Posted on 07/05/2013 5:34:15 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Drawn from deep in the Mediterranean Sea, the water has flowed through pipelines reaching almost 4,000 feet off of Israel's coast and, once in Israeli soil, buried almost 50 feet underground. Now, it rushes down a tube sending it through a series of filters and purifiers. After 90 minutes, it will be ready to run through the faucets of Tel Aviv.
Set to begin operating as soon as next month, Israel Desalination Enterprises Technologies' Sorek Desalination Plant will provide up to 26,000 cubic meters -- or nearly 7 million gallons -- of potable water to Israelis every hour. When it's at full capacity, it will be the largest desalination plant of its kind in the world...
Until the winter of 2011-'12, water shortages were a dire problem for Israel; the country had experienced seven straight years of drought beginning in 2004... Some even anticipate an event that was once unthinkable: a water surplus in Israel.
IDE opened the first major desalination plant in the country in the southern coastal city of Ashkelon in 2005, following success with a similar plant in nearby Cyprus. With Sorek, the company will own three of Israel's four plants, and 400 plants in 40 countries worldwide...
In Israel, desalination provides 300 million cubic meters of water per year -- about 40 percent of the country's total water needs. That number will jump to 450 million when Sorek opens, and will hit nearly 600 million as plants expand in 2014, providing up to 80 percent of Israel's potable water...
Fredi Lokiec, executive vice president for special projects at IDE, says the risks are greater without major desalination efforts. Israel is perennially short on rainfall, and depending on freshwater could further deplete Israel's rivers.
(Excerpt) Read more at jta.org ...
Salt Licks for everybody !.... :o)
Israel did a little desalination of Dead Sea waters, that goes back to 1967 I think; these new plants are among the largest in the world, one of them is *the* largest. Syria cut off part of Jordan’s water supply years ago (illegally of course, the Assad dynasty is as lawless as they come); the 1994 treaty requires Israel to supply Jordan out of Israeli supplies. Due to the use of the Jordan river waters for irrigation and potable water, the surface of the Dead Sea has dropped tens of meters since 1970.
They have a novel, low power usage climate control system to use the salt. Pull the air in through salt, then a membrane that captures the moisture, then evaporative cooling, then through another membrane. Works very well in more humid climates by using salt to precipitate the humidity out of air pulled through it, then using that moisture in the now-dry air like an old-fashioned swamp cooler, then removing the humidity once again. Operating costs are something on the order of 20% of conventional air conditioning. There are industrial installations in operation now, not sure of any residential application yet.
Now, if you build 100 of these in Africa, run pipelines throughout the continent, build economies that would thrive off of farming, fresh water fisheries and greenery, we could cure global warming.
The left would hate that, especially if Israel is building them.
Israel is one smart country. Look at all the good items that have come out of the Technion in Haifa. The Technion is Israel’s MIT.
Love this line in the article.:
international bodies like the United Nations could pressure Israel to distribute it for free to unfriendly neighboring countries, Shaham said.
Always a liberal leftist who wants Israel to do something for people wanting to destroy them.
No pun intended but that’s a cool concept.... Got to read up on that.
Thanks !
This system ?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-57319061-54/salt-driven-air-conditioner-looks-to-slash-energy/
Looks promising.... Thanks again for the information.
I’m amazed Republicans don’t propose this for western states as a way of buying votes and getting back in the game.
Propose a few of these and TIE IT TO 4-6 STATES WATER RIGHTS.
just a thought...
Thanks.
Any technology that the Israelis are creating, Hamas has already invented and put into operation for the Palestinian people. In fact, the Israelis stole the ideas from Muslim engineers.
Wow, this sort of puts a thumb up the backside of the greenies who insist that the world will soon and permanently run out of drinking water.
That’s a variation upon it. The one I was recalling was Israeli, the company was headquartered by the dead sea. Must’ve been Advantix, which has since relocated sales headquarters to Miami. But, I can’t find the article describing the system as I’m recalling it, with two membranes. The one described below doesn’t have them:
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/12/a-new-way-to-squeeze-humidity-out-of-the-air/
Still there, don’t know if it operates much.
What's happening is foretold in the Bible:
Is 35:1: "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose." Prophecy watchers, call your office.
If you’re touching on a reality, I’m glad.
This is the sort of thing Southern California should be a world leader in.
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