Although 70 percent of the Earth is covered by water, only 3 percent of it is fresh water. What’s even more difficult is that most of it is at the poles or below the Earth’s surface. Population growth, economic development and new water-demanding lifestyles are exacerbating the situation.
Note that this problem is not new. Drought has been a constant source of danger for mankind. However, in recent years, the shortage of water has become more acute and persistent. Without going into too much detail, suffice it to say that droughts have increased by almost 30 percent since the start of the new millennium, affecting 1.4 billion people, according to United Nations estimates.
When we talk about eliminating water scarcity, we should pay attention to the only country that has managed to reduce the area of desert areas in the last 50 years – Israel.
Israel’s innovative methods for sustainable management of water resources and irrigation systems are now being used in China and more than 100 developing countries around the world. Thanks to modern technology, Israel has ceased to be a water-dependent state in the last few years, fully meets its needs and even supplies the Palestinians with water.
Today, only half of the water consumed by Israelis comes from natural sources, and the other half is provided artificially – through recycling and desalination. Israel is a leader in the production of fresh water from sea water.
In recent years, four desalination plants have been built here, and the fifth one is being prepared for operation. These measures were in response to the prolonged drought that ravaged Israel in the mid-2000s.
Sorek, the largest and most modern desalination plant in the world, is located on the Mediterranean coast – fifteen kilometers south of Tel Aviv – and covers about six football fields. This enterprise is the largest and most advanced company of its kind in the world. Its facilities produce 624,000 cubic meters of desalinated water per day, and the cost is one of the lowest in the world.