Israeli water help rejected

Cape Town’s water problem was made worse by inefficient irrigation and the lack of a long-term plan, including desalination.

In 2016 officials at Israel’s embassy, with decades of experience in water security in a desert environment, alerted national, provincial and local governments in SA. Israel has trained water technicians in more than 100 countries and it offered to bring in experts to help SA.

For what appeared to be ideological reasons South African officials ignored or rebuffed the nostrings Israeli proposal.

The government, or at least its dominant party, persists in its negative political stance where it seems to be ready to sacrifice the wellbeing of its citizens rather than to ask for help from Israel.

Instead we looked for help from Iran, which is not known for its water expertise. Water shortages in that country gave rise to the recent Iranian protests and largely untreated sewage was discharged into nearby waterways. An Iranian agriculture minister predicted that as many as 50million Iranians would need to be uprooted because of growing drinking-water scarcity.

Israel brought a team of water professionals to Cape Town. Neither the mayor nor any senior municipal official would see them.

The Palestinian Authority has worked with Israel on a range of water projects since 1995.

Israelis pioneered desalination, drip irrigation and the specialised reuse of treated wastewater in agriculture. Although Israel is in the fifth year of a drought, today its citizens can count on abundant water. Not Cape Town.

Rodney Mazinter Camps Bay