Between 2000 and 2014, the number of residents not connected to wastewater recycling dropped from 7.7 percent (485,000) to 2.2 percent (180,000). Most of those not hooked up to recycling are Bedouin nomads in East Jerusalem and the Negev Desert. Over half (52 percent) of the overall population is linked to tertiary (the highest level of) wastewater treatment, up from 33 percent in 2000.

Israel’s management of its water resources has won praise throughout the world. Israeli water expert Seth Siegel says that the country has grown from a small state with a desert climate to “a water superpower,” maintaining the world’s most sophisticated water management system.