Water, water...
For the 70th Birthday of our friend Liora Bernstein we were invited on a tiyul (trip) by bus to a mystery destination. It turned out to be to the source of the Yarkon River, that flows to the sea just north of Tel Aviv.
The Yarkon rises at a place called Rosh Ha'ayin, that means "head of the springs," and turns out to be the place where the waters of the mountain aquifer bubble up from below. We went thru a park on the edge of the town of Rosh Ha'ayin to see the almost still, pure waters of the head of the Yarkon River, filled with water lilies with yellow flowers. Down a dusty lane near the main railway line where no random walk would ever find it, we saw the source of the water, where is bubbles up between the rocks that have been placed over the site. Nearby was a Baptist Village, a settlement founded in 1956 by a group of ardent Baptists.
We also visited the original large underground pumping station run by the Mekorot Company, that controls 80% of the water distributed in Israel thru the National Water Carrier. In 1945, before the State was established, David Ben Gurion realized that Israel needed to be self-sufficient in food, and the only way to do this was to embark on a large-scale irrigation project, that would exploit the large unused area of the northern Negev, where there was land, but insufficient water. He initiated the first pipeline to take water from Rosh Ha'ayin to the northern Negev. Most of the system was buried to avoid sabotage by the Arabs.
Later the NWC was greatly expanded by using most of the water from the Jordan River in a system that takes it south past Tel Aviv to Ashdod and vicinity. Now water can be delivered to any place in Israel by computerized control of pumping stations all over the country.
Originally, the British said that the population could not exceed 650,000 due to insufficient water. Now Israel has 10 times that population. But, because of 4 years of drought, the level of Lake Kinneret, the source of the Jordan River, is now well below the "red line" and there is not enough water for the use of the population. Unfortunately, the Govt. is doing little or nothing to warn the population to stop wasting water, since the politicians are too busy preserving their jobs. Some might say that Israelis will ignore warnings any way. But, one part of a plan to avoid disaster is to build desalination plants all over Israel, using plentiful sea water. So far two have been built along the coast and a third is under construction near Hadera. But, these only supply 5% of Israel's needs. Of course, there are also recycling schemes that use purified sewer water for agricultural needs. A scheme to transfer water from the southern coast of Turkey to Israel has so far not been implemented.
Water is essential for the life and development of the State and means must be found to revitalize the sources of water to satisfy the needs of the growing population.
___________________________
Happy New Year to all my readers and friends.
May you have a peaceful, prosperous and fruitful year.
The Yarkon rises at a place called Rosh Ha'ayin, that means "head of the springs," and turns out to be the place where the waters of the mountain aquifer bubble up from below. We went thru a park on the edge of the town of Rosh Ha'ayin to see the almost still, pure waters of the head of the Yarkon River, filled with water lilies with yellow flowers. Down a dusty lane near the main railway line where no random walk would ever find it, we saw the source of the water, where is bubbles up between the rocks that have been placed over the site. Nearby was a Baptist Village, a settlement founded in 1956 by a group of ardent Baptists.
We also visited the original large underground pumping station run by the Mekorot Company, that controls 80% of the water distributed in Israel thru the National Water Carrier. In 1945, before the State was established, David Ben Gurion realized that Israel needed to be self-sufficient in food, and the only way to do this was to embark on a large-scale irrigation project, that would exploit the large unused area of the northern Negev, where there was land, but insufficient water. He initiated the first pipeline to take water from Rosh Ha'ayin to the northern Negev. Most of the system was buried to avoid sabotage by the Arabs.
Later the NWC was greatly expanded by using most of the water from the Jordan River in a system that takes it south past Tel Aviv to Ashdod and vicinity. Now water can be delivered to any place in Israel by computerized control of pumping stations all over the country.
Originally, the British said that the population could not exceed 650,000 due to insufficient water. Now Israel has 10 times that population. But, because of 4 years of drought, the level of Lake Kinneret, the source of the Jordan River, is now well below the "red line" and there is not enough water for the use of the population. Unfortunately, the Govt. is doing little or nothing to warn the population to stop wasting water, since the politicians are too busy preserving their jobs. Some might say that Israelis will ignore warnings any way. But, one part of a plan to avoid disaster is to build desalination plants all over Israel, using plentiful sea water. So far two have been built along the coast and a third is under construction near Hadera. But, these only supply 5% of Israel's needs. Of course, there are also recycling schemes that use purified sewer water for agricultural needs. A scheme to transfer water from the southern coast of Turkey to Israel has so far not been implemented.
Water is essential for the life and development of the State and means must be found to revitalize the sources of water to satisfy the needs of the growing population.
___________________________
Happy New Year to all my readers and friends.
May you have a peaceful, prosperous and fruitful year.
posted by Jack Cohen at 8:22 AM
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