I read the regularly sent newsletters from the Israeli Embassy (for which I am very grateful), and I always read them with interest. And after reading the next one, I just wanted to share their news - I think everyone will be interested in the same way as me, and ask all of us a question: why, with such a wonderful experience, we are so slowly moving along the path of rational use of our natural resources? Are we waiting for it to get really bad? I think that any experience, from any country, that is advanced, we need to adopt and adopt urgently, without waiting for the situation to change with water, land, or energy for a completely worse side. So enjoy the short notes from Israel.

Israel Builds Tallest Solar Tower in Negev

In most cases, solar energy comes from photovoltaic modules that can be installed anywhere. Solar cell towers are a larger structure that uses thousands of mirrors to reflect the sun's rays to generate energy.

The Ashalim Tower in the Negev is surrounded by 50,000 large mirrors that are controlled by a computer via a dedicated wireless network. Such a system should lower the cost of energy production. Mirrors follow the sun and focus the reflected beams on the boiler at the top of the tower. By applying high temperature and pressure, the steam turbine can generate enough electricity to supply 120,000 homes with clean energy annually, thus reducing CO2 emissions by 110 tonnes per year.

The project also has another aspect - the protection of wildlife. In order to prevent the reflected rays of the mirrors from harming the migratory birds, the millions of which migrate over Israel every year, the tower will scare them away by broadcasting the sounds of their natural enemies and spraying grape peel extract.

Israeli water technologies - saving from drought

Israeli Engineers and Hydrologists Achieve Record Drinking Water Reuse for Both Consumption and Irrigation

After years of the "keep the water" refrain and the recurring droughts that plague many of the Jewish State's neighbors in the Middle East, Israel today has no shortage of fresh water. How did it happen?

The answer from leading experts and experts: the most efficient reuse of water. These words support specific figures and facts.

Avi Shaviv, professor at the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Technion, Haifa: “Water is incredibly important to us. We must use gray water for irrigation. We can deliver it from homes to gray water treatment factories. We use 80-85% of the local "gray water" for irrigation in agriculture. This is the highest percentage in the world. "

Meir Ben Nun, spokesman for Igudan, the wastewater treatment plant in the country's largest metropolitan area, Greater Tel Aviv: “We collect water that has been used by 2.5 million people in Dan District, central Israel. We deliver it to Shafdan, where one of the world's largest water purification factories is located. And we reuse 99.8% of the water, returning it to a potable state, suitable for washing or irrigation. We collect the used water using large pipes. From there we remove the sediment, use it again. And then we put microorganisms in the water. They feed on the organic matter in the water and purify the water. "

Avi Shaviv, professor at the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Technion, Haifa, sums up: “We are confident that Israel's experience and different ways of effectively using and obtaining water from different sources can be useful in different parts of the world.

Watch the video there

A drop wears away the stone and turns the desert into a blooming garden.

Most of Israel's territory is occupied by the desert. More precisely, it occupied, because in six and a half decades the Israelis managed to significantly reduce its area. How did they do it?

Israel is the most advanced country in the world in terms of secondary water use. This applies to desalination of sea water, wastewater treatment for irrigation, the use of salt water for artificial breeding of sea fish, as well as drip irrigation. Let's focus on this topic today.

... For Israelis, this is a familiar picture, and guests of our country immediately pay attention to the bright colors of flowers and trees along the streets of Israeli cities and intercity highways. The picture is unusual for a region with a hot climate; it is rarely seen in another Middle Eastern country. But such a lush flowering became possible precisely thanks to plastic tubes with dispensers, with the help of which drip irrigation is carried out.

The Arava Desert is one of the driest places not only in Israel but on the entire planet. Only a few tens of millimeters of precipitation falls here a year. But thanks to drip irrigation, the region has become the largest supplier of fruits and vegetables. Sometimes the Arava desert is either jokingly or seriously called the "vegetable base of Israel." More than 60% of all agricultural products exported by Israel are produced in the Arava Desert.

What is this drip irrigation that turns deserts into gardens and orchards? According to the dictionaries, drip irrigation is an irrigation method in which water is supplied directly to the root zone of the grown plants in controlled small portions using dropper dispensers. As already stated, this is an Israeli invention. The author of the idea of ​​drip irrigation was the engineer Simha Blas, who, together with his son Yeshayahu, invented and developed the principle of metered water supply to the root system of plants.

The drip irrigation system allows the most efficient use of water, obtaining a high yield. The coefficient of efficient use of water (the ratio between the amount of water assimilated by the plant and used for irrigation) with drip irrigation is about 95%, with surface irrigation - 45%, and with sprinkler irrigation - 75%.

With drip irrigation, water flows to all plants evenly and in the same volume. The leaves and stems of plants do not get wet, there is no danger of spreading fungal infections, the soil surface between the rows of plants remains dry, which prevents weed growth.

In addition, fertilizers, labor, energy and piping materials are saved. Drip irrigation also provides additional benefits: earlier harvest and prevention of soil erosion. All this is indirect evidence of the effectiveness of the method, the advantage of which persists for many years and decades. As for the immediate results, they are visible to the naked eye: where the wind drove dust and tumbleweeds before, gardens and greenhouses have sprung up.

Israeli irrigation systems are widely exported overseas. Today Israel provides over 50% of the global drip irrigation market, and Israeli-made drip irrigation systems serve the needs of agriculture in more than a hundred countries around the world.

Watch the video there

In conclusion, I would like to note that we are also working in these areas and we need all-round support of each and every one so that these technologies also become routine in our country.