Let There Be Water: Israel's Solution for a Water-Starved WorldBy Seth M. Siegel
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Let There Be Water: Israel's Solution for a Water-Starved WorldBy Seth M. Siegel
Download Ebook Let There Be Water: Israel's Solution for a Water-Starved WorldBy Seth M. Siegel
New York Times and Los Angeles Times Bestseller!As every day brings urgent reports of growing water shortages around the world, there is no time to lose in the search for solutions.
The U.S. government predicts that forty of our fifty states-and 60 percent of the earth's land surface-will soon face alarming gaps between available water and the growing demand for it. Without action, food prices will rise, economic growth will slow, and political instability is likely to follow.
Let There Be Water illustrates how Israel can serve as a model for the United States and countries everywhere by showing how to blunt the worst of the coming water calamities. Even with 60 percent of its country made of desert, Israel has not only solved its water problem; it also had an abundance of water. Israel even supplies water to its neighbors-the Palestinians and the Kingdom of Jordan-every day.
Based on meticulous research and hundreds of interviews, Let There Be Water reveals the methods and techniques of the often offbeat inventors who enabled Israel to lead the world in cutting-edge water technology.
Let There Be Water also tells unknown stories of how cooperation on water systems can forge diplomatic ties and promote unity. Remarkably, not long ago, now-hostile Iran relied on Israel to manage its water systems, and access to Israel's water know-how helped to warm China's frosty relations with Israel.
Beautifully written, Let There Be Water is and inspiring account of the vision and sacrifice by a nation and people that have long made water security a top priority. Despite scant natural water resources, a rapidly growing population and economy, and often hostile neighbors, Israel has consistently jumped ahead of the water innovation-curve to assure a dynamic, vital future for itself. Every town, every country, and every reader can benefit from learning what Israel did to overcome daunting challenges and transform itself from a parched land into a water superpower.
Let There Be Water: Israel's Solution for a Water-Starved WorldBy Seth M. Siegel - Amazon Sales Rank: #26060 in Books
- Published on: 2015-09-15
- Released on: 2015-09-15
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.62" h x 1.32" w x 6.36" l, 1.00 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 352 pages
Let There Be Water: Israel's Solution for a Water-Starved WorldBy Seth M. Siegel Review
"Insightful...an instructive reminder that climate and geography don’t control a state’s destiny. Nature, as it turns out, is not as important as government nurture." ―The Wall Street Journal
“A must-read that is both fascinating and informative. “ ―San Francisco Chronicle
“With global water shortages generating political, military and humanitarian crises across the globe, Israel's astonishing ingenuity for wresting abundance from drought is an inspiring and instructive blueprint for the planet.” ―Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
“If you are worried about global water shortages-and you should be-read this book. Seth Siegel brings an urgent message of how the world can save itself using remarkable techniques and technology developed in Israel. Let There Be Water is essential reading. I highly recommend it.” ―Michael Bloomberg
“A really interesting account of the possibilities for technology to solve one of the greatest and underestimated challenges of our age.” ―Tony Blair
“Water scarcity is one of the most urgent threats to our economy and society. In Let There Be Water, Seth Siegel explores the crisis through the lens of a solution, telling the powerful story of how the people of Israel came together to overcome their water problems, so that the rest of the world can learn from their example and get ahead of the looming crisis.” ―Arianna Huffington"Brilliant." ―Bret Stephens, Pulitzer Prize-winning author
“This extraordinary work will long be read by people grappling with water shortages and other seemingly insurmountable challenges.” ―Shimon Peres, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former president of Israel
“From the arid front lines of the freshwater scarcity crisis, Siegel provides an eye-opening account how Israel turned adversity into opportunity to become an innovative pioneer in the global quest for a new water paradigm.” ―Steven Solomon, author, WATER: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization
“Let There Be Water is an essential look at the unknown story of how Israel has avoided the coming global water crisis despite being mostly desert. Through smart policies, conservation, technology and a new water-focused export industry, this book shares water-independent Israel's lessons that every interested citizen and country needs to know.” ―Dan Senor, co-author of the New York Times bestseller Start-Up Nation
“Let There Be Water is the expertly and movingly told story of how Israeli specialists and NGOs greatly helped many Africans gain access to clean water. Seth Siegel shows how Israel uses its water skills both to help developing nations and as a tool of diplomacy. We all have so much to learn from this superb book.” ―Ruhakana Rugunda, Prime Minister of Uganda
“Fascinating account....A major contribution to this hotly debated issue and to broader questions of environmental policy.” ―Kirkus Reviews (starred)
“With current drought conditions across Western North America, this hard-won water wisdom should be of interest to concerned readers.” ―Library Journal
"Let There Be Water is an important work of non-fiction, a story that needs to be told. There are lessons in here for everyone." ―Former U.S. Senator Mark L. Pryor
“In the last 50 years, one place has taken water scarcity and turned it into water abundance―Israel. The Israelis did it with science, skill, and by thinking 50 years ahead. Seth M. Siegel’s book Let There Be Water pieces together the surprising story of how Israel made itself into a ‘water superpower’ with clarity, with verve, and most important, with a sense of hope for everyone else facing water problems.” ―Charles Fishman, New York Times bestselling author of The Big Thirst: The secret life & turbulent future of water“Capturing Israel’s revolution from thirsting wasteland to thriving wellspring, Seth M. Siegel meticulously traces a fledgling nation’s quest to emerge as an international “water superpower,” in his new book Let There Be Water: Israel’s Solution for a Water- Starved World.” ―The Jerusalem Post
“Lively, informative new book.” ―The Jewish Week
“Israel’s determination to create water security is a half-century-long lesson in the liberating economic power of smart water, and a vivid illustration that scarcity doesn’t need to lead to deprivation. It can often drive exactly the opposite: innovation and even abundance.” ―Strategy + Business
“Israel’s determination to create water security is a half-century-long lesson in the liberating economic power of smart water, and a vivid illustration that scarcity doesn’t need to lead to deprivation. It can often drive exactly the opposite: innovation and even abundance.” ―American Associates, Ben-Gurion University’ Impact magazine
“This excellent, well-researched book enumerates the numerous 'bullets' Israel fired in its successful quest for water independence. Additionally, it offers the lessons learned in Israel as models for the world as climate change and population growth continue to stress the global supply of fresh water.” ―San Diego Jewish Book World
“A fact-filled and wholly fascinating account of the Jewish homeland’s ways with water.” ―Jewish Journal.com
"This smart, engaging, and extremely feel-good book tells one of the stories that best illustrates how Israel consistently turns crises into opportunities and challenges into victories...Siegel’s accessible handling of technological issues, his focus on key individuals inside and outside of government, and his boundless enthusiasm for Israel’s accomplishments and international leadership make Let There Be Water a highly appealing read." ―Jewish Book Council
"A great read that addresses our water challenge." ―George P. Bush, Texas Land Commissioner
"Let There Be Water will change the way you think about Israel. Don’t miss it." ―Lloyd Goldman, American Associates Ben-Gurion University of the Negev President
About the Author SETH M. SIEGEL is a lawyer, activist, writer, and successful serial entrepreneur. His essays on water and other policy issues have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, and in leading publications in Europe and Asia. Siegel is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is a highly sought-after speaker on a range of topics including water policy, Middle East politics, and national security. He is married and lives in New York City.
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Most helpful customer reviews
32 of 34 people found the following review helpful. How Israel achieved water independence in 10 years By Yoram Hazony Seth Siegel has written a fascinating, engaging and highly readable book telling the story of how Israel went from chronic water shortages to being a water-exporting nation roughly between 2001 and 2013. Most people probably don't feel they need to know how this happened. But the story of Israel's struggles and ultimate triumph over the scourge of water scarcity is a drama so exciting, and it has such an exhilarating ending, that anyone who picks up this book will end up being very happy they did.Siegel picks up the story of water scarcity in Israel in the 1930s, when British experts were issuing one report after another arguing that the Jews trying to flee Nazi-dominated Europe just could not be physically accommodated in British-controlled Palestine. The Zionists, headed by David Ben-Gurion, sought to prove the British wrong, and thus was born the Israeli effort to turn a half-arid, half-desert land into a water-rich country capable of sustaining millions.Along the way, Siegel has a great time telling how the Jews got water to their illegal settlements in the Negev desert; how the National Water Carrier brought the Sea of Galilee to the southern deserts and made the city of Beersheva possible; how Israeli-invented drip irrigation proved that it could not only save half the agricultural water needs of the world, but could do so while at least doubling crop yield for just about anything farmers grow; how Israeli engineers turned waste water from a repulsive pollutant and a health hazard into a central pillar of Israeli agriculture; and how desalination of Mediterranean sea water finally went from a dream to a reality in just the last few years.This is truly a feel-good story. But Siegel also sheds light on some dark times and some dark issues. His chapter on the pollution of virtually all of Israel's rivers is heartbreaking, and he doesn't spare us the deaths of 4 Maccabiah games athletes who were poisoned falling into the muck of what was left of the Yarkon River in Tel Aviv. Siegel also makes an important case for Ben-Gurion's nationalization of every drop of water in the country (including the rain falling on your roof) in 1959. This nationalization may have saved Israel, but Siegel also reminds us that until new legislation in 2007, Israeli municipalities used their income from nationalized water resources as a slush fund to subsidize crony politics, rather than fixing badly decaying water delivery systems.Under Siegel's light and witty pen, all of this come's off as hugely entertaining, and leaves you with the feeling that you're learning things that everyone really should just know.This is not to say that the book is without flaws. First, most readers will probably want to know which Israeli political leaders took responsibility and made the tough decisions to turn their country into a water-rich nation--as well as who opposed them. But while Siegel does mention some names (Baiga Schochat, Ariel Sharon) in passing, his book disappointingly shies away from really giving us a picture of the political struggles at the top that led to this miracle. Second, Siegel's overwhelmingly positive outlook may leave some readers feeling like important things are being swept under the rug. Siegel asserts that the socialized water system was free from corruption, for instance, but there are points in the book where you begin to feel that things couldn't have been quite that peachy.On the whole, it is rare to find a book that's as slam-dunk worth reading as this one is. It's a pleasure and you end up knowing an ocean of things you never thought you'd care about--but which, Siegel convincingly proves, are really among the most important things in the world.Yoram HazonyThe Herzl Institute, Jerusalem
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful. Something in the water By David Wineberg When you realize that Israel exports two billion dollars’ worth of water from a tiny desert state overflowing with people, it might be instructive to know what it is they’re doing. Seth Siegel’s book is an in-depth, tightly focused and exhaustive look at the totality of what the country has accomplished in water.There are three basic levels to the story. PEOPLE must be conscious of their water consumption and actively minimize it. The need has forced TECHNOLOGY to take leaps and bounds that have vaulted Israel to world leadership in water management. And unusually, there is the POLITICAL WILLl to manage natural resources nationwide for the benefit of all, even to the point of co-operating regionally. With these three arms working together, and the only place on earth where all three are firing in sync, Israel is the poster child for survival.On the people level, everyone shuts off showers while soaping up, closes taps when teethbrushing, and uses dual flush toilets Israel pioneered. Flow restrictors are on all showers, lush gardens are actively discouraged.On the tech level, Israelis invented and perfected drip irrigation - to where crops need a fraction of the water (and fertilizer) that flood or spray irrigation requires, and produce more. Israel has pioneered improvements in desalination, allowing it to let lakes and rivers recover naturally while desalination provides the country’s water – to the tune of more than 90%.In management, Israel recycles 85% of sewage (vs 8% in the USA). and sends it to agriculture. Even toilet paper is recovered and recycled, reducing landfill and increasing processing capacity by 30%. Israel is now actually short of sewage, because people have so reduced their water consumption. The country has done deals regionally, pumping Lake Galilee water to Jordan in exchange for a desalination plant on Jordanian territory in the Gulf of Aqaba. Leaks have been reduced to about 16%, because water authorities monitor all systems continuously.Even before its founding, leaders knew water was the number one priority. The British refused to allow greater immigration because there wasn’t enough water to support the local population. At that time the population was little more than half a million. Today it is 20 times higher, and Israel exports water.Despite Israel’s pariah status globally, Israeli water technologies and strategies are finding their way into Africa, Asia and America, as water shortages become the norm.The book is straightforward, if a little fawning. Siegel avoids the Dead Sea disaster, in which 95% of the Jordan River is diverted, and the Dead Sea is losing three feet a year. It’s to the point where shoreline hotels now must run shuttle buses to the shore. He keeps to his topic, and holds interest with results, since there are so many substantial ones to describe. He addresses the elephant in the room - the Palestinian situation - but as ever, there is no meeting of the minds. Still, 96% of West Bank Palestinians have state-provided clean water, where none had it before.Let There Be Water is a blueprint for survival: necessary, critical, successful, and replicable.David Wineberg
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful. Bringing Water to the Promised Land By Kevin L. Nenstiel “I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs.”—Isaiah 41:18As 2015 winds down, and we look backward on history’s hottest recorded summer ever, perhaps it’s time to consider the future. As entrepreneur and philanthropist Seth Siegel writes, changing rain patterns severely threaten human populations. The California drought offers a foretaste of impending crop failures, urban stresses, and ecological catastrophe. Siegel directs our attention to the one nation with a long history of forward-thinking water policies: Israel.The state of Israel has pioneered important advances in how to use and improve our water consumption since before the state existed. They've developed ways of moving water from where it exists to where the people need it, allowing high-yield agriculture in regions traditionally arid, even in historic deserts. They’ve improved water use techniques, increasing farm yields with less water, while cities consume less, leaving farmers and wildernesses more.Siegel provides an intriguing mix of history and science, describing not only what advances Israel has made in water management, but also why it made particular advances. He describes the unique political, economic, and geographic pressures shaping Israeli water policy. The mix of intense regional water close to lifeless desert was, recently, almost unique to Israel. But as Siegel notes, if environmental trends continue, similar conditions may soon exist globally.First, Israeli culture doesn’t disparage water. Children never sing “Rain, rain, go away.” Israel nationalizes water access, making all water everywhere a common good. While American libertarians campaign to repeal laws against rainwater collection, Israel maintains a strict enforcement policy: rain barrels aren’t a right. Hoarding or misusing water isn’t abstract moral wrong; Israel considers water abuse theft from the people, and prosecutes water hogs accordingly.Because water is scarce and distributed unequally by nature, sharing and distributing water has the same aura of civic responsibility in America that we get from, say, joining the military. Responsible water use isn’t some mere principle; it’s a foundation of common civic government. By basing much public philosophy on communal responsibility to water, Israel’s government might superficially resemble American conservatism; but it expresses very different impulses in actual policy.But Israel couples this nationalizing with incentives for more egalitarian, democratic water management techniques. According to Siegel, much municipal water in Europe and America gets lost to leakage, but Israel has created technologies designed specifically to curtail leaks and limit mechanical waste. Especially since home leaks often aren’t noticeable until they’ve created significant structural damage, the shift to preventative identification has both public and private benefits.Israeli engineers, working through public-private partnerships, have invented more intense, ecologically specific irrigation technologies: Siegel extols drip irrigation, invented in Israel and now more commonly being adopted in other nations and continents. Israeli agronomists have created new plant variants that put more growth into edible fruits and flesh, less into inedible stems and foliage. This boosts agricultural yield from limited water applications, costing less in transpiration and wastage.Israel’s National Water Carrier, which moves water from the moister north to the arid south with minimal evaporation, rivals the Interstate Highway System as a marvel of public-spirited engineering. Israel has found ways to recycle urban wastewater into clean, fresh irrigation, and connect water where it is with soil where water’s needed. Siegel describes the public commitment to water in ways familiar to Americans praising George Washington every July 4th.This book describes technologies, social movements, and other important forces in language accessible to non-specialist readers. He describes very intricate advances in aquifer management, farming, and sewage removal, without bogging down in terminology. Siegel’s storytelling resembles a novel: much like Leon Uris, he makes Israeli history moving and alive. He’s just discussing water, and water policy, rather than war.Siegel delves into the history of Israel’s water consumption style. It didn’t just intend to create better water usage; many of its techniques were invented to facilitate land grabs in places like the Negev before Partition in 1948. Some readers might find the political opportunism distasteful, and the implications for Palestinians who farm in more time-honored ways has harsh undertones, but Siegel spotlights the advances themselves, not transnational politics.Informed readers realize water management issues aren’t one nation’s problem anymore. Droughts in California and floods in Texas signal new times for handling clean, drinkable water. Siegel’s descriptions of Israeli advances give world peoples hope that, as climate changes, human ingenuity can manage these changes proactively.
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Let There Be Water: Israel's Solution for a Water-Starved WorldBy Seth M. Siegel
