Punta del Este Fifty Five Years After

Punta del Este beach today. Guardavidas. I spent the summer of 1969 working on the beach. I had none of the boys' equipment in the picture; I was blond and alone in Playa Brava. Things have changed. 

The eye of Sauron

The Evil according to Tolkien. 

Tel Aviv built on Sand

 

Tel Aviv is built on sand and sandstone, and the recent winter rains have washed away much of its substrate. A big hole has appeared at the crossing of Ibn Gvirol and Kaplan streets (pic). Tel Aviv was built in a hurry and did not develop organically over centuries like old European cities. I wonder how this process can be stopped and reversed. Maybe improving the subterranean drainage system could help? Or injecting some kind of synthetic glue? Refilling the open spaces under the pavement?

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