“Oceans cover a majority of our planet – 71% – yet are vastly under-sampled,” says Dr. Haymet. “We have an urgent need and new technological marvels available today to complete a system by which marine scientists could authoritatively diagnose and anticipate changing global ocean conditions – something akin to the system that enables meteorologists to predict weather.”  Link.

Inside the Ashkelon desalination plant.

It’s desalination week, apparently, around the world as companies, municipalities, water bureaus, and countries make announcements about the upgrade/increase/newly built desalination facilities.

So here’s some more news from Israel: In the wake of projected water shortages in the coming years, Israel’s Water Authority Council voted to increase water desalination in Israel by 275 million cubic meters by 2013.

Read about in Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post.

Where is the latest desalination plant being built? Brownsville, Texas.

This article posted on the Environmental News Network caught our eye after all the recent news about green technology in Israel.

The Brownsville venture got fast-tracked during a period of alarming drought and rapid population growth. From 1990 to 2000, the Brownsville area grew 43 percent to 372,000 people, and the population is expected to approach 500,000 by 2020.

Every drop of the Rio Grande, the river shared by Texas and Mexico, is already accounted for. A plant that purifies brackish groundwater provides enough water to meet about one-fourth of Brownsville’s current peak demand, but groundwater may not last through a long-term drought.

Desalination is “part of the tools in the toolbox” of 4,500 water management strategies in the state’s water plan, Texas Water Development Board spokeswoman Carla Daws said.

“We should never become complacent because of the history of our state having repeated droughts,” she said.

And they mention Israel, too, among the countries pursuing this technology:

About two-thirds of the world’s desalinated water is produced in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and North Africa. Perth, Australia, is looking to meet a third of its fresh water demand by removing salt from sea water.

In March, Israel showed off its plant at the Mediterranean port of Ashkelon that can process 87 million gallons of water a day. Singapore opened a sea water desalination plant in 2005 hoping it will meet at least 10 percent of its water needs. Two months ago, General Electric Co. announced a $220 million contract to build a plant in South Africa.

In other news from BoingBoing, you probably better lay off drinking bottled water from Fiji.. or maybe lay drinking bottled water altogether.

Following up from our last post, a bit more about environmental technology in Israel - this time in a film format!

A little cheesy, but fun all the same. This video provides a good overview of Israel’s role in the environmental technology field. Keep in mind, however, that a great deal of the technology the video discusses is only implemented outside of Israel. Back at home, there is still quite a bit of catching up to do.

The Jerusalem Report has an excellent article today on Israeli innovation in water technology. The article covers desalination, wastewater purification, water use efficiency, and more.

You can read it, along with other articles in our Zalul in the News flickr photo set.