[0:03]More than half of this country's land is desert. And we have a severe water shortage. Moses led us to Israel, a country that has no oil, no water, not too good soil.
[0:24]And we had to make the best out of it. Thousands of years ago, Moses had to strike a rock to get water in the desert. Well, today Israelis are taking a slightly different approach, using technology and creativity.
[0:44]In Israel, the main sources of drinking water are the Sea of Galilee and two underground aquafers. If rainfall is short, so is the nation's water supply. In 1953, Israel started building the national water carrier. A system of pipelines, canals, and reservoirs that carry water from the Sea of Galilee to the rest of Israel. So, we didn't have water. Okay, we developed water technology. One of the things that Israel has excelled in is taking what some people would see as risk factors or as curses and turning them into blessings. From the time of Balaam, the Jewish people have always been able to somehow turn the curse into a blessing. The pipelines were a good start, but Israel's fresh water supply wasn't enough to support a growing country. So Israelis started looking west to the Mediterranean.
[1:49]For thousands of years, the Mediterranean Sea was the center of the ancient world. The crossroads between Europe, Asia, and Africa. And now it's one of Israel's greatest natural resources. Israel is desalting so much of its drinking water, the majority of our drinking water's origin will be the Mediterranean Sea by the end of next year. Today, Israel produces 450 million cubic meters of drinkable water a day. Through a process called seawater reverse osmosis, water can go from the ocean to the faucet in less than 90 minutes. The Israeli technology is now used in more than 40 countries around the world. And thanks to the Mediterranean, Israel may soon have something that was once unthinkable. a water surplus. In this country, we don't have much water. Except somehow, by the end of this decade, Israel is going to become a net water exporter. Just on today's news, there was a item about how Israel is stepping up the export of water to Jordan in order to supply water for all the Syrian refugees who are fleeing into Jordan. While Israel produces drinking water from the sea, many farmers are getting water for their crops literally out of thin air.
[3:21]Ancient Israelites used stones to collect the dew every morning. Now an Israeli company is using plastic trays to do the same. The trays were developed by Talya Technologies, which means God's Dew in Hebrew. Every morning, these trays channel the dew straight into the roots of the plants. They also prevent weeds from growing between the plants and reduce water usage by up to 50%.
[3:53]Israeli farmers have always made good use of their water. But it wasn't long before they realized that in order to survive, they also needed to start reusing it. Today Israel recycles 80% of its waste water, the closest competitor is Spain with 10%. So we recycle more than eight times more water than any other country on the planet. Israelis developed a way to purify waste water using ultraviolet light. This treated water is then used to irrigate crops. If you use it for vegetables, then you would like to clean it at an extent that you can almost drink it. So it is treated to a very high degree. Today, 60% of the water that is irrigating fields in Israel is produced water and not natural water. And I'll give you an example of our farm here on the kibbutz. We grow Jojoba, and we use only sewage water, only treated waste water to irrigate our Jojoba. And this is done all over Israel. Israel may be short on fresh water, but the country's Negev desert is sitting on an underground ocean. Too salty to drink or decellinate. So Israeli settlers found a new way to use it. You cannot really fight nature. Nature will fight you back. We found out after the years that it's better to cooperate and to coordinate with what you've got. Yoav Dagan is one of a growing number of Israelis who have left the ocean to go fishing in the desert. They built fish farms using the warm salty water from underground. It's ideal for raising salt water fish like Tilapia, sea bass, and Baramundi. The place here is working without chemicals, without anything. It's very healthy, it's friendly for the environment, and it's good for us in a matter of the pocket. We are making good money and this is at the bottom line. At this kibbutz in the Negev Desert, even the fish waste is put to use. Every week, the water in these tanks is replaced and pumped underground to irrigate the nearby olive grove. The fish waste in the water makes an ideal natural fertilizer. As you can see on the side, the olives are growing around the farm, around the fish and are doing very well without any other chemicals. Only by the nutrients of the fish. Israel has taken this idea to other countries struggling with water and food shortages. We're taking African villages, teaching them how to essentially build fish farms. If you look at around Lake Victoria, the Nile perch were dying and Israelis are now going in to teach the farmers how to grow them in ponds so that you can actually continue to eat the Nile perch. Over the years, Israelis also found new ways to use less water, and as always, they started in the desert.
[7:11]Does the story of the Arava, sometimes as 20 millimeters of rain annual fall, very harsh climate. And still, thanks to drip irrigation, this became the vegetable barn of Israel. 65% of vegetable export out of Israel, mainly to Europe, is coming from the Arava. Today, even the driest parts of the desert are blooming with help from a process called drip irrigation. The idea is older than the state of Israel itself. When the first settlers came here, young people came from the city and they wanted to be farmers. And they came to Kibbutz Hatzerim and they faced many challenges. Arid land, high salinity, not enough water.
[8:07]And there was even a time when they considered moving to another place. But then Ben-Gurion came, who was a leader with a real vision, and he said, guys, if you want to move, it's okay, but further south. Not back to the north. And we stayed here, and we continued and we did some experiment. But still we were struggling. Then we met the guy who invented drip irrigation. That guy was an engineer named Simcha Blas. He got the idea for drip irrigation after seeing a tree that was larger than the others around it. After digging around the roots, he found it was being watered by a leak in an underground pipe. So this gave him the idea, but it took him some years actually until plastic was introduced, to start and and make experiments with drippers that will emit water in small drops. And this is basically drip irrigation. Blass met the farmers of Kibbutz Hatzerim, and together they started a company called Netafim, which means "Drops of Water" in Hebrew. Soon, they boosted their crop yield by 50% and used 40% less water to do it. Drip irrigation saves a lot of water. Producing more, getting more, yet not harming the environment. For almost half a century, the company has lived up to its slogan: "Grow more with less." Not just in Israel, but in 110 countries around the world. From sugarcane fields in the Philippines to tea plantations in Tanzania. You know, India is now our number one country. The results, looking at the yield increase were amazing. 50% of the farmers got an increase in yield between 25 and 50%. Another 25% of the farmers got an increase in yield of up to 75%. Netafim even designed a system that works solely on gravity for places like Peru. Where remote mountain farmers don't have electricity. The plant doesn't know the difference. The plant doesn't know that you don't have a 20,000 computer behind the dripper. And it works beautifully. Everyone is talking about water scarcity. 70% of the water that we have available in the world is used for agriculture. Now, if we save only 15% in agriculture, we can more than double the available water for drinking and sanitation. In Hebrew, we have a term which is called Tikun Olam, which is fixing the world. And this is basically what drip irrigation does. This is my personal goal and challenge.
