JERUSALEM — This week, some 20 water scientists, half of them from Israel and half from Manitoba, are touring Israel’s key water sites as part of the second Manitoba-Israel Water Symposium, hosted by the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael – The Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF).
Over the course of their six-day trip, the group of Manitoban and Israeli researchers and policy-makers are scheduled to visit the Mekorot National Pumping Station, the water recycling and allocation site at Kibbutz Dafna, the Hula Valley, Lake Kinneret, and the rehabilitation project at the Alexander River.
The aim of the tour is to deepen Manitoba delegation members’ understanding of the issues facing Israel and the innovations that have emerged to combat these challenges, as well as to boost international co-operation between the province and the state on mutual water issues.
“We have been focusing mostly on the water issues that are common to both Israel and Manitoba, in order to promote mutually beneficial research projects,” said Prof. Avi Gafni, the symposium’s co-ordinator from the KKL-JNF. “We hope to strengthen the tie between Manitoba and us, so that both of us – in Canada and in Israel – will benefit from our research findings.”
According to Gafni, despite vast differences in climate and scale, the province and state face many of the same water issues, including problems involving the reconstruction and maintenance of watersheds and wetlands. Both could benefit from research on water-resource treatment, conservation and management and water quality. They could also benefit from research on wetland/watershed-related issues such as the impact of overpumping, water level, fishing on freshwater sources, and factors affecting water source’s resilience capacity.
“Whether you have a lot of water or a limited amount, you still have to steward it and protect it,” said Manitoban Minister of Water Stewardship Christine Melnick, who initiated the first Water Experts Symposium in Manitoba in August 2008. That event was attended by Israel’s minister of agriculture and rural development, Shalom Simhon, and Efi Stenzler, the world president of Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (KKL-JNF).
Having coped with decades of water shortage, Israel has engineered unparalleled solutions for dealing with water issues. “Why reinvent the wheel when there is this world expert with such tremendous experience?” Melnick said.
“For many of the [Manitoban] scientists participating this year, this trip is their first to Israel. They are astounded at how Israelis have made the desert bloom in so many ways. One of the scientists told me that coming here has been like being projected into the future. The country is so incredibly innovative when it comes to water.”
Dwight Williamson, one of the participating scientists from Manitoba, couldn’t agree more. “I have already learned so many things, and as the week goes on and we begin to exchange specific information from one researcher to another, I am learning more and more,” he said. “The ways that water is managed in the central and northern parts of Israel is inspiring and generating many ideas that we will be able to take back with us to Manitoba.”
The scientists will also conduct brainstorming sessions on areas of potential co-operation. Melnick mentions one: research into algal blooms, from which both Lake Manitoba and Lake Kinneret suffer.
Israel dried up the Hula Valley wetland in the 1950s to create more agricultural land and thereby caused severe damage to Lake Kinneret. Lake Winnipeg and Manitoba’s Netley/Libau wetlands are also in need of major rehabilitation.
At the end of the meeting of minds, scientists will propose different research project ideas, and as was the case for the first symposium, the winner will receive a $100,000 (Cdn) grant.
Last symposium’s winning project, a joint initiative between scientists from the Galilee Technology Center in Israel (MIGAL), the International Institute for Sustainable Development in Manitoba, and a scientist in Mexico, is called the Agricultural Wetland/Watershed Research Network. It’s an online international database of research on wetlands and watersheds.
It’s uncertain at this point what sort of collaborations will take place in the future. Melnick doesn’t rule out the possibility of co-operative efforts between independent organizations.
“There are all sorts of incredible discussions happening,” she said. “There is a great openness here [in Israel] among scientists, to collaboration and knowledge sharing. I am sure this will be a long, deep and lasting relationship.”
