Texas May Look To Middle East For Water Solutions

After embarking on a massive desalination project in California, an Israeli company is well positioned to offer its technology to another state grappling with drought: Texas.

IDE Technologies, based in Kadima, Israel, opened its first U.S. office in Austin. It will market desalination technology to water utilities within the state and in other states.

The move is just one sign that Texas may become a land of opportunity for the global water industry in the coming years. The state is planning to pour billions of dollars into water projects.

Texas voters approved a proposal two years ago aimed at confronting water challenges in the drought-ridden state. The proposal, an amendment to the Texas constitution, devoted $2 billion to water projects out of the state's rainy day fund, normally dedicated to safeguarding a state in the instance of a budget shortfall.

IDE Technologies has nabbed Mark Ellison to help it settle into the Lone Star State. Ellison "most recently served as former Gov. Rick Perry's manager of strategic water initiatives in the Texas economic development office," Austin Business Journal reported.

IDE Technologies specializes in desalination, and it has completed 400 water treatment projects around the world over the last forty years.

"The company, though only opening its first permanent U.S. office this month, is already building the largest desalination plants in the Western Hemisphere in Carlsbad, California.

Company officials think that Texas could benefit from expanded desalination infrastructure as a way to help meet the state's water needs," the report said.

Israel has confronted its own water scarcity challenges in large part by investing in desalination technology.

"Israeli planners are looking to desalination as a possible permanent solution to the problem of drought. Some even anticipate an event that was once unthinkable: a water surplus in Israel," the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported.