Israel wants to help cure Barbados’ water woes.
Israel may have the technological solution to Barbados’ water woes.
The suggestion was made here Thursday by President of the Caribbean Israel Leadership Coalition (CILC) Andre Thomas, who told reporters there was more than enough Israeli technology to help the island resolve its water shortages.
“Barbados has water problems and there is more than enough Israeli technology to change that,” Thomas said during a press briefing called to announce plans for a major technological conference to be hosted by Israel from June 7-9 at the Barbados Hilton resort.
While telling reporters that he was excited about the prospects for business-to-business and business-to-Government partnerships, Thomas said that it was by staying on the cutting edge of technology that Israel, which has a population of seven million, was able to develop into a powerhouse in the Middle East.
It is strong economically because of its technology.
“These are some of the game changing technologies that Barbados and the West Indies can cash into.
So we are very excited about this [upcoming conference], because this is an opportunity for business to business match ups to be created,” Thomas said.
He also estimated that in the Caribbean there were at least ten thousand plots of land, between one acre to five acres in size, that were simply lying idle but could easily be converted, using Israeli technology, into arable agricultural land for the cultivation of vegetables and flowers.
“If the technology to take these pieces of land lying idle can be released and [we can] partner with family communities that would be a game changer when it comes to food security,” the spokesman for the CILC said.

Water Research Foundation Launches New Project on Forging Relationships Between Clean Water Agencies and the Community.
The Water Research Foundation (WRF), a leading sponsor of innovative research supporting the water community, is pleased to announce a new project that will help clean water agencies explore how forward thinking utilities and companies leverage emotional motivators in public engagement programs to develop sustainable relationships with their customers.
Awareness of water scarcity is disconnected from the deceptive abundance of this resource in many developed countries.
Social scientists such as Paul Slovic and Daniel Kahneman have long recognized the power of emotional involvement (the affect heuristic) in decision making and hence community building.
The project will develop a report and toolkit that provide best practices, lessons learned, and evaluation metrics for utilities to use when developing messages and education and engagement programs to create meaningful emotional connections in alignment with their specific communities using scientific and technical practices.
“There’s plenty of research out there showing that emotional connections lead to long-term bonds between organizations and their stakeholders,” said Rob Renner, CEO of the Water Research Foundation.
Governed by utilities, WRF plans, manages, and delivers scientifically sound research solutions on the most critical challenges facing the water community in the areas of drinking water, wastewater, stormwater, and reuse.
For more information, go to www.WaterRF.org.
About KKS Advisors KKS Advisors is an advisory services firm helping clients to find innovative solutions to create more sustainable business models and communities.
KKS Advisors also worked with Stewart Investors to conduct a research project on water scarcity in global emerging markets.

For decades, people have been using fresh water faster than nature can replace it, contributing in some regions to hunger, disease, conflict and migration.
This is according to a report released by the United Nations in an effort to raise awareness about water security around the globe.
“Water scarcity affects the economy, society, and the environment,” he continued.
Circular water economy In the water sector, a circular economy approach will mean reusing water constantly, imitating the way the natural water cycle works, Erdmann said.
He explained that the circular economy approach offers promising new perspectives to develop a social and economic dynamic, where population and economic growth are balanced with environmental protection.
“During his research, he found that a leaking toilet can waste anything between 20 to 700 litres of water a day,” Erdmann said.
Erdmann feels that we no longer have a choice as we are pushed towards the circular model on a daily basis due to the increasing scarcity and pollution of natural resources.
“In order to achieve this, we need to change our thinking and address these issues collaboratively.” Having seen how the circular economy model has benefitted the South African economy and essentially dealt with the waste tyre problem, Erdmann believes the shift to a circular water economy holds much promise.
“A circular water economy might even eliminate rapidly growing clean-up costs because no harmful substances would be added to the water supply,” he said.
“If we do not act now, by 2050 at least one in four people are likely to live in a country affected by chronic or recurring shortages of fresh water – a harsh reality to live with.”

(Anyone against Kalabagh dam, I say is a traitor!
In it, we talk about water conflict from the inter-provincial, to local water course level, to floods, to domestic water supply and conflict between fisher communities and agriculturists.
As a water researcher, everyone I met in Pakistan would like to know if I am for or against the Kalabagh dam.
As an irrigation official in Sindh said, ‘They talk about Kalabagh dam in Punjab, baba there is a Kalabagh dam on every water course here in Sindh.’ He was being too charitable.
There is a Kalabagh dam on every water course in the country.
The geography of water access in Pakistan is not physical, but of power.
The only problem is that the systemic scarcity, physically and legally built into the system, is outdated.
How will a dam or two address that issue—no one wants to talk about.
The Sindh is argue that if such projects are being done for their own benefit, why are there two major canal projects designed around Kalabagh for central Punjab and southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK)?
What is the value of water?

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has warned that ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa have sharply deteriorated food security and reduced nutrition levels, leaving approximately 30 million people unsure of their next meal.
The FAO Regional Overview of Food Insecurity in the Near East and North Africa, released on March 27, stated that the intensity of conflicts and protracted crises have led to the prevalence of food insecurity in the areas over the past five years.
“Countries such as Iraq, Sudan, Syria and Yemen have rates that are among the highest in the world, reflecting the devastating impacts of the ongoing conflicts on their food security and nutrition situation,” the UN agency’s report pointed out.
“The region is facing unprecedented challenges to its food security due to multiple risks arising from conflicts, water scarcity and climate change,” FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for the Near East and North Africa Abdessalam Ould Ahmed said.
The FAO Regional Overview underlined that water scarcity and climate change are the most fundamental challenges to ending hunger, achieving food security, improving nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture by 2030.
The numbers of people suffering from food insecurity and internally displacement are also rising in Iraq and Yemen, the FAO said.
The United Nations has said that a third of Yemen’s 22 provinces are on the brink of famine, warning that more than half of the country’s population is going hungry.
Luescher stressed that even the Yemenis that are lucky enough to get aid are not receiving all the nutrients they need as full rations cannot be afforded.
Yemen’s Legal Center of Rights and Development announced on Saturday that the Saudi campaign against its impoverished southern neighbor has claimed the lives of over 12,040 Yemenis and left more than 20,000 others wounded.
The center added that there were a total of 2,568 children and 1,870 women among the fatalities, noting that the atrocious onslaught had also destroyed 757 schools and institutes, 111 university facilities, 271 factories besides 1,520 bridges and roads.

MANAMA, March 28 (KUNA) — Water, food and energy are increasingly turning into closely intertwined vital sectors in member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), says a senior Bahraini official.
Water scarcity and limited locally-produced food in the GCC states have prompted these countries to depend on each others to secure clean water and sufficient nutrition for growing populations in the region, said Dr. Al-Zibari, Chairman of the technical consultative committee of the Bahraini Water Resources Council.
Al-Zibari, addressing inaugural session of the 12th edition of the Gulf Water Conference/Exhibition, on Tuesday, said link-up among water, food and energy is turning more complex with time, due to mounting demand for such resources and hiking consumption, along with populations’ growth and changing consumption patterns.
This relationship among these factors is forecast to turn much more delicate due to global climatic change.
Attempts to attain food security with local production without considering limited water resources will lead to draining them in the long run, thus resulting in degradation of the agricultural field.
The Gulf region is in general short on water resources however the regional countries have managed to secure their needs by desalinating sea waters and digging wells.
Concurring with Al-Zibari, Khaled Bin Saeed Al-Ebri, the GCC assistant general secretary for economic and development affairs, said water scarcity has become one of the top challenges in the Gulf.
He also agreed with Al-Zibari that food, water and energy are connected and called for greater investments in water desalination and treatment.
Desalinated water in the GCC countries account to 55 percent of the global output.
(end) mga.rk

Woman Runs Equivalent of 40 Marathons Across 6 Continents to Raise Awareness about Global Water Crisis.
She plans to traverse the globe, running the equivalent of 40 marathons in 40 days to draw attention to the global water crisis.
6 Rivers, 6 Continents, 6 Goals to End Water Scarcity Guli’s journey, which is sponsored by Tibet Water, LieStraw, Nike, and 5100, is sure to make an impact.
Most of the water humans use comes from rivers.
Guli hopes to draw attention to ‘Goal 6’ of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, which focuses on improving access to clean water.
Specifically, Guli hopes her 6 River Run will raise awareness for, and help achieve, ‘Goal 6′ of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
“The global water crisis is pervasive and demands our immediate attention,” said Guli, who also serves as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.
In some areas, there may be a lot of water, but it isn’t safe to drink.
To help solve the global water crisis, Guli said we also need to be more aware of how and where we use our water.
This means that remembering to turn off the faucet and taking shorter showers might not be enough to tackle the global water crisis.

The need for this sector to change and evolve could not be greater: The organizations that manage water supplies around the world are facing critical issues, and water scarcity is chief among them.
And demand is increasing.
To help solve this problem, organizations are using digital technologies and data analytics to improve leak detection.
According to the World Bank, the world loses about 25-35% of water due to leaks and bursts, and the annual value of this non-revenue water — water produced and lost by utilities — is $14 billion.
Although members of the water industry have found success using digital technologies and analytics, they’ve also faced challenges when trying to transform the roles and mindsets of their employees and their internal- and customer-facing processes.
But those that have managed to integrate their technological advances with two other key elements — people and processes — have created more than data; they’ve also created value for their enterprises and society.
The software provided relevant data — e.g., the start time of a leak and when it was fixed, based on real-time information, not when reports were submitted.
These issues aren’t unique to the water industry; they’re also relevant to companies in other industries that are using data and digital tools that are increasingly available.
But in order to take full advantage of these tools, sales organizations will need to change their compensation incentives, internal processes, and the skill sets of their staffs, among other things.
In that context, the role of data is not to make a manager sound analytical.

Over 663 million people across the world don’t have access to clean drinking water. We’ll have 40 percent less potable water than what we’ll need in 2030. With growing populations relying on shrinking freshwater sources, it’s imperative that we, as a species, get serious about sustainability and prudent use of our dwindling water reserves. While we’ll need to do whatever we can to stretch existing sources, recycling the copious amounts of wastewater we’re producing right now could go a long way toward addressing our growing demand for clean water. The emergence of viable and scalable technologies that can do just that has made it a serious possibility, within our lifetime. Several countries across the world are doing more than just dabbling in wastewater recycling right now. Singapore, Israel, Spain, a few Scandinavian countries, as well as the United States recycle a significant portion of the wastewater they generate. Recycled wastewater is generally disposed of in larger bodies of water (seas, rivers, ponds, etc.) or used for gardening, cleaning, as well as for industrial applications. Israel is a world leader in wastewater treatment; around 85 percent of their wastewater is treated and recycled for ruse in sectors like agriculture. Singapore, Australia and the US (especially California) generate significant amounts of portable water though wastewater recycling. Still, very little (probably less than two percent) of recycled wastewater is used as potable water….

Summary: The helpline set up by the district administration to address water scarcity is receiving a large number of complaints saying that the water supply system being set up using the funds released by grama panchayats is ineffective. People complained to the control room at Kozhikode taluk office that water pipelines set up by the Kerala Water Authority had been damaged. Officials with the District Disaster Management Authority said that water was being distributed through tankers to areas affected by water shortage. The number of calls is going up day by day,” a staff at the helpline told The Hindu. Panchayat…