One of the reasons that Prime Minister Netanyahu flew out to California earlier this month was to sign a number of agreements with Gov. Jerry Brown. One area of cooperation between the two was for Israel to provide guidance to the Golden State to fight its drought “with water conservation and desalination techniques” developed by Israeli scientists.

But Israel and Israeli companies have been working with a number of other American states.

The Times of Israel reports that in addition to helping California address its water shortage – Israel Desalination Enterprises is building the largest desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere in San Diego – Israeli technology is helping a number of other states and localities meet their water requirements

Akron, Ohio is working with a number of Israeli companies to keep its water supply safe. One of these companies is Mekorot, Israel’s national water carrier, which is helping monitor the quality of the city’s water. Massachusetts recently held a competition for the most innovative water technology. The competition was won by an Israeli company TACount, that monitors water for contamination. TACount was chosen “as the company that best demonstrates a solid business plan, a strong management team, compelling technology, financing, and customer traction.” Illinois, last year, entered into an agreement with Ben Gurion University to improve the state’s “deteriorating” water supply.

Because the land of Israel is 60% desert, making the most of water has been a priority of the state. Last year the Times of Israel reported that innovative water management techniques mean that Israel will have a surplus of water for the foreseeable future. Despite suffering from seven years of droughts Israel has sufficient water due to desalination. According to recent figures Israel desalinates over 300 million cubic meters of water a year providing for at least 15 percent of the 2 billion cubic meters it uses annually — though its total desalination capacity is considerably higher. As a result, it has transformed what was previously a question of natural resources into a question of financial ones — leaving open the possibility of increasing desalination production for domestic use in times of drought, but also of increasing production an exporting desalinized water to other countries. It also means that Israeli technology can be used anywhere on earth where money can be put towards solving a water shortage–such as California.

The advances Israel and Israelis have made in the field of water technology help people across the world.

[Photo: IsraelIsGreen / YouTube ]