South Africa could solve its drought problems through recycling sewage and waste water, Professor Elion Adar of Israel’s Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research told a Hortgro symposium in Somerset West.
According to Adar, a solution for the Western Cape’s water woes could be close at hand if the relevant authorities started thinking differently about storing and using water.
Israel, he said, recycled 86% of sewage and waste water, 68% of which was used for agricultural irrigation.
Had it not been for its water austerity, where the average citizen was restricted to about 20% of the water used annually by people elsewhere in the world, Israel would not be able to meet its water requirements, Adar said.
Representing a think tank that is located at the Ben Gurion University in the Negev desert capital of Beersheba, an area known for its extreme heat and low rainfall figures, Adar called for a change in thinking from politicians and farmers alike.
“It has to be accepted”, he said, “that the planet has too little water, as well as too little water of a good quality.”
He added that Israel, with some 55% of its entire territory made up by the Negev, had been forced to figure out clever ways to store and use water, such as the direct exposure of plant and crop roots to the exact amount of water they required.