Skip to content

Where different views on Israel and Judaism are welcome.

  • Home
  • Subscribe / donate
  • Events calendar
  • News
    • Local
    • National
    • Israel
    • World
    • עניין בחדשות
      A roundup of news in Canada and further afield, in Hebrew.
  • Opinion
    • From the JI
    • Op-Ed
  • Arts & Culture
    • Performing Arts
    • Music
    • Books
    • Visual Arts
    • TV & Film
  • Life
    • Celebrating the Holidays
    • Travel
    • The Daily Snooze
      Cartoons by Jacob Samuel
    • Mystery Photo
      Help the JI and JMABC fill in the gaps in our archives.
  • Community Links
    • Organizations, Etc.
    • Other News Sources & Blogs
    • Business Directory
  • FAQ
  • JI Chai Celebration
  • [email protected]! video

Search

Archives

Recent Posts

  • חמש שנים לעבודה מהבית
  • הקוביד תפס גם אותי
  • Thirteen calls for action
  • Immersive art experience
  • Games, fun and serious
  • Welcome back, TUTS!
  • Play tackles Israeli/Palestinian conflict
  • Averbach reaches Kamloops
  • Israel’s new Ethiopian airlift
  • Remembering the Great Roundup
  • Walking tours celebrate Pride
  • Living their values daily
  • Fighting racism, terrorism
  • Diverse allies critical
  • An afternoon of music
  • Community milestones … awards, honours, weddings, releases
  • STEAM-powered schooling
  • A composer for the Queen
  • Different horror, same hell
  • Never waste life’s many gifts
  • Reuse, recycle, make anew
  • נסיעה שנייה לישראל
  • Dreamy Midsummer’s Night
  • A story of two families
  • New era in U.S. politics
  • Folk festival returns to park
  • Standing up against hatred
  • Good reads, good talks
  • Tofino mustard maven
  • Journey from prison to power
  • Ben-Gurion goes global
  • The romance of good bagels
  • Hitting the high seas & citrus
  • Enjoy summer treats

Recent Tweets

Tweets by @JewishIndie

Tag: Bona Terra

Drought stress takes toll

Drought stress takes toll

A July 2014 Planet Labs satellite image of a reservoir in California’s Lake County that supplies water to nearby Yolo County. In a non-drought year, according to Planet Labs, the visible water would cover roughly twice the area as it does in this picture. (photo from Planet Labs via Wikimedia Commons)

California headlines this month scream “water shortage” – but the shortage is not limited to the western United States. According to a recent report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, while the demand for freshwater resources is increasing, the supply remains constant and many regions are starting to feel the pressure. The report states that water managers in 40 of 50 states expect water shortages in some portion of their states within the next 10 years.

Amid this grave prognosis, a new Israeli research project might make the Jewish state an important part of the solution.

In what is arguably one of the most innovative water research consortiums to date, researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Australia’s Monash University are working to develop “water-sensitive cities.” The description for the project, which is funded by the Jewish National Fund (JNF), says that water-sensitive cities adopt and combine decentralized and centralized water management solutions to deliver water security. The data gathered from the project may be used to support development of urban master plans in cities in Israel and around the world.

Researchers are grouped into teams, each focusing on a different aspect of creating water-sensitive cities.

Eran Friedler, senior research fellow and head of the Water Forum Project at Technion, leads a team whose objective is to develop a holistic vision for water-sensitive cities in Israel encompassing scientific, economic and societal aspects, and accounting for the potential effects of global warming on temperatures and rainfall regimes. The analysis seeks to quantify the effect of urbanization and changing urban texture on storm water harvesting potential.

Evyatar Erell, a professor in the Bona Terra Department of Man in the Desert at BGU, is responsible for water-sensitive urban planning and design. He explained that his role is to examine conventional hydrological planning of cities and to see how it can be improved. This means reducing impermeable surfaces (sidewalks, parking lots, driveways, etc.) in favor of more permeable surfaces, sometimes innovative ones, such as green roofs or the infusion of small bits of garden along footpaths.

“We are trying to determine how to use water as effectively as possible, to maximize its benefits to pedestrians, reduce energy consumption by our buildings, and ensure environmental sustainability,” said Erell.

Read more at jns.org.

Format ImagePosted on May 29, 2015May 27, 2015Author Maayan Jaffe JNS.ORGCategories WorldTags BGU, Bona Terra, California, drought, Eran Friedler, Evyatar Erell, Hebrew University, Israel, Technion, water
Proudly powered by WordPress