Desalination at Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research

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Cultivating crops in the Negev Desert, near Nitzana. Photo by and © 2016 Vision Studio

Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research scientists are researching one of the great challenges to water conservation: desalination. Indeed, technologies in this area are quickly advancing, offering Israel the prospect of overcoming the difficult task of supplying this thirsty nation with fresh water. The Blaustein Institutes are among the top facilities in the world to be studying desalinating water using solar energy.

“The Negev is like one big laboratory of arid regions in the world. And our institute has the great advantage of being at the location of its research.”

— Pedro Berliner, Director, Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research

Much has been done to share the benefits of these discoveries in sustainable ecology outside Israel. Pedro Berliner, director of the Blaustein Institutes, says: “The Negev is like one big laboratory of arid regions in the world. And our institute has the great advantage of being at the location of its research. It’s what makes it special.” Recently, he has been basing some of his work on ancient Nabataean farming methods: learning from the land itself. Berliner notes that Blaustein scientists have led a reforestation project in northwest Kenya that is helping to provide refugees with much-needed firewood; similar programs have been set up in India, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan. Their aquaculture techniques have been adopted in many countries, including Kenya, Tanzania, and Namibia. Furthermore, he says, “the Negev aquifer extends right into Sinai, and the Egyptians are showing an interest in using our methods to develop it.”  

“Our motto is to turn curses into blessings,” says Berliner, who has made his home in the Negev since 1987. “The temperature of the desert is high, but this is conducive to plant and animal growth. The water is salty, but many good things can be done with it. The Negev is quite far from the center of the country . . . but this means more affordable real estate!”

Israel shares the plight of desertification with countries all over the planet—sharing its research on ways to live successfully with the desert.

Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research > 

Related Reading: It’s not the desert that’s the enemy at Israel21c.org.

Water Conservation at Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research

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In a greenhouse in the Negev Desert, water is meted out to plants with drip irrigation. Photo by and © 2016 Vision Studio 

The Jacob Blaustein Institutes’ researchers are constantly looking for new ways to conserve and reutilize water. Not a drop is wasted here. This is a theme heard throughout Israel—everyone is concerned about the conservation of this most precious of resources, and everyone, it seems, is trying to do something about it.

“It wasn’t simple to convince people that growing fish in the desert makes sense!” —Samuel Appelbaum, professor and fish biologist at the Blaustein Institute.”

Israel’s sources of water include underground water from the mountain and coastal plain aquifers, groundwater from Lake Kinneret (or Sea of Galilee), rivers, lakes, flood-waters, and reservoirs. Underground water is the largest reserve in the country; in fact, more than 50 percent of Israel’s water is naturally stored underground and is pumped from wells or springs. Hundreds of feet under the Negev lie vast aquifers, which, though not a renewable source of water, may be used now to help irrigate, and later—like most of Israel’s water—will be recycled.   

Samuel Appelbaum, a professor and fish biologist at the Blaustein Institutes showed us small tanks filled with various types of fish—sea bass, sea bream, tilapia—all being studied to see how effectively they breed in the brackish water. 

Learn more by reading "From Far Beneath the Israeli Desert, Water Sustains a Fertile Enterprise" at Israel21C which explains:

Scientists here realized they were onto something when they found that brackish water drilled from deep underground aquifers could be used to raise warm-water fish. The geothermal water, less than a tenth as saline as seawater, free of pollutants, and a toasty 98 degrees on average, was an ideal match. It wasn’t simple to convince people that growing fish in the desert makes sense! . . . Ponds fed by geothermal waters from under the Negev teem with fish.

The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research >

Learn more by reading From Far Beneath the Israeli Desert, Water Sustains a Fertile Enterprise at Israel21C.org. 

The Stunning Drive from Tel Aviv to Zichron Ya’acov

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Caesarea en route from Tel Aviv to Zichron Ya'acov. Photo courtesy Israel Tourism and Creative Commons.

The drive north on the road from Tel Aviv to Zichron Ya’acov has not changed in decades: the Mediterranean sun still shines down as you pass rows of flowering banana trees swaying seductively in the breeze, and fish farms sparkle with dancing denise—sea bream—luring passersby to fish for their supper. The vivid blue sea spreads out lazily alongside you. Just past the Roman bastion of Caesarea you turn off the main road to climb the Carmel Mountains toward Zichron Ya’acov. (Mountains? It is really just one high hill, down which a white hotel cascades toward the water.) Once the city of Zichron was still basically sand dunes. Today, its main pedestrian street is busy with strolling tourists and locals, visiting sweet cafés and galleries.

“Fish farms sparkle with dancing denise—sea bream—luring passersby to fish for their supper.”

Israel is a place where the old is in a state of constant interface with the new. Zichron Ya’acov is the home of the First Aliyah Museum, which outlines the story of the first wave of immigrants to what was then known as Palestine. Although Zichron Ya’acov retains echoes of its 1880s spirit—the simple, sturdy buildings, the towns, people purposeful in their activities—things are transforming in important ways. 

First Aliyah Museum >