Israeli mentor to Australian desalination plants now on guard against Iranian terror
Boys Town Jerusalem graduate Shai Dreizin, CEO of Israel’s Ashkelon desalination plant, has been personally involved over the past years in launching two similar projects in Sydney and on the Gold Coast.
Shai Dreizin
Both Australian plants, based on the revolutionary desalination of seawater introduced in Ashkelon, sent top representatives to visit the Israeli installation for training in how to run and maintain the massive desalination plants.
Recently, Dreizin was involved in the throes of a cyberattack attributed to Iran that was explicitly targeted towards Israeli water installations. He is quick to point out that the attack caused only very minor, easily-repaired damage to several small isolated facilities, stressing that the Ashkelon Desalination Plant is highly secure. However, he declares, the attempt to poison Israel’s water has spurred reinforced safety measures throughout the entire infrastructure.
Shai Dreizin, 56, has stood at the helm of the Ashkelon Desalination Plant for over 15 years. This plant revolutionised desalination by becoming the world’s first and largest installation to utilize the method of “reverse osmosis” to transform seawater into pure drinking water. Today there are five such desalination plants in Israel, currently providing over 80% of the water supply for this rain-starved country, with two additional plants under construction.
“Thanks to our striking success, we’ve helped other ‘dry’ areas in Australia, Saudi Arabia, India and America to harness the power of desalination,” Dreizin notes. “This is the future. The world is growing more arid, and we cannot be dependent on rain to quench our needs.”
Dreizin points with pride to Israel’s profound achievements in gaining independence in supplying both water and natural gas to its population. “No country in the world has developed as swiftly and successfully in so many technological directions as Israel,” he declares.
The highly-accomplished CEO credits his Boys Town Jerusalem alma mater with “opening the window to Torah and technology” for him over the six years he studied in the school. “I know for certain that BTJ planted the seeds which became the basis for my advancement today.” For his part, Shai Dreizin willingly “gives back” by hosting BTJ missions and VIP’s on the desalination plant site, and coming to the campus to motivate the newest generation of Boys Town Jerusalem students.
Report from Ilana Kaplan
