Manitoba, known as the “land of 100,000 lakes,” has also earned a reputation for having some of the best water conservation standards in the world, while Israel has been suffering from a drought and increased demand for water in recent years.
The plan for collaboration between the two regions originated after an 11-man Israeli delegation, led by Jewish National Fund head Efi Stenzler and Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon, spoke at the first ever Manitoba–Israel Water Symposium in August.
“I’m trying to create a situation where people think of the Manitoba–Israel partnership as natural,” said Manitoba Water Stewardship Minister Christine Melnick when announcing plans for the event, according to The Canadian Jewish News.
Following the symposium, Melnick announced that she would send Manitoba’s experts to teach Israel about conservation and, in return, Israeli experts would teach Manitobans about purifying polluted water.
Furthermore, Melnick has allotted $250,000 a year in scholarships that are to bring Manitoban students to Israel to study water engineering and purification. “These important new scholarships will support scholarly development in a range of areas including nanotechnology, water conservation and water reuse,” Melnick said to The Jerusalem Post
Background: Israel’s Water Problem
As the Times reports, Israel has long been considered at the forefront of water efficiency and purification techniques in agriculture—modern drip irrigation was invented in the country—but irrigation technology is of little help when the water is not there to begin with.
The Daily Telegraph reported in late August that the waters of the Sea of Galilee, the freshwater lake which supplies much of Israel with drinking and irrigation water, were at their lowest level on record, due to drought and demand from both homeowners and farmers.
“We just don’t have enough water,” said Roni Kedar, an Israeli farmer who grows grapes, apples, flowers and berries, to The New York Times. “It’s frustrating because you work hard to make it grow. The point is to be big and efficient enough to survive. But right now it’s hard.”