Israeli – local pacts proposed for water, cyber security

By Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO – If you want to bring a gleam to the eyes of David Siegel, Israel’s Consul General based in Los Angeles, ask him about the prospects for high-tech cooperation in the fields of water management and cyber-security between Israel and various American cities and states.

During an interview Thursday, Nov. 12, which Siegel squeezed in between meetings with various San Diego communal leaders, including those of the Jewish Federation of San Diego County, the Consul General said that Israel’s experience developing and conserving its water supplies can be a model for drought-plagued states of the American Southwest and the basis for abiding relationships between the Jewish state and U.S. state and local governments.

He noted that a desalination plant using Israeli technology is being brought online in Carlsbad, California, and that similar plants are proposed for construction both in Huntington Beach and Santa Barbara, California.

However important desalination is, he said, it is but one program among a myriad that Israel can bring to bear on the problems of water management.  California and Israel have similar climate and topography, he said, and making certain that California has water surpluses in drought years should involve such programs as recycling, preventing leakages, developing crops that can use brackish water, drip irrigation, and ending water subsidies, among others.

While relatively little water in California is recycled, said Siegel, out of necessity Israel recycles nearly 90 percent of its water and “it will go higher.”

Told of past resistance in San Diego to recycled water—which critics have called “toilet to tap” plans—Siegel said in Israel various kinds of water lines are color coded in a network throughout the country, with one color for fresh water, another color for recycled water, and so forth.  While all such lines may go to their property, residential, industrial, commercial and agricultural water users select each time they turn on a tap what kind of water they will use, and be charged for.

Siegel said this system results in less drinking water being wasted for irrigation purposes, and more recycled water being spread by drip irrigation at public parks and medians.  He said it also provides an incentive for the development of desert aquaculture, because raising fish in recycled water is both scientific and safe.

Laying down a network of alternative water lines may be expensive, he said, but if Israel was able to do it, so too could the United Sates.

A fan of the book by Seth M. Siegel (no relation), Let There Be Water, which describes Israel’s multi-faceted approach to conserving water, Consul General Siegel suggested that one of the best ways to conserve water is to stop subsidizing the cost of its use.  Once consumers have to pay real costs, instead of artificially deflated costs, they will be far more careful about wasting it.  Water conservation in Israel is a way of life, he said.

The Consul General said that California, Colorado and Nevada are considering or have entered into economic partnerships with Israel, and so too have various cities including Los Angeles and Beverly Hills.  He said it would make sense to explore a similar relationship between San Diego and an Israeli city or region with emphasis on joint projects to encourage desalination, aquifer management, pipeline leak minimization,  water pressure management, and “smart metering,” which tells water users the water flows at various stations of their property  – all areas in which Israel has made technological strides.

How these partnerships could be structured would depend on the localities themselves.  For example, he said, Los Angeles and Eilat, which have a sister city relationship, have a joint clean technology task force.

While San Diego has numerous “sister cities,” none is in Israel. There is however, between the Jewish Federation of San Diego County and the regional council of Sha’ar Hanegev (adjacent to the Gaza border), a partnership relationship.

Water is but one example of the kinds of high tech areas where Israeli know-how may be of use to partners in the United States.  Others are cyber-security and energy, he said.  “All of these are opportunities that can be expanded upon.”

Siegel said the advantage of government to government arrangements, whether these be sister cities or some similar model, is that they involve government officials in the projects directly and can help to focus attention on such projects as infrastructure development. Furthermore, he said, specific government to government projects often can attract outside investors or philanthropy.

The fact that Israel had a water surplus is remarkable, he said, given the fact that the country has ten times the population it had in 1948, and half the rainfall, yet it is producing twice as much usable water.

In the near future, Siegel said, the Israeli Consulate and the Jewish National Fund expect to co-sponsor water conferences in both Los Angeles and San Diego.  “A cyber-security conference is coming too,” he said.

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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World.  He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com Any comments in the space below should include the writer’s full name and city and state of residence, or city and country for non-U.S. residents.

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