Israel Starts City Wide Rain Harvesting

Illustration: JNF

While Israelis are gearing up for summer at the beach, they do so knowing there was hardly any winter to speak of. The absence of a serious winter is having a dire impact on Israel’s water balance. For the past six years, lack of rain and a growth in population have brought Israel to record low water levels. The good news? In response to this crisis, developments in water technology are booming.

After introducing drip irrigation and building the largest desalination plant on earth, this next project incorporates an ancient but time tested method of water conservation- rain harvesting. In the old days, when it rained, it poured- straight into water holes and cisterns, or through the ground to aquifers. But with the rise of urban life, most of the rain water goes to waste flowing through gutters out to the closest stream or sea.

The solution to this problem is the bio-filter, an ecologically-friendly rain harvesting and  water purifying system. The bio-filter works pretty much like a sink, accumulating the water collected in gutters around town. After entering the bio-filter, the water is purified by toxin devouring plants and injected into the ground where it is purified the old fashioned way- by nature.

The brains behind the project is Yaron Zinger, an Israeli researcher working in Australia. After seeing the system at work he decided that this may very well be the answer to Israel’s shortage. Together with the support of the Jewish National Fund, the first system is is currently being installed in Kfar Saba, a city on the outskirts of Tel- Aviv, with plans for installation in three other cities.

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