Showing posts with label water. Show all posts
Showing posts with label water. Show all posts

Saturday, June 16, 2018

Down on the farm

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Last week's farm pictures from the middle of Israel.
They are snapped through the window of a bus, so it's better if you click a few times and open them to the large version. 
You can see the sharp line dividing dark soil from green plants.
According to the hats, I reckon those are workers from Thailand harvesting whatever crop that is. 


And here a truck with trailer goes along the farm road leaving a trail of dust. 
Israel is in her fifth year of drought. 
Most of our water now comes from desalination. 
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UPDATE: I just learned that today is World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought!
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Thursday, March 22, 2018

Sparkling SodaStream water!

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Happy WORLD WATER DAY!
The 2018 theme is Nature for Water and the idea is to raise awareness about nature-related solutions to the water crisis.
Over the last few years Israel has gotten itself out of our water shortage; now we re-use a whopping 86% of our water.
So I'm going to blog today instead about a more exciting topic--SPARKLING WATER!


On a blustery January day our group's bus pulled up to the gate for a factory tour.
The sign says Welcome to the SodaStream family.


The plant is huge, spread out in many buildings, in the brand-new Idan HaNegev industrial park.
SodaStream moved here and closed its much smaller factory in the West Bank less than four years ago.


Our tour started with a little lecture in the Visitor Center where all the varieties of soda makers are on display.
Here is how to make flavored soda water at home:  https://www.sodastreamusa.com/how-it-works.aspx

We also got to see the funny video with Mayim Bialik and Hodor about the Lost Tribe of the Homoshlepians, the primitive people who used to schlepp water around in plastic bottles.  :)
Watch it here!


Then our guide took us into the factory!




You don't see many workers because so much of the production is automated.


But if something is a bit off, you do need a person to get right in there and fix it!


Our SodaStream guide needed amplification to make her voice heard over the machine noise.


Watching the robots is a bit mesmerizing, even in my little videos!



This man is from Peru!
SodaStream prides itself on fostering a happy work atmosphere filled with mutual respect and equality among its 1,700 employees.
Jews and Arabs, new immigrants and native-born Sabras, all ages, all work together in peace.
Every day a bus from Jerusalem brings 80 of the Palestinians who worked in the previous factory in Mishor Adumim.  (And travel time is paid.)
And 40% of the workforce are Bedouin--Israeli citizens from the close-by Bedouin city of Rahat or from the Negev's many unrecognized villages.
And half of those Bedouin are women!


Just outside SodaStream's gate you can see Rahat (well, you might have to click a few times on the photo to see the houses).


It was early afternoon Friday when our bus left in order to be back home in Meitar before Shabbat.
What warmed my heart that cold day was this picture of two smiling young men bringing platters of food or goodies as a nice little Sabbath Eve extra for the "SodaStream family" that stayed on to work, 24/7.
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At the official website you can click on your country for local information about SodaStream.
SodaStream came to Israel in the 1970s, and today its headquarters are here and the products are exported to 47 countries.  Soon China will join that list too!

Learn all about SodaStream over at Wikipedia and check out the links at the end too.
And happy World Water Day!
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Sunday, April 16, 2017

Splitting the waters

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Today is the 7th and last day of Pesach.
We remember how on that day Moses led the newly-forming Jewish People out of Egypt through the split waters of the sea.


"And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided" -- וַיִּבָּקְעוּ, הַמָּיִם
- Exodus 14:21


"When God split the Red Sea, all the waters in the world divided, even the waters in cisterns and ditches, in jars, cups, casks and bowls ... the supernal waters, too, divided ..."
 -- (Midrash Mechilta)
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Whichever holiday you are celebrating today, have a happy and meaningful one! 
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Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Jerusalem's Archimedes screw

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The Archimedes screw is now turning!
I was at Safra Square in Jerusalem on Sunday, and it was my first time after all these years to see it in motion.
During the long recent past when Israel had a water shortage, the water in many of the city's beautiful fountains was turned off.

See more pictures, including a real Archimedes screw once used in agriculture, in my post A Fountain That Screwed Up.
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Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Effluents, drinking "frohibited"

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We have a double W word today for ABC Wednesday: wastewater!
Since the public gardens in the Negev town of Omer are irrigated with effluents (wastewater), drinking from the town garden taps or hoses is . . . is what?!  -- "frohibited"!
Haha, another Israeli sign blooper!


Purple is the conventional color to warn of effluents.
I have seen big purple valves in fields but this was my first time to see all the drip irrigation hoses thus marked. 


The funny signs and the purple pipes are all along this long hedge, and behind the fence are several kindergartens.
Maybe that's why they are being so careful to warn about the water.
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UPDATE Dec. 17, 2015: Funny, just a day after I blogged about greywater, Ben-Gurion Univ. posted this article on Facebook:  
Greywater Reuse for Irrigation Is Safe and Does Not Cause Gastrointestinal Illness, According to Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research Study 
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(Linking also to signs, signs.)
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Friday, January 16, 2015

Manure biowaste management & reuse

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A biowaste digester!
Yes.  And it stands in the lobby of a beautiful building. 


It's in the ZIWR, the Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research,  which is part of the  Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research at the Sede Boqer Campus of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

To learn more about what they research, see their website or this 5-minute video.
The video has impressive aerial views of the nice building and of the surrounding wilderness.
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Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Pseudo seashore

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 S is for seashore.
Sure, but in Beer Sheva, in the Negev desert??


Pretend you see blue sea and sky and sand.


Imagine these are soft lounges to lie on and sunbathe.


Surf this pipeline (in your dreams).

So funny, Beer Sheva is trying to brand itself as the Water City (Ir HaMayim).
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(Linking to ABC Wednesday and Signs, signs.)
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Saturday, March 22, 2014

The memory of trees and of water

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An ancient place of water in the desert is now inside  Meitar Forest.
A modern cautious person must have rolled a stone on it to reduce possible danger to hikers. 

Deep . . . 
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Today is World Water Day , coming a day after  International Day of Forests.
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Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Keeping water safe

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F is for firmly fenced in.
Water valves in the open areas surrounding Meitar are kept under lock and key.
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(For ABC Wednesday.)
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Saturday, January 11, 2014

A midrash on the waters

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"And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided" -- וַיִּבָּקְעוּ, הַמָּיִם
- Exodus 14:21

"When God split the Red Sea, all the waters in the world divided, even the waters in cisterns and ditches, in jars, cups, casks and bowls ... the supernal waters, too, divided ..."
(- Midrash Mechilta)
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(Linking to Weekend Reflections.)
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Friday, October 4, 2013

Pools in the desert

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Just in case you were feeling sorry for me living down here in the hot dry Negev desert, I'll show you the wet part of Meitar's country club. 


And here in the foreground is the kiddie pool.
Oh, and there's a big indoor swimming pool as well.

Today they hosted a Healthy Living Happening at this sport center so I was able to get in free and see the pools for the first time.

The blue sky and the blue pools and the greenery all around were certainly tempting, but I doubt if I'll allow myself to splurge and spend several thousand shekels for a year's entrance.
But it's nice to know that such luxury exists just ten minutes walk from home. 
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(Linking to SkyWatch Friday.)
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Tuesday, November 6, 2012

A quandary and a queue at the Holy Sepulchre

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Queue is a queer word,  with too many letters.
I prefer to just say line.
But what to do, today is Q Day at ABC Wednesday


Most hours of the day there is a long queue of pilgrims wrapped around the  edicule, the structure built over the tomb of Jesus inside the rotunda of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.


The entrance is narrow and the clergy on duty regulate the flow, allowing you only a brief minute inside.
There is room for only 3 or 4 inside, next to the tomb.
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The news broke this week that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is in trouble.
They owe 9 million shekels (2.3 million dollars) for back payments on the water bill.

Apparently they had a tacit agreement with the late Teddy Kollek z"l, who was mayor of Jerusalem from 1965 to 1993, that the church would get free water. 
But now the water company says that under  law the company cannot do this. 

And now,  the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which has extensive and valuable property holdings in the Holy Land and maintains a headquarters in the ancient church, had its bank account frozen. 

The Greeks threatened to close the doors to the church for a day  in protest. 
If that were to happen, it would be a sad day in the Holy City. 
'Tis a quandary. 
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Read the whole story in the Jerusalem Post  and more at Ynet.  
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(A last contribution  to Taphophile Tragics.)
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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

At holy water's edge

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The subject of City Daily Photo group's Theme Day today is "At water's edge."
I am happy to show you very special (some say holy) water--the River Jordan!

My photos are from the Israeli side; the other edge of the narrow river is already in the Kingdom of Jordan.
This place is called in Arabic Qasr al Yahud.
It is just east of Jericho.

The old traditions say that here John the Baptist baptized Jesus, that Joshua led the Israelites across the river into the Promised Land, and that the Prophet Elijah ascended into heaven.


I watched a Canadian group witnessing as to what had brought them to faith and to this holy place.
One by one they descended the stairs and their minister blessed them and dunked them.
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You can enlarge the photos; click and then click again on what opens.  It will make the little river look bigger, maybe.
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More information on Kasr al Yahud in this article.
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To see the other baptism site called Yardenit, favored by Protestants, where the Jordan flows out of the Sea of Galilee, please see these posts.
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To visit other bloggers posting their water's edge, go to the nice new City Daily Photo website.
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Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Symbolic and functional shpritzim

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During this hot Jerusalem summer, with every day in the 30s C, I envy the dome of the Shrine of the Book (of Dead Sea Scrolls fame) which gets a constant shower of cool water to keep the glazed terra cotta tile cladding from overheating.
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In this extremely interesting article about the Shrine of the Book, I learned that
Link
Kiesler [the U.S. architect] himself intended for this to feel like a purification of sorts, akin to the mikvah, the ritual bath practice that originated with the Essenes before being adopted by mainstream Judaism. This is also reflected in the fountains that play against the dome.
Like the fact that the space is underground, the water feature also contributes to the maintenance of a cool interior in the extreme Jerusalem heat---and also likely contributes to wear on the tiles, necessitating their eventual replacement and repair.

More photos are at http://jerusalemhillsdailyphoto.blogspot.co.il/2010/08/reflecting-on-apocalyptic-imagination.html.
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Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Old-fashioned fun

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Hot hot hot. Our heat wave in Israel is lasting weeks this time.
So what's a grandma to do when three grandkids come visiting to my one-room house with no air conditioning?

Water play, outside! Dean turned on the hose.

Eyal filled up a plastic water bottle shpritzer and shpritzed us all.

Libby watered the grapevine and then took care of her big brother.

Luckily their mom, my smart daughter, had brought a change of clothes for each.

It doesn't take much to have fun and be happy together!
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Thursday, March 22, 2012

Steam chimneys and World Water Day

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Our group was in Tiberias, and from afar we saw the tomb of Rabbi Meir the Miracle Worker.
(This is another instance of a "holy industry" that grows up around a holyman's tomb, as we saw in the post about Honi the Circle Drawer.)

At the base of Rabbi Meir's hill is an official park, Hamat Teverya National Park.
It is just across the street from the Sea of Galilee.

Hamat's hot springs have been in continuous use since ancient times.
Some 2,000 meters below the surface are 17 highly saline hot springs long renowned for their healing qualities.
The water can reach 60 degrees C or 140 F.
In the photo above you can see the steam escaping through steam chimneys.


Steam also was coming from this opening and water was flowing from the black pipe.
The water is cleaned and cooled to 33-40 C and then channeled north a bit, to the modern spas of Tiberias.

After use in the baths, the water is conducted to a Mekorot Water Company facility within the national park and from there to a channel that conveys it to the Jordan River south of the Sea of Galilee.
I noticed Mekorot was building something new there last week.

The worker bending rebar, and the black basalt ancient wall behind him, made me wonder which would last for more centuries--the metal or the stone.
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Legend has it that when the sick begged King Solomon to find a cure for their ailments, the King ordered legions of demons to go down deep underground near the shore of the Sea of Galilee and heat the springs.
He then struck them deaf so they would never hear of his death and stop heating the springs.
And so the demons carry out his command to this very day.
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Today, March 22, is U.N. World Water Day, although they concentrate on fresh water.
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Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Inside the walls, gardens and huge reservoirs

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I love the old roof tiles like these in the garden of the Notre Dame de Sion convent.
Many of them came all the way from Marseille in the 19th century to roof the houses around here.

Like this precious little outbuilding!

It sits next to one of the huge rain reservoirs that the Sisters of Sion have on the big walled property.
The white yardstick inside goes up to 5 meters.

It finally started to be winter today, cold and rainy; let's hope the pool will fill up this season.

Do you reckon the Rob Roy mixer from yesterday's post contributed some cement to these wall pillars a long time ago?

Just inside the big perimeter walls.
This photo from last spring shows how green the nuns' garden can be.
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