“Endorheic” is a term I only learned a few days ago, although that about Mono Lake. Co-incidentally, it also happened I watched a documentary about salt producers a couple of days ago (available on youtube, though with interruptions from advertising) called “Salt: Tears of the Earth“: Bolivians on the Altiplano, Portuguese on the coast making sea-salt, Turkmen on the shores of the Caspian scraping the salt pans, Celts in ancient times burrowing under Hallstadt, and Poles mining Wieliczka in more modern times.
And then too, there’s a speed week in Bonneville now and again.
Interesting. Who knew there was so much cooperation among Jews and Arabs.
The death of the Dead Sea may be a bad thing, but it appears that there is some attention being paid. Nothing on this planet is ever permanent. Geological forces and weather are constantly at work changing the topography. In this case humans are just speeding the process along.
Where are the solar powered desalination plants? And the wind powered water pumps? Or even nuke powered?
I’m not sure what the water costs are for water from the Jordan river, but increasing the costs to those using the water is the economically most efficient way of reducing water use.
There was a note in the article about how much less of Israel’s post-use water waste is returned to the basin, as compared to the Arabs of Syria, Jordan, and the West Bank.
One of my fantasies is that Israel learns how to cover a field in the desert with a screen of small solar power cells so that the desert sun is reduced by about half and more normal crops are grown.
Another fantasy involves the low tech desalination of covering a pond or stream of salty water with a plastic
cover. This plastic would nightly collect condensed steam from the day — and there would be a lot more steam because old rags would be dipped in the water and hung up to dry. I read this in the Economist years ago, once, but haven’t heard more about it.
Low cost desalination is likely to be the most beneficial technology not yet discovered.
1. As an Israeli I take with a grain of salt PBS/NPR reportage about my country.
2. Not mentioned is the non-cooperation of Syria, whose diversion of headwaters accounts for most of the change in water levels since the 50s.
3. Also not mentioned is the vastly more efficient use of water by Israel, which pioneered drip irrigation, desalination, greywater recycling, and other methods of wringing more uses out of the same water supply. By contrast, Jordan/Palestine have primitive use, treatment, and sewage systems – if this article were describing a lake in the 1st world, the writer would be accusing them of dumping sewage into a delicate ecosystem rather then tacitly praising them for “recycling”.
4. Notice the “green expert” opposing any practical solution such as replenishment with desalination water. These same “experts” opposed proposals to build a combined canal/hydroelectric facility that would have distributed Mediterranean water throughout the Negev desert – and generated electricity sustainably – on the way to the Dead Sea.
These “experts” are often more interested in perpetuating problems rather than solving them – for their own paychecks, and for other political motives. In Hebrew we call them “watermelons” – environmental activists who are “green” on the outside, but Bolshevik “red” on the inside…
These “experts” are often more interested in perpetuating problems rather than solving them — for their own paychecks, and for other political motives. In Hebrew we call them “watermelons” — environmental activists who are “green” on the outside, but Bolshevik “red” on the inside…
Same problem as having an aristocracy or priest class of rulers. They perpetuate their own power at certain expense.
Israel, or rather the tribe of Benjamine and another that combined to form the Jews, were punished with about 2000 years of exile because the Jews followed false prophets and priests such as the Maccabbees, in rebelling against not just the Roman Empire but also the Holy One of Israel and the God of Abraham.
Later on, the Jews were saved by the Gentiles. Some of them learned a valuable lesson from that, worked with the Gentiles in restoring Israel even. Now we got what we got, and it’ll be interesting to see what this supposed restoration of Israel will accomplish. Restoring the House of Israel, those who rebelled against God and lived to tell the tale, to the land of their forefathers in Judea.
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“Endorheic” is a term I only learned a few days ago, although that about Mono Lake. Co-incidentally, it also happened I watched a documentary about salt producers a couple of days ago (available on youtube, though with interruptions from advertising) called “Salt: Tears of the Earth“: Bolivians on the Altiplano, Portuguese on the coast making sea-salt, Turkmen on the shores of the Caspian scraping the salt pans, Celts in ancient times burrowing under Hallstadt, and Poles mining Wieliczka in more modern times.
And then too, there’s a speed week in Bonneville now and again.
Interesting. Who knew there was so much cooperation among Jews and Arabs.
The death of the Dead Sea may be a bad thing, but it appears that there is some attention being paid. Nothing on this planet is ever permanent. Geological forces and weather are constantly at work changing the topography. In this case humans are just speeding the process along.
Where are the solar powered desalination plants? And the wind powered water pumps? Or even nuke powered?
I’m not sure what the water costs are for water from the Jordan river, but increasing the costs to those using the water is the economically most efficient way of reducing water use.
There was a note in the article about how much less of Israel’s post-use water waste is returned to the basin, as compared to the Arabs of Syria, Jordan, and the West Bank.
One of my fantasies is that Israel learns how to cover a field in the desert with a screen of small solar power cells so that the desert sun is reduced by about half and more normal crops are grown.
Another fantasy involves the low tech desalination of covering a pond or stream of salty water with a plastic
cover. This plastic would nightly collect condensed steam from the day — and there would be a lot more steam because old rags would be dipped in the water and hung up to dry. I read this in the Economist years ago, once, but haven’t heard more about it.
(Instead, I found out about ion-based desalination, from 2009 http://www.economist.com/node/14743791 )
Low cost desalination is likely to be the most beneficial technology not yet discovered.
1. As an Israeli I take with a grain of salt PBS/NPR reportage about my country.
2. Not mentioned is the non-cooperation of Syria, whose diversion of headwaters accounts for most of the change in water levels since the 50s.
3. Also not mentioned is the vastly more efficient use of water by Israel, which pioneered drip irrigation, desalination, greywater recycling, and other methods of wringing more uses out of the same water supply. By contrast, Jordan/Palestine have primitive use, treatment, and sewage systems – if this article were describing a lake in the 1st world, the writer would be accusing them of dumping sewage into a delicate ecosystem rather then tacitly praising them for “recycling”.
4. Notice the “green expert” opposing any practical solution such as replenishment with desalination water. These same “experts” opposed proposals to build a combined canal/hydroelectric facility that would have distributed Mediterranean water throughout the Negev desert – and generated electricity sustainably – on the way to the Dead Sea.
These “experts” are often more interested in perpetuating problems rather than solving them – for their own paychecks, and for other political motives. In Hebrew we call them “watermelons” – environmental activists who are “green” on the outside, but Bolshevik “red” on the inside…
These “experts” are often more interested in perpetuating problems rather than solving them — for their own paychecks, and for other political motives. In Hebrew we call them “watermelons” — environmental activists who are “green” on the outside, but Bolshevik “red” on the inside…
Same problem as having an aristocracy or priest class of rulers. They perpetuate their own power at certain expense.
Israel, or rather the tribe of Benjamine and another that combined to form the Jews, were punished with about 2000 years of exile because the Jews followed false prophets and priests such as the Maccabbees, in rebelling against not just the Roman Empire but also the Holy One of Israel and the God of Abraham.
Later on, the Jews were saved by the Gentiles. Some of them learned a valuable lesson from that, worked with the Gentiles in restoring Israel even. Now we got what we got, and it’ll be interesting to see what this supposed restoration of Israel will accomplish. Restoring the House of Israel, those who rebelled against God and lived to tell the tale, to the land of their forefathers in Judea.