Following Rio’s successful bid to host the next Olympics, the Brazilian government are concerned about the combination of the wave of tourists with the global shortage of water.

At present Brazil is investing heavily in educating the public in saving water however the Olympics will bring traffic of many tourists, sportspeople and their delegations who are not familiar with the problems of the area and the concern in Brazil is that they will leave behind them serious damages.

As part of handling the problem a decision has been made to send a delegation from Brazil to Israel for the purpose of identifying the technological innovations that Israel has to offer in the field of water and assist them in dealing with the task. The delegation will include the Governor of Baja, the Deputy Governor of Sao Paolo, ten water ministers from various districts and representatives from the large water companies in Brazil. The delegation shall arrive within the framework of the “Watec 2009” Exhibition in which the Export Institute is bringing together the Israeli innovations in the field of water, energy and preservation of the environment.

According to Oded Distel, one of the Watec Exhibition organizers, Brazil is currently contending with problems of pumping water from sources that are harming the Atlantic rain forest. One of their dominant solutions is a campaign which calls for the residents of the area to pee while they are showering in order to save the water used when flushing the toilet. However, although the campaign has been a success Brazil must also include implementation of technological innovations.

In order to assist Brazil in finding solutions for the Olympics, we are holding, within the framework of the Exhibition, a convention headed by the commercial attaches of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, who will discuss the problems and challenges facing them in order to increase efficiency of water consumption. The delegation from Brazil will present the problems they are facing and the representatives of the corporate companies and the research institutions will present the possible technological solutions to those problems. During the visit the delegation will also investigate the desalination plant in Ashkelon which is one of the largest plants worldwide and over a billion shekels was invested in its construction.