Page 32 - Social Science.docx

Principles of social science
journalist Rowan Jacobsen who is an author of several books and many magazine articles, provides a description of how Israel has been learning to use water as efficiently as possible due to necessity, and previous lack of water.10 He describes that at the Zuckerberg Institute researchers have developed new techniques for desalination, water treatment, and drip irrigation. Jacobsen emphasizes that Israel's population has been a key factor in conserving their water resources with the use from 2007 on, of low-flow toilets and shower heads that were installed nationwide. Nevertheless, the biggest impact in water availability improvements has come from desalination plants, which now provide 55 percent of Israel's domestic water. Desalination is a complex process which has great challenges. Desalination functions by propelling saltwater into membranes composed of microscopic pores. The water trespasses them, but the larger salt molecules are left behind. The problem is that the microorganisms present in seawater rapidly settle in the membranes and can obstruct the pores. The process of monitoring this situation involves recurrent and expensive chemical-intensive cleanings. In this regard, Jacobsen highlights the work of Bar- Zeev, who joined Israel’s Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research after completing his postdoctoral work at Yale University. But Bar-Zeev and his colleagues were able to design a chemical-free system employing natural porous lava stones to trap the microorganisms before they arrive at the membranes. Along this technique, they have been discovering many breakthroughs in membrane technology that are making desalination a much more efficient process. Thanks to these advancements, Israel, which was one of the driest countries in the world, has turned to be one of its “water giants.”
10 Rowan Jacobsen, "Israel Proves the Desalination Era Is Here," Scientific American, July 29, 2016.
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