HOPE IN A DROUGHT
tors, and to share some of the best practices and
innovations that work in Israel. Guests from across
Southern Africa were invited to have a dialogue on
lessons that can perhaps be learned from Israel.
pioneered drip irrigation around the world,” explains
Gaby Levanon, SADC Area Manager at Netafim. “Drip
irrigation is a method that produces better crops by
accurate, pinpoint irrigation. At the same time because
of low flows and lower pressure it uses less energy than
conventional systems and uses less water because it
doesn’t spray the water through the air so it uses 20-25%
less water than conventional sprinkler systems. The
water goes straight to the roots where the plant needs
it.”
“Israel treats water as a precious resource,” says
Ambassador Lenk. “At the moment, South Africa treats
electricity as a more important resource. However, there
is an awareness that is being created and it is starting to
get to a point that South Africans will be regarding water
in a more vital light. The idea of these conferences was to
get a conversation going between South Africa and Israel
that was about something positive and meaningful that
didn’t involve Middle East politics. Israel can be of great
use and help to South Africa in this area.”
Their clients who have benefited from their products
range from large, commercial farmers to small scale
community farmers. “Because of the drought we have
seen an increase in the need for our products among
community farmers,” explains Levanon. “We also assist
community farms by doing some of these projects on
a non-profit, cost basis to support local and emerging
communities.”
IMPLEMENTING ISRAELI INNOVATION
As one of the global leaders in water conservation, Israeli
innovators have created numerous technologies that can
be implemented in South Africa to conserve water.
One of these Israeli products being offered in South Africa is P2W
(Pollution to Water) that essentially cleans acid mine water. As a
country that is heavily steeped in mining, the high volume of water
being polluted due to mining is of great concern. “P2W is an amazing
technology that is able efficient, cost-effective and environmentallyfriendly in removing acid waste from water and converting it into
clean water,” explains CEO of Focus Products, Leon Klugman, and
provider of P2W in South Africa. “The technology uses no membrane or chemical treatment to achieve clean water, which although
not drinkable, can be reused by the mine for irrigation or other mining processes. It is a massive waste that mines are using fresh, clean
water that could be used for human or animal consumption when
they should rather be using the same recycled, clean water
repeatedly.”
Another Israeli technology being initiated into South
Africa by Klugman is Treatec21. “73% of sewerage
systems in South Africa are in trouble and are on the
verge of collapse,” says Klugman. “Instead of rebuilding
all of these systems, this movable technology that is about
the size of a container, can be brought onto site to clean
up to