opinions & letters
BY ALINA CLOUGH
T American West Should Look to
Israel for Climate Solutions
he American West is learning climate lessons
the hard way. This summer especially,
droughts have required the federal government
to settle disputes over water shortages between
states, signaling rising tensions in U.S. water policy.

While these challenges are uncharted territory
for the U.S., time-tested solutions from other
countries may be closer than they seem. Israel,
in particular, having weathered extremely tight
water margins for years, is several steps ahead
in climate innovation. We should look to it for
inspiration. Despite 71% of the earth being covered in water,
just half a percent is drinkable fresh water. For this
reason, the Colorado River is a lifeline for more
than 40 million people across seven U.S. states
and even parts of Mexico — but the reservoir that
feeds it has dropped to only 25% of its capacity.

California has been experiencing a similar decline
in freshwater availability. Its drought is worsening,
despite some areas conserving water at record
levels. Government officials responded to this prob-
lem by imposing strict rations on water usage
and, in some cases, long-term policy actions like
the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act,
which requires local agencies to adopt sustain-
ability plans to stop groundwater depletion. While
necessary, these measures are emergency care,
not a cure. Many of the areas affected by this sum-
mer’s droughts are on track to literally run out of
water or already have.

Current policy focuses heavily on the demand
for water, encouraging households and farms to
restrict their use. Still, these policies fail to elicit
long-term change because the base levels of
water needed to support humans and the food
they eat aren’t sustainable without supply-side
interventions. This brings us to Israel. The tiny country sur-
rounded by deserts only sees rain in the win-
ter and has limited sources of freshwater. With
a growing population and a strong agricultural
industry, Israel’s need for water has long out-
grown its conventional supply — as is the case in
much of the American West. As recently as 2015,
Israel had a one billion cubic meter potable water
deficit. Now? It produces 20% more water than it
needs. In addition to regulations intended to optimize
its use of groundwater, much of the country’s
focus has been on increasing the supply of water
Israel, in particular,
having weathered
extremely tight water
margins for years, is
several steps ahead in
climate innovation. We
should look to it for
inspiration. by less conventional means. In a typical year, half
of Israel’s water supply comes from the desalina-
tion of seawater or from reclaimed water via flood
overflow and sewage processing.

The American impulse may be to begin large-
scale government projects to mimic these efforts,
but many government projects become more
expensive and longer-lasting than planned.

Crucial to Israel’s success has been a climate
innovation ecosystem that helps create solutions
driven by market incentives rather than tax dol-
lars. Israel is ahead of the curve on this issue, as
a recent report by the Boston Consulting Group
found that government investment in clean tech
alone is not enough to curb climate change.

Private investment will need to multiply eightfold.

One of the innovations developed by Israel is its
use of drip irrigation, which reduces agricultural
water usage by placing water directly onto the
roots of plants. U.S. water usage is dominated
by agriculture, and Israel used to be in the same
boat. Since 2000, however, Israel has cut agri-
cultural water usage in half by using both drip
irrigation and reclaimed sewage water. Seventy-
five percent of Israeli agriculture now uses drip
irrigation, compared with only about a third of
U.S. farms.

Similarly, desalination has been crucial to
Israel’s water efficiency, allowing the country
to use reverse osmosis to turn water from the
Mediterranean Sea into potable water. The Israeli
government has relied on public-private partner-
ships with a wide range of private water com-
panies that have driven the country’s success in
the production of clean water. This water is then
employed both for domestic use and billions of
dollars in exports. Rather than the state taking
control of these projects the way many American
initiatives reflexively begin, companies bid to pro-
vide the most competitive solutions.

Israeli government support facilitates these
privately-developed climate innovations. Earlier
this month, the Israeli government announced a
partnership with Microsoft that will help climate
tech startups attract private funding, including
from the tech giant itself. The Israel Innovation
Authority similarly provides proof of concept for
even earlier stage climate tech, particularly in the
fields of commercialization support and access to
private capital for research and development.

Israel is far from solving every climate chal-
lenge, even in its home country. The Dead Sea
has been suffering, due in part to Israeli water
use in the area, with its levels now dropping
more than a meter each year. Still, the country’s
rapid turnarounds from droughts and water short-
ages through market-focused climate innovation
should be an optimistic case study for a rapidly
drying American West. JE
Alina Clough is an energy and environment fellow
with the American Conservation Coalition and
Young Voices.

letters Headline Misled
The headline for the comments of Rabbi Boteach
(“Rabbi Shmuley Boteach Says Mehmet Oz’s
Senate Run Is ‘Tragedy for the Jewish People,’”
Sept. 29) indicates the Exponent’s support for the
Democrats’ “destroy the opponent” campaign. It
is also poor journalism. Nothing in the comments
supports the headline that Dr. Oz is a “tragedy for
the Jewish people.”
I am an 80-year-old Jewish senior citizen. Since
the Democrats have come to power, we have high
inflation, a recession, the stock market tanking
and high incidents of crime. The Democrats can’t
run on their failures. They have to resort to the
“destroy the opponent” campaign. I will not be
fooled. This article is just an example of campaigning
by personal destruction, and I will not be diverted
from the issues that matter. JE
Myron Goldman, Cheltenham
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