Israel’s water secret is one of the most overlooked engineering triumphs in the Middle East — while Iran’s taps run dry for hours a day, Israel cracked the code. Here’s how.

While Iran faces economic collapse and civil unrest partly driven by a catastrophic water crisis, Israel quietly became one of the world’s leading nations in desalination — turning saltwater into drinking water for millions.

In this conversation, a civil engineer who worked on Israel’s water infrastructure for decades breaks down exactly how it happened. We talk about the National Water Carrier built in the 1950s–60s, why the Sea of Galilee can no longer sustain the whole country, the two main desalination technologies (thermal and reverse osmosis), and what the future looks like for water security in the Middle East.

This is one of the most important — and underreported — stories in the region.