Advanced water monitoring systems will be deployed in Israel through a partnership between Mekorot Israel National Water Company and Newsight Imaging, a startup from Ness Ziona.

Mekorot and Newsight will develop a system using a camera chip that will function as a precise and uniquely inexpensive spectrometer. It will analyze the water thousands of times a second based on reflected light.

A memorandum of understanding about the joint project was signed at the recent CleanVest Summit in Tel Aviv.

“Israel’s water sector and Mekorot’s systems are the most advanced in the world,” said David Balsar, General Manager of Innovation at Mekorot.“ Collaborations, such as with Newsight whose technology promises immediate spectral sensing, can help to improve water monitoring and increase efficiency considerably.”

Newsight CEO Eli Assoolin said that although spectral diagnostics isn’t a new method, “Newsight is unique in its exclusive technology and in the integration that we have implemented at the level of the most critical component in the system, the sensor chip.”

Newsight’s biotechnology and algorithm experts are working with the chip designers and with Mekorot experts, he said. Mekorot will determine the testing parameters and where the first pilot will be implemented.

Newsight Imaging, named a Gartner Cool Vendor, collaborates with makers of water meters, water desalination plants and industrial plants to integrate the technology at numerous monitoring locations. The system can connect to a wireless communications medium, transmit results to the cloud and issue alerts.