Israeli companies harness natural forces, from bacteria to ultraviolet
light, in new technologies designed to treat, disinfect and reuse water. An
independent environmental consultant says Israel is trying to grow its water
sector into a multi-billion dollar industry.

YAVNE, ISRAEL (MARCH 11, 2008) (REUTERS) - : After decades of developing water technologies that it boasts have
"made the desert bloom", Israel has shifted focus to selling its
products abroad with a
goal of doubling exports in the sector by billions of dollars in coming
years.
    About two-thirds of Israel is desert, spurring it to become one of the
world's leaders in water recycling. Seventy-five percent of wastewater in
Israel is reused, mostly for
agriculture, according to the government.
    The technology used to recycle wastewater is already being
exported.
    A wastewater recycling system developed in Israel by a company called
Aqwise uses millions of small, specially designed plastic nuggets. Millions of
these chunks of plastic, called "biomass carriers" help to provide
an ideal environment to breed bacteria that break down harmful organic waste
in wastewater treatment plants.
    At the end of the treatment process at this plant outside of Tel Aviv,
the resulting water, or effluent, is deemed safe enough for use in
agriculture, or for disposal in streams or the sea.
    Yigal Master, a senior research and development engineer at Aqwise,
says the capacity of many wastewater treatment plants can be boosted by as
much as 50 percent just by retrofitting facilities with his company's
technology. It has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of dollars in
expansion costs for growing populations centres.
    "These plastic things - they have a very high surface area, upon
which the bacteria can grow and multiply. And the addition of these plastic
carriers into an existing waste water treatment plant significantly increases
the treatment facility of the plant," Master explained.
    Aqwise technology has already been installed in 30 sewage plants
world-wide, including facilities in Italy, Spain, Mexico, and the United
States.
    The importance of water was engraved in Israel's 60-year history when
its first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, declared in the 1950s that the
future of the Jewish state
depended on "making the desert bloom".
    Today, that mentality has been translated into government policy.
    Avraham Yisraeli is a former Israeli government official, who is now an
independent environmental consultant. Yisraeli displays the drip irrigation
technology Israel helped to make famous in his garden. The same industry that
developed drip irrigation is now a billion dollar powerhouse for the Israeli
economy.
    Yisraeli says the Israeli government has invested in programmes
designed to promote private development of water technologies. It's a business
that's intended to be a major part of the country's economic future.
    "The industry in Israel, the water industry is about 1 billion
U.S. dollars so far. The target is to make it a 5 billion U.S. dollar market,
or export in a few years. Therefore, the governmental programme is working and
many many technologies are now in the process of development," Yisraeli
said.
    And while companies like Aqwise harness the natural processes of
bacteria to help recycle water, others are employing the natural power of
light.
    Atlantium, a company outside of Jerusalem, has created an ultra-violet
light technology that it says can disinfect water more effectively, safely,
and economically.
    Their product, a large quartz tube that can be attached to water pipe
systems, can purify up to 200 cubic metres of water an hour. The radiation
from UV light 'inactivates' bacteria in the water so they cannot reproduce and
cause infection.
    Uri Levy is the Vice-President of Physics and Electro-Optics at the
company.
    "The light photons actually are absorbed by the microbes, damaging
the DNA so the microbes cannot multiply. A microbe that cannot multiply is
harmless," Levy said.
    In the past, UV technology was unable to provide the highest level of
purification and was considered a secondary technique.
    Atlantium's Hydro-Optic Disinfection (HOD) technology, which it says is
many times more effective than its competitors, changed that, Levy says.
    "Counter to other disinfection techniques like using ozone or
using chlorine, this is very clean because it's basically using light - light
that after being absorbed by the microbes leaves no byproducts," Levy
said.
    Atlantium's systems are used world-wide in the food and beverage
industries, dairies, and local municipalities.
    If you have the budget, the technology can even be used in a backyard
pool. They units cost between 20,000 U.S. dollars and 120,000 U.S. dollars ,
depending on the rate of purification and level of efficiency.