Lesson for California on solving serious water shortages from Israel’s

15/09/2015

     California is still counting up the damage from the 2014 drought, which resulted in more than $200 million in losses in the dairy and livestock industry and a staggering $810 million in crop production. And analysts are predicting this year to be even worse.      But many will admit that if there is any country on earth that knows how to trump a three-year (and counting) drought cycle and convert a wasteland to oasis, it’s Israel. For thousands of years, populations have been wresting a livelihood from the desert of what is now Israel, refining the techniques that would one day result in an agricultural paradise.          Even before Israel became a state in 1948, 20th-century pioneers converted vast stretches of desert to productive farm lands and found ways to wring water from miles of sand. And just as difficult, they found ways to tame the Galilee’s veritable mosquito-infested valley into what would eventually become the heartland to a booming agricultural market.      And yes, it has dealt with crippling drought - the kind of water loss that comes from a population growing too quickly without consideration for the changing temperament of Mother Nature. In the 1980s and 1990s Israeli politicians and celebrities went on air to appeal to residents to support water restrictions and more prudent use. The alternative was much like what California is facing now: trucking in water from other areas and staring down a future without a dependable local water source.   Trung Thảo