Federation Star - November 2022

By Penny Bustin, Ph.D., Chair WFI Greater Washington and Roni Wolk, Assistant VP National WFI Executive Board

The people of Israel have access to more and better sources of water. And Israel’s next generation is learning the value of this critical resource through the JNF-USA supported Rainwater Harvesting School program. With JNF-USA’s support, more than 50 schools across Israel have systems that capture rain on school rooftops for reuse in flushing toilets and watering school gardens, yielding freshwater savings and reducing each school’s reliance on other sources of water by 77%. School children are involved in the planning and management of the system and participate in a dynamic educational curriculum that teaches them about Israel’s water crisis and the importance of conservation.

In support of other water-related education programs, JNF-USA is building the laboratory floor of the Water Industries Research and Training Center at the Kinneret College Center of Excellence, located by the Sea of Galilee. The impact of these programs goes beyond school walls, with students bringing the message of conservation home to their families and communities.

JNF-USA’s support of water solutions is helping create and sustain new communities and agricultural innovations vital to Israel’s economy and growth. In turn, this is creating more jobs, and advancing JNF-USA’s goal of bringing more families to Israel’s north and south.

Halutza is one such community located in the northwest Negev on Israel’s borders with Egypt and Gaza. These pioneers chose to move to a remote area that had never been inhabited or farmed — and is secluded from the national water grid — because they saw the development of the Negev as Israel’s next mission. The water that is supplied to this area is desalinated water — the most expensive type of water — currently making the agricultural yields unprofitable. JNF-USA is working with Halutza on a project that will provide this region with better water at a much lower cost.

JNF-USA’s water solutions go beyond Halutza. Valerie Richter, a member of the JNF-USA Water Task Force supports JNF’s building of reservoirs in Israel. “On my last trip to Israel, I took a flight over the Negev and was amazed to see so many green patches of farms, each with their reservoirs. You could see the direct connection between viable sources of water and agriculture. If you can farm the land, you can draw people to settle on that land. JNF-USA’s water solutions are fulfilling Ben Gurion’s dream of building the Negev.”

Learn more about JNF-USA’s many water initiatives in Israel at https://www. jnf.org/our-work/water-solutions.