The 4th and final day of the South African food security delegation’s KKL-JNF trip to Israel concentrated on agriculture and water management in south of the country.
The tour began at the Shafdan Waste Water Treatment Plant in Rishon Lezion just south of Tel Aviv, which supplies much of the Negev’s water for irrigation. The plant currently treats and recycles municipal wastewater from a population of over 2 million people in the greater Tel Aviv area. In 2017 the United Nations praised the Shafdan facility and chose it as a “model plant” due to its unique method of using the natural filtration qualities of sand to purify the wastewater. KKL-JNF’s
Elisha Mizrahi explained: “The benefits of the system are enormous. This is the most densely populated area of the country. That there is such a system in place minimizes environmental pollution and health hazards that would normally be caused by the huge amount of sewage that is produced here. It also contributes immensely towards protecting the country’s dwindling water resources by providing water for irrigation.”
In the Negev, the delegations first stop was at the
Black Arrow monument close to the Gaza Strip, which commemorates the paratrooper brigade and its soldiers, who fell here while protecting Israel in the 1950’s. Looking just beyond the several hundred meters of cultivated fields stretching out towards Gaza,
Chris Wild of Food and Trees for Africa said, “The geography and the weather closely resemble the conditions of the Northern Cape Province in South Africa. I feel that I could easily be standing there now because of the topography, the farmland and the weather.”
Elisha Mizrahi told the visitors that only reason why it is possible to conduct such a huge scale of farming in the area is because there is a reliable source of water for irrigation which, he said, they would see at the next stop.
At the Tifrach
Water Reservoir, the delegation members saw the pools of stored water which are used to irrigate the agricultural fields. The huge reservoir with a capacity of 2 million cubic meters draws waste effluent from the cities of Beersheva, Ofakim and many other small towns and villages in the area. The water is first treated and purified in the nearby Arye pools before flowing into the Tifrach reservoir for distribution to fields in the region. Tifrach Reservoir guide
Ben Avni, from the Moshavei Hanegev Organization representing the moshav communities in the
Negev, told the visitors that the water in the pools is of the highest quality: “We don’t offer the water for human consumption but it is of such a superior standard that one would not be able tell the difference. We believe that these pools, which have the capacity to irrigate 30,000 square dunam [meters] in the surrounding areas, contain the cleanest recycled water in the country.”
While pointing out the reservoir pools, KKL-JNF Development and Project Director
Yossi Schreiber, who is a water and environmental engineer, explained that the liquid waste in the right pool goes through three different distillation processes:
“These include a sophisticated sand particle filtration system, a solar cleansing process, and finally ultraviolet light purification. The system itself then measures the processed water for cleanliness. If the water meets the required standard it is pumped into the left pool to await distribution. KKL-JNF has built almost 80 water treatment facilities in the Negev for processing and storing recycled water and for harvesting floodwaters. The water is used to irrigate crops and forests throughout the Negev.”
The final destination of the food security delegation’s 4 day journey around Israel was the Western Negev
Research and Development Station where they were met by plant researcher
Dr. Moran Segoli.
Segoli led them through the experimental hothouses at the site and explained that the R&D conducted at the station concentrates on developing
agricultural techniques and the production of crops that are suitable for this semi-arid region.
“The plant experimentation that is conducted here to select and develop crop types for cultivation takes into account soil type and conditions, the climate, and water quality and quantity. The knowledge we produce serves not only Israeli farmers but also those in many other countries around world who have similar climates and conditions.”
Schreiber told the visitors that KKL-JNF shares its research and development successes with many countries around the world in order to help them make their arid areas more habitable and productive and to assist them in the battle to halt and reverse creeping desertification.
KKL-JNF’s
Orna Toeg and Elisha Mizrahi hosted the South African delegation members at a farewell dinner at an exclusive Tel Aviv restaurant.
Benji Shulman, Executive Director of the South African-Israel Forum, thanked them on behalf of the delegation for their hospitality. He said that he has no doubt that the trip was immensely beneficial for the participants.
JNF South Africa Chairperson
Ilsa Feldman said that she is already working towards sending the next group to Israel sometime in 2019.
“These trips help the South Africans improve their agriculture and their water and environmental problems, and also gives them an opportunity to acquire a deeper understanding of the dilemmas of Israel in this region.”