Water Management in Israel : Key Innovations and Lessons Learned for Water Scarce Countries
Despite being one of the most water scarce countries in the world, Israel has achieved water security and full cost recovery through tariffs through a series of ambitious reforms. This involved nine key innovations, namely (1) putting in place a na...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/657531504204943236/Water-management-in-Israel-key-innovations-and-lessons-learned-for-water-scarce-countries http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28097 |
| Summary: | Despite being one of the most water
scarce countries in the world, Israel has achieved water
security and full cost recovery through tariffs through a
series of ambitious reforms. This involved nine key
innovations, namely (1) putting in place a national water
conveyance system to connect all water infrastructure, (2)
reuse of treated wastewater for irrigation, (3) large-scale
desalination PPP for potable water independence, (4) using
aquifers as reservoirs, (5) interception of surface water
run-off, (6) promoting crop selectivity and importation of
virtual water, (7) efficient irrigation technologies, (8)
demand management and public communication, and (9) creating
a supporting environment for innovation. The Israeli
experience holds nine important lessons learned, which are
of major importance for other countries facing increasing
water scarcity: (1) building public awareness of the value
of water, (2) control of water allocations, (3) access to
quality data for integrated management, (4) national
conveyance water system, (5) massive infrastructure
investment must be done in parallel with institutional
reforms, (6) low price for desalinated water depends on
well-designed PPP schemes, (7) wastewater reuse is
beneficial but requires subsidies, (8) corporatization of
water utilities requires sound regulation and heavy-handed
supervision, and (9) even in a country with large resources
and strong capacity, this has been a long process and
mistakes have been made. |
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