Novel Efficient Water Technologies

Success Story: NetafimMaking the Desert Bloom with just a few Drops of WaterIn 1965, Israeli scientists and farmers at Netafim developed the revolutionary method of dripirrigation in order to overcome the desert conditions in Israel.Netafim's R&D has continued to adapt innovations to drip irrigation, including:• A pressure compensated dripper that enabled stable distribution of water and nutrients atpressure differences of up to 3.5bar;• A thin wall integral dripper line - a low cost solution for industrial field crops such as sugarcane;• A new generation of drippers for soil-lessgreenhouse growing.• Crop Management Technology (CMT) whichprovides "real time" monitoring of growing systemsDrip Irrigation in the U.S.More than 3 million acres of farmlandin the United States uses Netafim'sconcept of drip irrigation.Purification and Reclamation TechniquesSaltwater Desalination:• Making Freshwater out of Saltwater with only afew centsFast Fact:70% of the Earth's surface is coveredby water, but 97.5% of that issaltwater.• Desalination has emerged as Israel's major tool tokeep pace with increasing water demand. Israel'swater commission anticipates that Israel will consume 20% desalinated water by 2010.• Breaking Desalination RecordsIDE, a leading Israeli desalination company, founded the world's largest saltwaterreverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination facility. The $250 million dollar facility, located inAshkelon, Israel, annually produces 100 million meters 3 of potable water. In addition tothe Asheklon plant, Israel has 31 small desalination plants in thesouthern part of Israel, which generate 26 million cubic meters ofwater per year.8