The Israelis invented modern drip irrigation and use it extensively. They also make good use of low-quality water, like treated wastewater and not-totally-desal

The Israelis invented modern drip irrigation and use it extensively. They also make good use of low-quality water, like treated wastewater and not-totally-desalinated seawater, by developing salt-tolerant varieties and carefully optimizing plant nutrition under their constraints. Of course they do lots of hydroponics too, for the usual hydroponic crops (tomatoes, cucumbers, etc.). The science in hydroponics and science in sophisticated soil culture aren't really that different--you'll see mostly the same chemical fertilizers, the same EC and pH measurements in the field, the same lab analyses by ICP, etc. Some water still drains to the aquifer and is "wasted". It needs to be though, or else unwanted ions (from impure source water or fertilizer, including but not limited to Na+ and Cl-) would accumulate and kill the plant. Israel has a significant problem with salinization of their soils and groundwater, and lots of interesting work modeling that.