Israel’s former state water commissioner says better management of supply and changes in storage methods should be key to preparedness for more regular and longer lasting droughts in Australia.
Completing a visit to NSW and Queensland organised by leading businessman and ANZ chairman David Gonski and the Jewish National Fund of Australia, Shimon Tal said Israel’s success in developing so-called “new water” technology could be hard to replicate in Australian agriculture, but improved efficiency in water transport, reservoir management and ground water use could take pressure off communities and businesses in future drought events.
A founding director of the Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Mr Tal was accompanied on the visit to Australia by the director of the Blaustein Institute for Desert Research, Noam Weisbrod, and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev professor Eilon Adar.
The delegation met with experts, government officials and businesses, part of efforts to promote cooperation between the two countries.
“In Israel, we also think in terms of advanced water management, the water sector, but it is not a cut and paste thing,” Mr Tal said.
“You cannot copy management principles from one place to another without considering the existing conditions in each place, including geographical, climate, cultural, social aspects of water management.”
Read the article by Tom McIlroy in the Australian Financial Review.