SACRAMENTO, CA, October 27, 2014 – Last year, Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the sharing of technology and enhancing economic interests between California and Israel. As part of that historic agreement Prof. Eilon Adar, the director of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev’s Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research visited California to share technology and experience working with scarce water resources. On Monday, October 27, Prof. Adar, a world-renowned hydrologist, will tour the East Bay water facilities with California government representatives.
“As an issue of national security, Israel has successfully made itself water independent,” said California Natural Resources Agency Secretary John Laird. “With a similar climate, California is poised to benefit greatly from by Prof. Adar and researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) as we plan for ways to better manage water, particularly in times of severe drought.”
Along with California’s state and regional water experts, Prof. Adar will visit and learn more about East Bay Area water use, efficiency, and recycling efforts. Prof. Adar will get an overview of California’s water and current drought issues, learn how the Delta Diablo Water Agency is proactively addressing resource recovery opportunities and challenges on a regional scale, get a briefing on turning bio-solids to energy, and learn more about the Stanford University partnership with Delta Diablo on their Recycled Water Technology Pilot.
“If we managed to overcome our water problems in Israel, in the Middle East, it can be done almost anywhere else in the world,” Prof. Adar said. “However, “In order to improve the water management and efficiency in California, the water utility companies need to increase their coordination and cooperation on water use and treatment.”
“California’s historic drought has created a need to seek innovative solutions regarding water policy, management and technology,” said GO-Biz deputy director for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Louis Stewart. “GO-Biz and the state’s Innovation Hub (I-Hub) program serve as a conduit for water innovations coming from abroad.
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