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Oct. 18, 2013
It’s hands across the water
India and Israel collaborate to build innovative tech solutions.
KEN FINKELSTEIN
More than 25 percent of India’s total water resources are supplied by the Ganges River, a body of water considered sacred for Hindus. It is one of the world’s 20 largest rivers, flowing for more than 2,500 kilometres. It is also one of the most polluted rivers in the world, with bacterial counts exceeding 120 times safety levels.
Unfortunately, the Ganges River is not India’s only water problem. Untreated sewage runoff is known to contaminate other water supplies. Sewage seeps into, and infects, soil that surrounds the pipes, leaving tap water toxic and undrinkable. As a result, large parts of the rural population (70 percent of India’s population resides in rural areas) are often dependent on seasonal rainfall or faraway streams for potable water. In major cities, such as New Dehli, taps operate an average of three hours daily because so much water is lost owing to leaky pipes.
According to Smita Misra, senior economist at the World Bank, “India is lagging far behind the rest of the world in providing water and sanitation both to its rural and urban populations. Not one city in India provides water on an all day, every day basis.”
Coming together
India and Israel do not share a harmonious history. In 1947, India did not support the United Nations resolution leading to creation of the state of Israel, did not support Israel’s 1949 bid to become a member of the UN and, in 1950, did not recognize Israel’s existence. It wasn’t until 1992 that relations between the two countries thawed, formal diplomatic ties were established, and seeds were planted for future economic cooperation and friendship.
Less than a decade later, relations began to blossom. In 2001, bilateral trade between Israel and India stood at $200 million US, according to an Aug. 2, 2013, Israpundit story. By 2010, trade value rose significantly to $4.7 billion. According to those same reports, this year, the amount is expected to jump to approximately $6 billion, making India the eighth largest trading partner and second largest export market for Israel. These trade numbers are likely to grow in the years ahead as relations grow stronger. In this regard, Israel and India are currently in the midst of finalizing details to a free trade agreement projected to bump up annual trade volume to $15 billion, according to a report in the Economic Times from April 2013.
Water management is one sector expected to drive increased trade, along with health care, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, renewable energy sources and information technology.
As a positive spinoff from economic benefits to both countries, people-to-people relations continue warming. In recent years, tourists from India have gone from 25,000 to almost 45,000, with a similar number of Israelis trekking to India each year. The influx of Israeli tourists has been so steady in some parts of India that some restaurants offer Hebrew-language menus!
Israeli water expertise
”Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink,” wrote the English poet Samuel Coleridge. Though the line bore no reference to Israel, it could have. Despite bordering the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, and being home to the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, Israel has persistently endured water shortages since its founding, including a severe water crisis in the early 2000s.
With necessity (and government incentives) being the mother of invention, Israeli private industry was encouraged to tackle the problem. And this they did, building a domestic water technology industry that has become a global leader in drip irrigation, water recycling, wastewater reuse and desalination (i.e., removal of salt and other minerals from sea water to make it suitable for drinking). Notably, owing to work undertaken at the Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, more than 60 percent of Israel’s freshwater needs are now produced by desalination technologies.
Aware of Israel’s leading reputation for water management, India came calling. In 2006, the two countries began working together in the water technology space, specifically in the fields of drip irrigation and desalination. Soon after, the countries set up a $50 million US shared agriculture fund focused on dairy farming technology and micro-irrigation. In 2011, relations deepened on signing an agreement to foster cooperation on urban water systems (prior to signing this agreement, Israel and India spent more than 10 years together in pursuit of joint research, development and investment in water technologies).
To further the learning of each other’s needs, business and government experts are visiting each other on a more regular basis. Yonatan Ben Zaken, economic attaché at the embassy of Israel in New Delhi, stated, “Both Israeli and Indian government organizations are taking steps to support the cooperation.”
Indeed, they are. Israel NewTech, part of the Israeli Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, maintains an office in India; its primary purpose being to promote Israeli technology. To this end, one of Israel NewTech’s programs matches Israeli clean-tech companies with Indian partners to tender solutions for restoring health to the Ganges River.
In 2012, Israel NewTech sent two delegations to India to meet with Indian government officials, scientists and engineers for the purpose of discussing Israeli water technology and its uses. That same year saw a joint Indian-Israeli launching of an online network providing real-time communications between Indian farmers and Israeli agricultural technology experts.
Keen to observe Israeli expertise firsthand, in June 2013, 16 Indian government representatives visited Israel to learn more about sewage treatment, water purification, desalination and water resource management from private Israeli companies and the Israel Water Authority.
Although government financial support has been critical to developing the water technology industry, the private sector is also contributing funds. As an example, Tata Industries, a multi-billion dollar Indian company, seeded the Technology Innovation Momentum Fund at Tel Aviv University’s Ramot technology transfer company with $5 million.
While Israel’s primary investments in India are in the diamond and information technology industries, funds are being increasingly diverted to Indian water systems. This means more due diligence visits to India by Israeli engineers, environmentalists, agronomists and water tech company representatives who intend to help clean up the Ganges River and offer solutions for India’s other water management issues.
Leading Israeli water companies
As more countries around the world confront water scarcity and quality concerns, the need for Israel’s water expertise will likely continue growing. Following is a list, and brief summary, of public and private companies that play a significant role in Israel’s water industry.
• Amiad Water Systems (amiad.com). Listed on the London Stock Exchange. Ticker symbol AFS. Specializes in drinking water filtration.
• Arad Group (arad.co.il/arad-group). Listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Ticker symbol ARD. Specializes in the design, development and manufacture of precision water meters for domestic use, waterworks, irrigation and water management companies.
• Bermad (bermad.com). Manufacturer of solutions for the control and management of water supplies based on its control-valve technology.
• Global Environmental Solutions (ges.co.il). Designs, builds and operates water and wastewater plants.
• IDE Technologies (ide-tech.com). Privately owned by Israel Chemical and the Delek Group. World leader in desalination.
• Mekerot (mekorot.co.il). Israel’s national water company, wholly owned by the Israeli government. Manages the country’s water-related environmental and security challenges.
• Miya (miya-water.com). Founded by Israeli billionaire Shari Arison, Miya provides water efficiency solutions for municipal distribution systems, i.e., preventing water loss from leaky pipes.
• Netafim (netafim.com). Invented drip irrigation. Global leader in smart-drip and micro-irrigation solutions.
• Tahal Consulting Engineers (tahal.com). Water engineering consultants.
Ken Finkelstein, BA, LLB, JD, is investment advisor at TD Wealth, 500-1070 Douglas St., in Victoria. He can be reached at [email protected], or 1-250-356-4095/1-888-356-4142. His website is finkelsteinwealthgroup.com.
Full disclosure: As of the date of writing this article, I do not own shares in any companies mentioned in this article. The information contained herein has been provided by TD Wealth Private Investment Advice and is for information purposes only. The information has been drawn from sources believed to be reliable. Where such statements are based in whole or in part on information provided by third parties, they are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete. The information does not provide financial, legal, tax or investment advice. Particular investment, trading or tax strategies should be evaluated relative to each individual’s objectives and risk tolerance. TD Wealth Private Investment Advice, the Toronto-Dominion Bank and its affiliates and related entities are not liable for any errors or omissions in the information or for any loss or damage suffered. TD Wealth Private Investment Advice is a division of TD Waterhouse Canada Inc., a subsidiary of the Toronto-Dominion Bank. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc., member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund. The TD logo and other trademarks are the property of the Toronto-Dominion Bank or a wholly-owned subsidiary, in Canada and/or in other countries.
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