Water retention

and

, Israel’s national water company, have signed an agreement to jointly develop water treatment technologies that will help solve some of the world’s most difficult water challenges, including the supply of high-quality water in arid regions.

The agreement joins the two companies in a strategic partnership to develop and market globally technologies specifically for wastewater treatment and reuse, desalination, and water treatment security techniques and solutions. Siemens will have the opportunity to use Mekorot as a beta site for new technology, partial funding of R&D, and exposure to new technology development under Israel’s water technology incubator program.

“Water is an extremely precious commodity in Israel. The landscape there provides the perfect environment for researching and developing water technologies in ‘real-world’ conditions and then marketing and selling them globally,” said Dr. Roger Radke, CEO of the Water Technologies Division of Siemens Group I&S.

“Nearly 2 billion people in the world today do not have access to clean drinking water and in the next 20 years, one-third of the population may be facing a serious water crisis,” added Radke. “People are now only beginning to respond to the issues of clean water though investment and research, which will be critical to solving the world’s water dilemma.”

Siemens estimates demand for new water treatment, reuse and recycle technologies, estimated at $40 billion, will double in the next 8 to 10 years.

According to both companies, Mekorot will benefit from early exposure to new technologies under development, assistance with technical issues specific to Mekorot, potential market channels for Mekorot-developed technologies, and support in analysing applicability of incubator-developed products to the global water market.