in recoveries, increase in
process efficiencies and new innovative
business models and finance
structures."
Sanjeev Sharma,
Head of Marketing (India) at IDE
Technologies
Challenges of water use efficiency in
agriculture cannot be addressed
without collective and integrated efforts
of all the stakeholders in the value chain
- policy makers, researchers and
members from public and private
sectors. India continues to be one of
the countries with low penetration of
drip irrigation technology, despite of its
proven and sustainable benefits.
"We congratulate Ministry of
Agriculture & Ministry of Water
Resources for creating collaborative
platform that not only synergises the
capabilities of multiple stakeholders but
also enables to generate and effectively
implement strategies to address
productivity challenges in agriculture."
Randhir Chauhan,
Managing Director,
Netafim India
EXPERT SPEAK
Collaboration will help tackle water issues
India Water Week provides the perfect platform for relevant stakeholders from India and around the
world to participate and share their experiences in targeting and overcoming water challenges
Anumber
of desalination
plants have been set up
that today provide more than
75% of the domestic consumption
in Israel. At the same time, Israel
has become the world leader in
recycling and reusing waste
water for agriculture. It
treats 86% of its domestic
waste water and recycles
it for agricultural use —
about 55% of the total
water used for
agriculture
Israel is the 'Country
Partner' and will be
represented in the
event byAgriculture
and Rural Development
Minister UriAriel
India Water Week was inaugurated yesterday
THE ECONOMIC TIMES, NEW DELHI, TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2016
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