China looking to Israel for water tech

China will work with companies in Israel to jumpstart a number of water purification and recycling projects, according to a report from the Jerusalem Post.

China wants to kick off 11 major water purification projects in the next five years.

Water has emerged as one of the main pillars of the clean technology market. And, to put it bluntly, we are in a whole heap of trouble, people. Water consumption increased by 7x in the last century. Groundwater supplies are rapidly being depleted in China and elsewhere, according to scientists. In large cities in Northern India, a large portion of the population gets its water from a truck, not faucets. A substantial portion of the world's hospital beds are filled with people sick from infected water.

As a result, several governments are investing in plants to desalinate seawater or clean wastewater for re-use. In Singapore, a portion of the municipal water supply is NEWater, which is reclaimed from the sewage system. They don't brag about it at the tourist bureau but you're drinking it.

Israel is one of the countries that could cash in on the trend because water purification has a long history there. Roughly 75 percent of the water consumed in the country is recycled (i.e. it didn't come fresh from a mountain stream.)