Israeli water experts find fertile ground in Tshwane

On one of the coldest days in Tshwane’s recent history, a group of local matriculants from Mamelodi were captivated by two visiting Israeli water experts at the Jewish National Fund (JNF) Walter Sisulu Environmental Centre in Tshwane.

“You are the next leaders of South Africa,” said Yechezkel Lifshitz, the director-general and chairperson of the board of the Governmental Authority for Water and Sewage in Israel. “Your country is 600 times bigger than Israel, but we face similar water scarcity.”

Lifshitz and Dr Yehonatan Bar-Yosef, project manager: water quality management and ecology at the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (KKL-JNF), addressed pupils from the Phateng Comprehensive School about the importance of saving water now and for generations to come.

“In Israel, we educate children from a young age about how to save water because we don’t have enough,” said Lifshitz, who is responsible for the management of Israel’s water resources. The country is a world leader in water technology and management.

“This education is passed down and continued so that every generation knows about the vital importance of saving water,” he said.

“It starts with you, the future leaders,” he said, encouraging the students to use the educational resources offered at the JNF centre to pass on their knowledge to their families and wider communities.

Bar-Yosef, an expert of ecosystem rehabilitation and water-pollution detection, spoke about necessity being the mother of invention and innovation.

In Israel’s case, where there’s little rain and much water scarcity, he said, “It’s not about miracles or anything rare, it’s about the will of the people and the need. We share the same needs, the need for water, food, security. Need is the mother of innovation. When you really need something and you have scarcity of water, you have to solve the problem.” Inspiring the pupils, who like him “grew up in a small, rural village”, he said they, too, could study further to innovate, invent, and create efforts to meet the country’s water needs and solve its current problems.

The pair’s whistlestop visit to the country was made possible by a strategic partnership between the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF), JNF-SA, the Israeli Embassy in South Africa, and it was supported by KKL-JNF.

It couldn’t have been better timed. Rand Water this week cut supply to several feeder reservoirs, affecting scores of suburbs across Johannesburg, and a mere 50-odd kilometres away, the residents of Hammanskraal continue to grapple with water contaminated with cholera bacteria.

The high-level experts met Tshwane Executive Mayor Cilliers Brink on 10 July, who welcomed their input on water governance during a seminar on water security and sustainability hosted by the City of Tshwane attended by the Israeli Ambassador Eli Belotsercovsky.

“Water security and stable water supply are very important to us, especially with the ongoing water supply challenges of Rand Water affecting many parts of Tshwane,” said Brink.

He said central to the city’s climate action plan, it had committed itself to providing clean, potable water to all residents and had “intentionally partnered” with various stakeholders to learn about best practice to reach this goal.

“Israel has excelled in water management and security, and is a world leader in using recycling municipal water. While largely arid, the country has found ways to become completely water sovereign, and this has been the backbone of its extraordinary growth,” Brink said.

“Today’s seminar reflected on Israel’s systems to manage water leaks and treat sewage for agricultural use.”

He said the seminar came at a critical time due to severe problems faced by Rand Water, which supplies Tshwane with more than 70% of its water.

“The City of Tshwane welcomes this collaboration with the embassy of Israel and other stakeholders to explore new technologies and water governance and conservation systems,” said Brink.

JNF South Africa Chairperson Michael Kransdorff told the SA Jewish Report, “The JNF, through our environmental centre in Mamelodi, has had a long partnership with the City of Tshwane. We have identified water as one of the key challenges facing the city, as seen by the cholera outbreak and failing water infrastructure, which is extremely serious, even life threatening. Fortunately, Israel is the world leader in water management, and we’re committed to help share this knowledge and expertise with the people of Tshwane.

“The Israeli water delegation’s visit to South Africa reaffirms the need for South Africa to strengthen its ties to Israel, which remains a dedicated partner for development in our country and across the continent. To date, Israeli technology and innovation has given more than half a million South Africans access to water. We hope to expand this in the future through partnerships like these.”

Rowan Polovin, the national chairperson of the SAZF, said, “South Africans suffer when the government refuses to treat Israel and the Palestinian Authority as separate and distinct entities, and this focus only on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict prevents life-changing and often low-cost Israeli water solutions from reaching poor and deprived areas around South Africa. The United Arab Emirates, India, China, and others have adopted a more pragmatic, de-hyphenated approach between Israel and the Palestinians, which allows them to have separate relations with both and benefit from Israeli solutions in technology, agriculture, health, and water.”

In addition to the Tshwane seminar, the delegation spent the week meeting officials and municipalities in other regions of South Africa, including KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape, to share knowledge on water infrastructure, agriculture, and wastewater treatment, and advise on various aspects of water technology, innovation, and management.

They participated in a water conference attended by the Spanish, Belgian, and Italian chambers of commerce which addressed water and infrastructure challenges, sharing knowledge on water security and sustainability.

The delegation’s visit follows the donation of water filtration kits to communities in Hammanskraal last week by the SAZF and JNF-SA, together with partnering organisations. JNF-SA, through its Walter Sisulu Environmental Centre in Mamelodi, has for almost 20 years been promoting sustainable solutions for climate change in the City of Tshwane.

The Israelis planted an olive tree on the grounds of the Mamelodi centre symbolising growth, peace, and hope for future collaboration between South African and Israeli expertise.