Israel’s drought-busters just keep on coming.
Another delegation from Israeli water companies visited California last week, meeting with state officials and corporations to propose solutions to the drought, now in its fourth year. It was the latest in a series of consultations and symposiums highlighting Israeli water expertise and its potential to help California.
The delegation included representatives from bio-security firm Atlantium Technologies, water filtration specialists Amiad and Triple-T wastewater treatment.
The experts on water purification and management met with companies such as Leprino Foods, Costco, Coca-Cola and Anheuser-Busch, plus water entities in Los Angeles and San Francisco. In addition, they met with officials from California’s Department of Water, the Department of Agriculture and the governor’s office.
“People look to Israel,” said Amiad Filtration Systems’ Jeff Kaminski, who is based in Orange County. “Israel does the best job in the world, hands down, in recycling their water supply, and everyone knows it.”
Kaminski said the delegation’s meetings with Coca-Cola and Anheuser-Busch were productive, given the high volume of water used daily by both beverage companies.
“Currently, the primary option [in California] is conservation,” he said, “but when we have conserved all we can and we still have a drought, we need to look to recycling technology.”
Israel’s Economic Mission to the West Coast, headed up by S.F.-based consul Gili Ovadia, helped arrange the visit. Two Israel government programs that promote water and renewable energy technologies also helped.
“There is a strong desire and willingness to adopt the technologies and practices of Israel,” Ovadia said, “and we are here in order to help Israeli companies and open for them the door to business cooperation in the area.”
As part of the increasing cooperation in the water sector between Israel and California, a senior delegation from the state will visit Tel Aviv in October for the three-day WATEC exhibition.
Last week’s visit followed a symposium held June 11 in Sacramento. “Israel Water Technology: Opportunities for California” featured several Israeli water experts touting Israel’s multi-pronged approach to water policy, including wastewater recycling, desalinization and conservation.
Several representatives from the state Legislature attended that event, indicating the importance government places on guidance and advice from Israel. One of the speakers was Eilon Adar, director of the Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. His bottom line was that unlike California, Israel treats water as a national commodity, like oil or gas.
“In my country, when I buy a unit of water [for] my house, I pay for the water as a commodity,” he told conference attendees. “I pay for the transmission, and I pay for the treatment of the water released later on from my house. And this, I think, is the key to success.”
In Israel, a centralized water distribution system treats the water coming from homes and farms and diverts it back to the National Water Company, which is responsible for sending it throughout the country when it is safe to be used.
Another symposium, “California Water Crisis: Learn from Israel and Take Action,” will take place 6 p.m. Aug. 23 at Burlingame’s Peninsula Temple Sholom.
Sponsored by such organizations as AIPAC, the Jewish National Fund and the Jewish Community Relations Council, it will feature a panel of experts, including Adar. For more information, visit www.prideinourpeople.com or call (650) 999-0343.
For more on how Israel is helping California, see page 9. For letters about Israel’s water policy, see page 22.
Sharon Udasin of the Jerusalem Post and Dan Pine of J. contributed to this report.