fbpx
 
Home / News, Videos & Publications / News / Desert & Water Research /

BGU Prof. Shares Israeli Water Research

BGU Prof. Shares Israeli Water Research

October 27, 2014

Desert & Water Research, Press Releases

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.

F_3_eilon adar_feed

Professor Eilon Adar

“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.

Under the Israel-California MOU, GO-Biz is sharing best practices around water technology including the recycling of gray water, the University of California’s nano filtration technology, irrigation solutions developed by I-Hub partners at the Fresno State Wet Center and more.”

ZIWR was founded in January 2002 within the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, at the Sde Boker Campus of BGU. The Institutes unite under one roof all aspects of water resources research, including extensive research activities in diverse water sciences ranging from groundwater production and desalination technologies to treatments for marginal water sources.

Particular emphasis is placed on research and development of water resources in drylands. BGU established this water institute, recognizing the importance of such an initiative, both now and for the future of the entire region.

Among the sciences and technologies practiced at ZWIR are water desalination, water engineering, environmental hydrology, hydro-geology, hydro-biology, hydro-chemistry and water resource economics and management.

ABOUT AMERICANS FOR BEN-GURION UNIVERSITY

By supporting a world-class academic institution that not only nurtures the Negev, but also shares its expertise locally and globally, Americans for Ben-Gurion University engages a community of Americans who are committed to improving the world. David Ben-Gurion envisioned that Israel’s future would be forged in the Negev. The cutting-edge research carried out at Ben-Gurion University drives that vision by sustaining a desert Silicon Valley, with the “Stanford of the Negev” at its center. The Americans for Ben-Gurion University movement supports a 21st century unifying vision for Israel by rallying around BGU’s remarkable work and role as an apolitical beacon of light in the Negev desert.

About Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev embraces the endless potential we have as individuals and as a commonality to adapt and to thrive in changing environments. Inspired by our location in the desert, we aim to discover, to create, and to develop solutions to dynamic challenges, to pose questions that have yet to be asked, and to push beyond the boundaries of the commonly accepted and possible.

We are proud to be a central force for inclusion, diversity and innovation in Israel, and we strive to extend the Negev’s potential and our entrepreneurial spirit throughout the world. For example, the multi-disciplinary School for Sustainability and Climate Change at BGU leverages over 50 years of expertise on living and thriving in the desert into scalable solutions for people everywhere.

BGU at a glance:  

20,000 students | 800 senior faculty | 3 campuses | 6 faculties: humanities & social sciences, health sciences, engineering sciences, natural sciences, business & management, and desert research.

 

For all press inquiries, please contact:

James Fattal, J Cubed Communications

516.289.1496

[email protected]