Israel to export $2.5B in water technologies by 2011

Israel is set to dominate the advanced water technology sector by 2011, according to a national group that's predicting $2.5 billion in exports of water technologies that year.

Israel's Novel Efficient Water Technologies, abbreviated as Israel NEWTech, is a national program promoting the Israeli water technology sector as part of the National Water Technology Program at the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor.

Israel NEWTech Director Oded Distel attributed the growth to the economic crisis. Israel is continuing to invest in advanced water technologies, while other countries are cutting back, he said.

Additionally, water shortages in Australia, the U.S. and elsewhere are creating greater demand for technologies that optimize water use, he said. 

Israel NEWTech is supporting water projects that treat wastewater and sewage for re-use, as well as advanced desalination, water security, and water management programs.

It's estimated that Israel's water industry was valued at $1.4 billion in 2008.

Israel has long sought solutions to its water shortages exacerbated by recent low rainfall and negotiations with Palestine and Syria. The country has two desalination plants operating in central and southern Israel that jointly produce 130 million cubic meters of water a year. A third desal plant with the capacity to produce 100 million cubic-meters of water is scheduled to be commissioned in the city of Hadera later this year.

More desal plants are on the horizon. In January, Israel issued a tender for its largest-ever seawater desalination plant capable of producing 150 million cubic meters (39.6 billion U.S. gallons) of water a year (see Israel plans largest desal plant in $513M deal). Israeli national water company Mekorot has plans to build a 100 million cubic meter desal plant in the southern
town of Ashdod. Mekorot supplies 80 percent of Israel's drinking water and 70 percent of its entire water supply (see Israel's Mekorot to develop water infrastructure in India).