Why in news?
The Indo-Israeli partnership is likely to extend to areas like water and agriculture.
What are the facts related to water?
- India is water stressed. The country’s annual per capita availability of water is less than 1,500 cubic meters (cu.m) and that scenario is likely to worsen.
- Currently, about 78% of fresh water in India is used for agriculture.
- Israel has per capita water availability of less than 200 cu.m.
- It is an extremely water scarce region. Yet, the country exports high-value agri-produce to Europe and many other parts of the world.
- The country is known for innovations in water management - be it drip irrigation, recycling of urban wastewater for use in agriculture or desalinisation of seawater for drinking purposes.
How water is governed in Israel?
- As per Israel’s water law, all water in the country is common property resource.
- The government does accounting for every drop of water, ensuring good water governance.
- As a result, in 2013, of the total water available in Israel almost 16% came from desalinating seawater and another 22% came from recycling wastewater.
- Almost 62% of the irrigation water used in Israel comes from recycled and brackish water, thus saving potable water for domestic use.
Whether the micro-irrigation concepts are new to India?
- Micro-irrigation technologies such as drip irrigation and sprinklers are not new to India.
- India has about nine million hectares under micro-irrigation.
- It can scale this up several times. But it needs to do so quickly.
- Israel can offer lessons to India in this respect.
- Any scaling up of technologies needs the right policy environment.
- Water is not a free good. It needs to be priced to reflect its scarcity.
- Such recycling endeavours with proper treatment that make wastewater safe have relevance in India.
- India does have the technology for this purpose.
Where else India can cooperate with Israel?
- Another area of potential cooperation is cleaning polluted rivers.
- As per government reports, between 2009 and 2015, the number of polluted rivers and river stretches in India has almost doubled.
- Almost 63% of the total sewage generated in the country is discharged into water bodies without any treatment resulting in acute river pollution.
- Recently, the Delhi Government has roped in the Israeli firm to clean up an eight km stretch of the Yamuna.
What is the way ahead?
- India needs an integrated approach to solving India’s emerging water crisis, involving different kind of interactions between Indians and Israeli agencies.
Source: The Indian Express
