Can we drink water?

Soon this question may appear in heads of everyone who lives on Earth. At last count, there are over 7 billion people on the planet and the world's population is increasing every day, which means that the amount of water that we use also is increasing. Add here some climate changes and you will understand what environmentalists fear about all around the world – the lack of water resources.

Should Ukraine be afraid? There are 14 thousands rivers, lots of lakes and groundwater sources, it should be plenty of water. But it is impossible to find a crystal clear water. Seversky Donets, Western Bug, Dniester, Dnieper few years ago appeared at the list of highly contaminated rivers. Unfortunately, the situation changed only for the worse: rivers are full of nitrogen, heavy metals or manganese. In fact, there are no water of the highest quality in the country there, and even after treatment Ukrainians drink dirty water. And if in Kyiv government are concerned about water treatment for a bit, in the regions it is a huge problem.

Now imagine Israel, where the issue of drinking water is much sharper than in Ukraine. There were also some problems with cleaning rivers, but real fight for clean resources started in the early 90's. Recently Israelis completed the terrific project of restoration of the Kishon River basin, they released it from the toxic sludge. Now this place from the polluted ponds turned into a "green light" around the Haifa region. And from purified mud Israelis will make the island so they can relax there and enjoy nature. What was the reason of this success? A clear program of action for the maintenance of the ecological state of each river and its fundamental performance.

And Ukraine soon is going to learn from Israel’s experience. Minister of Environment of Ukraine Ostap Semerk and Minister of Environmental Protection and of Jerusalem Affairs Ze’ev Elkin during their recent meeting agreed to establish a working group on environmental protection and water management. Israeli experts will teach Ukrainian about how they clean up e water, how they prevent pollution, and how they restore water basins in Israel. Ukraine only have to provide their lessons into reality.