Hod HaSharon Paradox

 The neighboring town of Hod HaSharon (66,000 inhabitants) stopped growing. Some 300 families have left it since the last war, and the population is aging. A school and ten kindergartens have been closed. There are no approved building projects because the local WWTP has reached its maximum capacity. The option of connecting to the regional WWTP Shaf-Dan has been put off since it has no extra capacity (*). Yet real estate prices are very high - apartments start at a million US dollars! The city is rich, it is classified in the upper 10% by income. 

(*) Irrespective of the reality of general sewage treatment deficiency, the regulators are demanding quaternary (Reverse Osmosis) treatment of the wastewater. The meaning is an astronomic investment. Totally unnecessary.

The Universe

 

WWTP Shderot-Shaar HaNegev Out of Order

The Shikma River is now pure sewage. That area is the most important aquifer recharge project in South Israel. I think that explains why the Ministry of Environment is not approving new agricultural investments.  

Zsido-Haz - Ghetto Budapest 1944

 

Israel adopts membrane treatment to wastewater

 רז הטיפול הרביעוני כבר יצא לדרך . והוא למעשה התפלה של הקולחין . ייקח כמה שנים למימוש בנתיים להסתפק בשפירים  לבעלי חיים וגידולים רגישים.

כאשר האדמה מזוהמת יש לעשות שימוש במצע מנותק  כאשר המצע עצמו נבדק כנקי

The Shafdan WWTP designed by TAHAL in the seventies is now obsolete, the treated water is considered unfit for agricultural reuse, and all the wastewater will be treated by Reverse Osmosis. There 7 groups that submitted offers. 

A new generation of water engineers is coming. We old farts will die out gradually. 

Illustration: Kubota MBR system. 

Reasoning machines are here

We don't know how to digest them. 

I am writing an environmental paper that the machine can do faster and better. 

In my own eyes, it has instantly devaluated my work. 

But the client does not know yet, so I'll complete the job and collect the money. 

Thinking about things smarter than ourselves

 Internationally, we will need to lay groundwork for cooperation, including with China, if we are to avoid what otherwise looks like a reckless and potentially suicidal race to create things smarter than ourselves before someone else does it first, and then to hand over control to them before someone else does that first, too.

From: The Zvi