2-7-2014 ADAPTATION: Israel is creating a water surplus using desalination - Julia Pyper, E&E reporter ClimateWire Part four of a four-part series

 

http://www.eenews.net/stories/1059994202?utm_source=Start-Up+Daily&utm_campaign=e09db66a44-2014_02_09_SUI2_9_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_fb879fad58-e09db66a44-54607145

…For the first time in its history, Israel is on track to experience a water surplus [through desalination].water may improve diplomacy with Arab

"In my opinion, it's a big future also for our neighbors," Shlomo Wald, chief scientist at the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources, said of the desalination boom in an interview. "I think Israel is willing to assist Jordan, Egypt and even the Gaza Strip ... and hopefully in the future Syria and Lebanon….Mekorot, Israel's water utility, will also sell up to 30 million cubic meters of desalinated water each year to the West Bank.

It's in Israel's interest to work with the Palestinians, "because morally it's not healthy to have a thirsty neighbor and politically it's not healthy to have a thirsty neighbor," said Eilon Adar, director of water research at Ben-Gurion University.

The Gaza Strip... is also in need of new water supplies. Today, 90 to 95 percent of Gaza's sole water source is polluted, according to UNICEF. In addition, overuse and a drastic drop in rainfall have caused wells to dry out…Yousef Abu Mayla, water expert at Al Azhar University in Gaza, said the only way to end the water crisis and realize a desalination plant in Gaza would be to set aside political differences and focus on exchanging expertise… We cannot wait for the political problems to be solved."

 

Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

 

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