Transcript [00:07] So let's look at water for a moment. I [00:09] mean obviously in our region this is a [00:11] critical topic. Uh wars have been and [00:14] can still be uh waged over water [00:17] resources. Uh the lack of water in Iran [00:19] at the moment as we spoke about earlier [00:21] is one of the triggers for what's going [00:23] on there. you know, as you said, there's [00:25] just hours a day where people don't have [00:27] water in their taps, which maybe for us [00:29] and people in the West is an [00:30] unbelievable thing to think about, but [00:33] it's happening. And um and it's a [00:35] critical issue uh not only for Iran and [00:37] and our Arab neighbors, but for Israel [00:38] as well. And Israel has found some [00:40] innovative ways to stay on top of that. [00:45] >> Yeah. I am I my uh background in uh [00:50] university is as a civil engineer, water [00:53] engineer and also worked in that many [00:54] years in Israel and got to work on [00:58] different projects around the country [01:00] and then um so to think about what's [01:03] happening in Iran with not only with uh [01:06] spiritual turmoil and kind of um [01:09] horrible um things they're doing to [01:11] their own people, [01:13] also their kind of economy. and their [01:15] agriculture are um collapsing um in part [01:20] because of the water issues. [01:22] So um yeah, Israel, I imagine that many [01:26] of our uh listeners [01:28] have visited Israel and probably can [01:30] identify with how special the Sea of [01:33] Galilee is as you know this sizable lake [01:37] in the middle of of the Middle East, in [01:39] the middle of the desert. [01:41] Um it in the past has been our only real [01:45] water reservoir. [01:47] >> Um in the early years uh 1960s50s60s [01:52] there was already a huge engineering [01:54] project to bring the water from the Sea [01:57] of Galilee down to the center in the [01:59] south of the country to um basically to [02:02] to make the desert blossom or bloom. [02:06] And that worked uh quite well for many [02:09] years. Um eventually even that wasn't [02:12] enough and uh the rain wasn't enough and [02:15] so Israel has embarked upon a um getting [02:19] water out of the sea from desalinization [02:21] over the last uh 30 years and become a [02:24] world leader one of the world leaders in [02:26] that. But um just before we kind of get [02:30] into some of those maybe uh engineering [02:33] type solutions [02:35] um that we wish could be shared with [02:37] Iran. Hopefully that will happen in the [02:39] future. Um but maybe some personal um [02:44] how do you and your family enjoy the Sea [02:46] of Galilee? [02:47] >> Yeah, I mean you know for the both of us [02:49] obviously we grew up in the United [02:51] States, spent our childhoods there in [02:53] Bible believing homes. So the Sea of [02:55] Galilee was kind of like this mythical [02:57] location, you know, that you write about [02:59] in Sunday school or [03:00] >> huge Jordan River, [03:01] >> right? Yeah. In the huge Jordan River, [03:02] right? You have it's [03:04] >> only about uh [03:04] >> have in your mind the Mississippi River [03:06] or something [03:06] >> 20 ft across or something. [03:10] >> Yeah. Well, I was shocked when I came to [03:12] Israel, not just with the Jordan River, [03:13] but the things that Israelis call [03:14] rivers. As someone growing up in the [03:17] Midwest of America, those are simply not [03:18] rivers. [03:19] >> But, you know, in the Middle East, I [03:21] guess they are, [03:22] >> right? [03:22] >> Um but yeah, you know, so the Sea of [03:24] Galilee was, you know, this maybe [03:26] mythical is the wrong word to use, but [03:28] it was this, you know, this place I read [03:29] about in the Bible. You know, it was [03:31] almost not real until you came here and [03:34] saw it and there it is and it's real. [03:35] >> Walking on the water, Simon Peter School [03:38] of Surfing. You ever hear that one? [03:40] >> No. [03:41] >> Go boardless. [03:44] >> No. [03:46] >> So, I live I live in the north. Uh, and [03:48] for us, it's like the closest uh place [03:52] to swim, right, [03:52] >> without paying admission to a tiny [03:55] supercllorinated uh pool. Mhm. [03:57] >> So we get down there in a summer uh a [04:00] couple times. [04:02] Um [04:04] so yeah, it's a beautiful thing. Uh do [04:07] you guys ever camp there? [04:08] >> In the past we used to, you know, we've [04:10] still got little children at home, so [04:12] camping is a little bit more difficult, [04:13] but [04:14] >> we had a couple a couple nice camping [04:17] times there. We should we need to get [04:18] back to that. M [04:19] >> I was just there recently as kind of [04:22] storm clouds were happening and it was [04:24] um really a magical magical thing to to [04:27] be to see. [04:28] >> And tell me is it as low as as my mind [04:31] wants to think it is because you know [04:32] I'm thinking back 25 30 years when I [04:34] first came here and in my mind's eye and [04:36] maybe I'm wrong I remember the water [04:38] being you know up to the tops of the [04:40] peers. you know, we walked on the pier [04:41] and got onto the boat. And now when I go [04:43] though, those same peers are, you know, [04:45] 10 ft up in the air and the water is [04:47] down here and you have to actually use a [04:49] an alternative pier to get onto a boat. [04:51] >> Yeah. The water has is at a pretty low [04:54] point even though uh right now the [04:56] winter rains are have been plentiful, [04:59] especially compared to last year, which [05:00] was the driest um in a few decades. [05:04] >> Um it's come up and it's at least once [05:08] been very high. In fact, I remember I [05:10] want to say about five years ago that it [05:12] was high [05:15] and um [05:17] and actually there was some kind of a [05:19] windstorm and you know waves actually [05:22] blew up onto Tiberius and caused a lot [05:24] of damage. [05:26] >> So I don't know if someone's made the [05:27] decision you know not to go there but uh [05:30] it's pretty low um [05:33] several meters below below the you know [05:36] where where we want to see it. So when I [05:38] go and swim, you know, I have to walk [05:40] out through kind of some mud flats maybe [05:42] 100 meters, 100 yards to get to the [05:43] water and the places [05:44] >> where water used to cover and now it's [05:46] >> Yeah. [05:47] >> So anyway, but it's it was a huge gift. [05:49] It is do still a huge gift. Right now [05:51] it's more a um for enjoyment and tourism [05:54] than in terms of actually, you know, [05:56] satisfying the thirst of the whole [05:58] nation like it kind of used to. M [06:01] >> um and uh as a reminder also, you know, [06:04] up until 1967, the Syrians were were [06:08] like very very close within a stones [06:10] throw, I think, of the uh of the water. [06:13] Since 1967, we have a big buffer, so we [06:15] don't have to be afraid of them taking [06:17] uh pot shots, [06:18] >> right? [06:19] >> Or diverting our water sources. [06:21] >> Yeah. [06:23] So anyway, um about when I moved to [06:25] Israel, which is in the early 90s, um as [06:28] a young water engineer, uh unbeknownst [06:31] to me, the the people in the government [06:34] were kind of making kind of um what do [06:36] you call it? seeing the trajectory of [06:38] how many people, you know, how the [06:40] population increases in Israel, how much [06:41] people like to take showers and [06:44] >> and things like that and realizing that [06:45] even if we had uh reliable rainfall at [06:49] the annual average, it would not be [06:52] enough. And so um you know, they made [06:54] the decision to start investing very [06:57] heavily in getting water from the sea, [06:59] sea, salt water to be fresh water, which [07:01] is called desalinization. Mhm. [07:04] >> The two big methods is you can do it [07:06] with a lot of heat, right, to uh make [07:09] the um water evaporate [07:12] or something that's called reverse [07:13] osmosis, which is like a very high [07:16] pressure and tiny porous membranes [07:20] that that um only allow water to get [07:22] through. And tell me the the water that [07:25] we're taking from the sea, I mean, is [07:26] that going straight into homes or [07:28] straight into agriculture? Are we using [07:30] it to fill fill back up the Sea of [07:31] Galilee to use as a reservoir? [07:34] >> I've I've seen uh sometimes it's hard to [07:36] know what fake news is. I haven't seen [07:40] like on the ground evidence of that [07:41] reverse flow, but I think definitely [07:43] what that used to be the trend of [07:45] >> pushing huge amounts of water from the [07:47] north down to the Tel Aviv area and to [07:49] the south [07:51] >> does not happen anymore. And if [07:52] anything, the flow goes up towards the [07:54] Hifa area. [07:55] >> Mhm. [07:56] >> Actually, on the way here, I went right [07:58] by past the the um big equalization pond [08:01] in the center of the Galilee called [08:03] Sappir [08:05] that where where the water goes from the [08:08] Sea of Galilee gets pumped up to that [08:11] place and then from there it got pumped [08:13] down to the center of the country. So [08:15] anyway, now Israel is among just a very [08:17] tiny group of nations that um gets the [08:21] vast majority of our drinking water from [08:24] salt water. [08:25] >> Wow. [08:26] >> Joined by other nations um like the [08:28] United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi [08:31] Arabia um Muslim nations in the Persian [08:34] Gulf actually. [08:35] Um, so they are the only ones that are [08:38] like Israel have the the high high [08:40] level. Actually in the United States has [08:43] a big desalinization plant in Southern [08:45] California um just outside of San Diego [08:48] which is um one of the technological [08:51] partners in that was an Israeli company [08:53] called IDE [08:54] >> after what they had learned. So I'm uh [08:56] like this young um water engineer [08:59] working in Hifa and just then the first [09:02] big desalinization plant was coming [09:04] online and it was like a incredibly [09:06] efficient process [09:09] um for a small amount of money like uh I [09:12] think it cost today about 50 cents per [09:14] thousand liters. [09:16] >> Wow. [09:16] >> Which is okay. [09:17] >> You know you buy a [09:18] >> I guess I was under the impression that [09:19] this was a very expensive endeavor for [09:21] Israel but there was just no choice. I [09:24] think in the beginning that was you know [09:26] it was expensive but [09:27] >> but like you say um you know since then [09:30] the the technological challenges have [09:33] been over slowly overcome even more. [09:36] >> But you think that here you know we you [09:38] buy a tiny bottle of water for uh in an [09:40] Israeli store just um for probably $2. [09:45] Right. [09:45] >> Right. [09:46] >> Well [09:48] she is too strong so [09:51] >> closer to $5 these days. another [09:53] podcast. Um, [09:56] so but you could but in the from the [09:58] from the sea it comes out at 50 cents [10:01] per thousand liters. [10:03] >> Wow. [10:04] >> Which is incredible. [10:05] >> That is incredible. [10:06] >> So that's supplying today about 80% of [10:08] our drinking water. [10:11] >> And then we have um a huge amount of the [10:14] sewage that's reclaimed for uh [10:17] irrigation. [10:19] And the huge plant in Israel for doing [10:21] that is in the south Aviv area called [10:23] the Shaftdan which uh is um I think the [10:26] biggest sewage treatment plant in the [10:28] Middle East [10:30] and uh goes through an incredible [10:32] process of taking our sewage water and [10:34] doing one process of after another some [10:36] biological some uh chemical and then at [10:39] the very end like um [10:44] letting the the land the ground the sand [10:46] do a final filtration. And so the water [10:49] that you could actually drink would look [10:51] and smell just like this, but then that [10:52] they take down to the negative desert in [10:55] the south and use that for irrigating a [10:58] lot of the fruits and vegetables that we [10:59] eat. [11:00] >> Wow. Fascinating. [11:02] >> Um, so [11:04] >> yeah, there's there's biblical stuff [11:06] around around this about there was [11:08] famine b back in the day of Abraham and [11:10] Isaac. Two famines mentioned. [11:13] And I think it's interesting that um [11:15] rain is part of the the blessings that [11:18] are promised in the Torah. There's a [11:20] verse here where Solomon dedicated this [11:22] temple and he said, "Sometimes there [11:24] won't be any rain people. Let's pray [11:26] from the temple and he asks God here [11:29] from heaven. Forgive the sin of your [11:30] servants. Teach them a right way to live [11:33] and send rain on the land you gave the [11:35] people for an inheritance." [11:38] Amen. Amen.
