Four years of drought in California have created a serious water crisis. 2014 was the third driest year in 119 years and was also the warmest year in recorded history. California’s Sierra snowpack, which provides a third of the state’s water, is at its lowest level in 65 years.
One place that has a great deal of expertise in dealing with meager water supplies is Israel. Two-thirds of that country is arid, so Israel has been a leader in water conservation from early on. The country invented drip irrigation in the 1960s and has been an innovator in desalination of seawater. In fact, about 40% of Israel’s tap water is desalinated seawater, a figure that is steadily growing.
With expertise provided by Israel Desalination Enterprises (IDE Technologies), there is now a $1 billion desalination plant being constructed in California’s San Diego County. When completed next year, it will be the largest seawater desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere, providing Californians with 54 million gallons of water a day. This is enough to provide clean water for 300,000 people and generate $50 million a year for the local economy.
The plant uses reverse-osmosis technology, which has been criticized for its cost in both dollars and energy. But IDE Technologies says that its production costs and energy needs are the industry’s lowest and compete well with other water purification methods.
With its traditional water sources at increasing risk, California is likely to be looking more and more to the ocean, the one water source that is not going to be depleted.
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How Israeli Desalination Technology Is Helping Solve California’s Devastating Drought
Photo, posted July 26, 2012, courtesy of U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv via Flickr.
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Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.