Arison's Blue-Green unit to build desalination plant

"Globes" reports that Housing and Construction Holding Co. Ltd. (Shikun u'Binui) subsidiary Blue-Green Development and Investment Ltd. will build and operate a five million cubic meter brackish water desalination plant for Kibbutz Kfar Masaryk in the Galilee. Blue Green has an option to expand the plant's output by an additional three million cubic meters of water. Construction will cost NIS 40 million.

The facility will desalinate brackish water from the sources of the Neeman and Kurdani Rivers using reverse osmosis technology. The water will be pumped from drills on kibbutz land.

Blue Green is the cleantech arm of Housing and Construction, which is controlled by Shari Arison through Arison Holdings Ltd. The company operates a wide range of infrastructure projects, including water and sewage management, municipal water management, and renewable energy. The company is Israel's largest private sewage treatment company for municipalities. Amir Levi is its CEO.

Busy week for water technologies

More than 2000 visitors and 100 delegations from 80 countries worldwide attended the WATEC conference last week in Tel Aviv to survey the latest developments in water and environmental technologies.

Israel is a global leader in the water sector, and a number of new deals and agreements were announced at the conference. Below is a summary.

• Government launches new water R&D program. The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor today launched Israel NEWTech - Novel Efficient Water Technologies, the government program to promote Israeli water technologies. The program aims to double water technology exports to $2 billion by 2010.
  

• Mekorot nearing strategic cooperation with GE. Water industry sources inform ''Globes'' that Mekorot National Water Company is in advanced negotiations for a strategic cooperation agreement with General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) for the construction of the $450 million 100-million cubic meter desalination plant at Ashdod.

• Arison unit CEO sees water potential in purified wells. “Israel has 50 million cubic meters of untapped polluted water in the coastal plain alone, which can be treated, thereby saving local authorities a great deal of money, as well as helping raise money for the construction of desalination plants,” says Blue-Green CEO Amir Levi. Blue-Green is a division of the Arison Business Group.
  

• Aquarius CEO urges water start-ups to float shares. “The water industry doesn’t need better technology for the production of drinking water. Today’s technologies are excellent. The challenge is to improve the energy consumption needed to produce water,” says Aquarius Technologies Inc. president and CEO Thomas M. Pokorsky.

• U.S. investor acquires 17% of water management solutions company Arad. US Jewish businessman Bill Davidson is expanding his holdings in Israel and is reportedly acquiring 17% of water measurement and management solutions company Arad Ltd. at a value of $120 million.

• Israel-China 'water-trade' to rise significantly. Israel expects "to significantly increase" its water technology exports to China over the next few years following a successful round of meetings between National Infrastructures Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and Chinese water-technology leaders attending WATEC Israel 2007.

• Israel and Mexico in water treatment deal. The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, and Mexican National Water Commissioner Jose Luis Luege Tamargo have signed a water cooperation agreement between Israel and Mexico, NEWTech - Novel Efficient Water Technologies director Oded Distel told “Globes”.