Use every drop .... twice

a drop - destined to be used again somewhere

                                 

Populating Childhood 101’s playlist are cheery nursery rhymes like, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Baa Baa Black Sheep, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. But there’s also an outlier recounting how a rainy day is a bummer. 

Rain, rain, go away

Come again another day

All the family wants to play

Rain, rain, go away

But in Israel, a distant sliver of land within a vast arid landscape, the people do not ‘look out on the morning rain and feel uninspired.’ It’s not a downer  for them.

looking out at a rare day in the Negev - the southern desert

Israelis celebrate rain for it replenishes water levels in lakes, rivers, and streams. From those sources, water is skillfully directed to homes and fields. Water is life, without it there is no life, no future. 

But with annual rainfall in steady decline, a growing population, and hostile water source-sharing neighbors, rain alone cannot make the desert bloom. Nor can it sate the thirst of its citizens or the countless thousands, friend or foe, Israel currently supplies outside its meager land mass.  

the challenge

Despite the odds, waters continue to flow and make miracles in the desert. There is no alternative.

So how do they do it?

Answer - Water is viewed as a national asset and early on the country’s leaders had a vision to achieve water self sufficiency. Respect for every drop is also instilled from Day One. Consider this jingle from Israeli kids’ own Childhood 101 playlist.

'Ushavtem mayim b'sasson
mimainei hayeshua'

Joyfully shall you draw water
From the fountains of triumph
Water - water - water - water
Hey, water in joy

But R-E-S-P-E-C-T or celebration is not enough. There’s also a multi-faceted action plan. It combines innovative technologies like smartphone enabled controls and drip technology for irrigation, a continuous education campaign to reduce waste and prevent loss, waste water treatment and recycling - using every drop twice - and deep drilling in remote areas for as yet untapped aquifers. In addition, and perhaps most important, consumers pay full fare for the water they use. Eliminating subsidies results in more thoughtful use of this vital national asset.

When these efforts do not meet the need, the gap between supply and demand is removed with desalination. Waters of the Mediterranean are converted into a plentiful precious potable resource.  

Water, water everywhere, and now more than enough to drink

at the Sorek Desalination Center, thirty minutes ago this water was in the sea

Water is life. To life! Le Chaim!

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images © David Greenfield 2017