Israel: British Water signs 'landmark' water agreement with Israel

Water industry trade association British Water and Israeli research and development (R&D) agency MATIMOP have signed a "landmark" water agreement. 

As part of the 'Memorandum of Understanding' (MoU), signed last December 21, a framework enabling companies and research organisations from the two countries to work closely for domestic and international tenders and research projects has been set up. It is hoped this will lead to projects which will boost each country's economies. 

It is also anticipated the agreement will facilitate greater joint projects to develop new product applications and processes to be commercialised in the global market, as many of the technologies designed in Israel begin to make headway in the international market. 

According to British Water, the partnership also comes as a direct result of Israel's innovative approach to developing water technologies to help it better cope with water scarcity, which is rapidly becoming a worldwide concern, with figures from the United Nations suggesting that by 2030 almost half of the world's population will be living in areas of "high water stress". 

Areas of common interest between the two countries, include water management technology, which increasingly uses ICT to aid water monitoring and fault identification; desalination, water reuse and the use of renewable energy sources in water purification, reclamation and desalination.