Water Technology Investments

Iowa’s got too much, and Australia hasn’t gotten enough this year. In the Middle East, it’s a cause for war and a requirement for peace.

Though oceans and rivers are rising, fresh water is becoming as much of a worrisome commodity as sweet crude—and the change in supply of both is creating myriad market opportunities around the world through policy cooperation in water technology.

This week, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is just returning from a multi-day trip to Israel.

While in Israel, Villaraigosa met with security officials in charge of protecting Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport. Los Angeles will enlist some Israeli security consultants to help beef up Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), which has been named as a prime target for al-Qaeda.

But what the Los Angeles Times didn’t talk about is another major threat area where Villaraigosa is seeking Israeli help: water scarcity.

Israel and Los Angeles Water Technology Cooperation

City officials launched a 20-year, $2 billion strategic plan to combat drought and household water shortages in L.A. and its environs. General Manager of the Department of Water and Power David Nahai calls this “a radical departure for the city of Los Angeles,” going on to call it a potential “beacon for other cities.”

As far as pacesetters go in the water technology arena, Israel is in the world leadership. From reverse osmosis seawater conversion to efficient drip irrigation, the New Jersey-sized state has delivered top-notch solutions again and again.

That’s why Villaraigosa told Israeli business newspaper Globes that the city government has signed a cooperation agreement with the Kinarot-Jordan Valley Technology Incubator, a start-up hothouse focusing on water reuse and desalination technologies.

L.A. will also work with Israel’s Mekorot National Water Company, whose former head, Booky Oren, told me and a gathering of green entrepreneurs in 2007 that water technology could soon be the country’s top export industry —surpassing even the high-tech field in Israel that gave birth to instant messaging, portable memory, and the Intel Pentium chip during the internet boom.

“Water is the next energy crisis…and a wonderful business opportunity,” Oren said when I met him.

With only one source of fresh water, the Sea of Galilee, and other rivers and streams coming from the north in the enemy states of Lebanon and Syria, Israel has never been able to take water for granted.

In fact, current negotiations with Syria over the strategic Golan Heights heavily involve river water rights and a spot of shoreline on the Galilee that Syria claims.

Los Angeles policy makers won’t have to fight anyone but their own citizens… Water Police vehicles now patrol neighborhoods in many southwestern cities like L.A. and Vegas, doling out fines for leaky sprinklers and running hoses.

So, as Globes asked, how will collaboration with the Kinarot incubator be implemented?

Kinarot CEO Assaf Barnea responds, “Israeli companies will have an open door for testing technologies at Los Angeles water facilities, which will test and install suitable technologies.”

And we expect those technologies to emerge quickly in the form of profitable stock listings. After all, Israel has more Nasdaq companies than any country but the United States, and more overall U.S.-traded companies than any land but Canada.

As Kinarot and Los Angeles take steps forward together, we’ll let you know how to play their progress.

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