Israel FEWture

Leading innovators share advanced technologies to build global FEW nexus knowledge 

Israel FEWture Team Leaders: Dr. Clive Lipchin; Dr. Brian Needelman 

The state of Israel is located in the water-scarce eastern Mediterranean, which is also a hot spot of climate change. Israel has developed and implemented innovative technologies and policies in overcoming water scarcity, such as seawater desalination and wastewater treatment and reuse. Today around 70% of the country's domestic water supply is from desalination, and around 50% of its agriculture is irrigated with treated and recycled wastewater. 

Israel's Bedouin community faces many FEW infrastructure challenges. Many settlements are not connected to water, electricity, or sewage services. Therefore the Bedouin suffer from water borne diseases, lack of water for irrigation of crops, and must resort to expensive and polluting generators for electricity production. Our work is also focused on water quality testing and filtration techniques in coordination with sustainable energy generation.

Our partners in the Arava Institute have installed an off-grid wastewater treatment and reuse system using technology developed by Laguna Innovation. The Arava Institute has also begun work with the Al-Furaa Bedouin village in examining options for off-grid FEW options. Their work with the Al Furaa school network serves 3,000 Bedouin students a day. They are developing an off-grid demonstration site for FEW technologies and innovations that are suitable for the Bedouin socio-economic context, and may also be a model for communities in the developing world.

The Global FEWture Alliance has these related projects in Israel: