Consisting with thriving agriculture — overcoming water scarcity
The lack of water for irrigation in southern Europe has been on the headlines lately, but the limited supply of water is not new in the Mediterranean Basin. In fact, it has been present for many years, but was overlooked, or wasn’t dealt with enough resources.
I want to share with you the way Israel has been dealing with this challenge since the 90s: The current situation in Israel is that there is no shortage of water for irrigation. If a farmer wants to plant or sow 100 or 1000 hectares — no problem. Water will stream into the pipes.
It wasn’t the situation though 30 years ago. In Israel, as on all the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea, water supply can support only a limited capacity of agriculture. The rest will have to be “rainfed”. Rainfed agriculture (except some cereals) is not economically sustainable. As a farmer of the east coast, almost anything you want to cultivate depends on a continuous water supply.
During the 90s and into the 21st century, 90 sewage treatment plants (STP) were constructed, to deal with the increase of the population and the demand for water for agricultural and home use.
The idea is simple: the state is subsidizing the construction of STPs, as well as reservoirs for treated water, the agricultural sector is paying a higher price for the water, and with this income, the state is subsidizing the construction and operation of desalination plants for drinking water. The farmers are basically subsidizing the price of water for home users (drinking water).
Now, let’s face it: this system is not sustainable. Desalination, as well as treating sewage water, is very expensive. Neither the farmers nor the private consumers are paying the actual price to cover the costs. Still, Israel understood early in the 90' that it has two bad choices to choose from: suffer enormous costs of treating the sewage water in the sea or other water bodies, or bear “only” high costs of treating the water before they reach the sea. They chose the second.
Today, 90 STPs and hundreds of reservoirs are spread all around the country, allowing farmers and private users to have access to practically any amount of water they need, even in conditions of continuous draught.
Over 90% of the waste water in Israel is treated and purified. Yes, it is more expensive than the cost of water in Europe. But on the other hand, we can irrigate as much as we need.
