Water Management in Israel : Key Innovations and Lessons Learned for Water Scarce Countries

Marin, Philippe ; Tal, Shimon ; Yeres, Joshua ; Ringskog, Klas B.

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: WATER SCARCITY;    SANITATION;    ISRAEL WATER MANAGEMENT;    PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS;    WATER REFORMS;   

RP-ID  :  119309

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Despite being one of the most waterscarce countries in the world, Israel has achieved watersecurity and full cost recovery through tariffs through aseries of ambitious reforms. This involved nine keyinnovations, namely (1) putting in place a national waterconveyance system to connect all water infrastructure, (2)reuse of treated wastewater for irrigation, (3) large-scaledesalination PPP for potable water independence, (4) usingaquifers as reservoirs, (5) interception of surface waterrun-off, (6) promoting crop selectivity and importation ofvirtual water, (7) efficient irrigation technologies, (8)demand management and public communication, and (9) creatinga supporting environment for innovation. The Israeliexperience holds nine important lessons learned, which areof major importance for other countries facing increasingwater scarcity: (1) building public awareness of the valueof water, (2) control of water allocations, (3) access toquality data for integrated management, (4) nationalconveyance water system, (5) massive infrastructureinvestment must be done in parallel with institutionalreforms, (6) low price for desalinated water depends onwell-designed PPP schemes, (7) wastewater reuse isbeneficial but requires subsidies, (8) corporatization ofwater utilities requires sound regulation and heavy-handedsupervision, and (9) even in a country with large resourcesand strong capacity, this has been a long process andmistakes have been made.