Jmore Juniors: Author Seth Siegel Believes Israel Can Help Planet Avoid Water Crisis

March 30, 2022 Jmore Juniors

Author Seth M. Siegel (Provided)

By Noah S., seventh grade student, Krieger Schechter Day School of Chizuk Amuno Congregation

A water crisis is occurring in most of the world right now, and it is increasing in force. But most people are unaware of this crisis and take our water supply for granted.

For years, people have overdrawn from the water supplies of the world, and the consequences are felt in many places, even parts of the United States such as Hawaii.

According to Seth M. Siegel, author of “Let There Be Water,” (St. Martin’s), a book about how Israel has dealt with the water crisis, the best way to fix this problem is to “charge the real price for water.”

But what is the real price for water?

“Water is subsidized almost everywhere,” Siegel says. “And as a result, when something is free or almost free, people often act in a very reckless way. So if you are in a restaurant and are not charged for the food, you will probably order more food than you are really going to eat.”

In other words, people use more water than they really need because it comes at a very low price.

Siegel explains why water has a price. “You think of water as free because it rains and that water is free,” he says. “However, it isn’t really free when you have to find the water in some place and bring it to another place. You need pipes for that, and that costs money. And you have to maintain those pipes, and that costs money. And you have to clean the water before people can drink it, and that costs money.”

Siegel believes that if all countries began to apply the true cost to water, “You’d see an explosion of technological innovation in the water space, similar to the way that there’s been an explosion of technological innovation with your computer or your cell phone and every other part of modern life. But you don’t have that in places where there’s no economic incentive, such as with water.”

The good news is that the water crisis is not insurmountable, according to Siegel. If people decide to address the water crisis right now, we can rectify the crisis.

Siegel reassures that while “there are some problems that seem insurmountably large and cannot be solved, water problems can be solved rather easily.” He adds that this is relatively easy.

“The secret is that water problems, unlike other problems, come at you slowly. They give you a lot of lead time to repair them, to fix them, and to think them through. It’s the shame of society that countries around the world and political leaders tend not to address things early enough. They wait for a crisis.”

Israel, on the other hand, which is more than half desert, has done a remarkably good job with the water crisis, and has emerged as a world leader, Siegel says.

“They charge the full price for water and have created many technologies to protect the water supply,” he says. “Israel has also invented drip irrigation and perfected desalination, which is the removal of salt and certain minerals from ocean water to make it potable.

One area that he says has a lot of room for improvement is agriculture. Seventy percent of water in the world is used for agriculture. In some countries, that reaches 90%. Because of this, according to Siegel, “If you want to save large amounts of water, the best place to go and the easiest place to fix it is in agriculture. And the good thing is, there are lots and lots of agricultural technologies that help to save water. It could be better irrigation technology, or breeding plants that thrive on salty water, or plants that do well with less water. Any of those becomes a solution.”

Noah S. is seventh grade student at the Krieger Schechter Day School of Chizuk Amuno Congregation.