29th November, Mekorot and the sea of Gallilee, Gerbert Pleijter

29th November, Mekorot and the sea of Gallilee, Gerbert Pleijter

After the first meeting with the Israeli students and university on Thursday, we met up again on Friday  to visit Mekorot National Water Carrier Project and the Sea of Galilee. In this way we would get to know Israel’s drinking water company and end with some sightseeing.

From the Technion in Haifa, we went to Mekorot in Eshkol Reservoir. This reservoir is an important link in the National Water Carrier Project of Israel and holds purification facilities. Origination from the Golan Heights, water accumulates in the Sea of Galilee and is transported to the reservoir at Eshkol. At this site, the water is purified using various fish species, flocculation and passive carbon filters. It was impressive to see how a careful selection of fish species results in a balanced purification system with minimum human or chemical interference. 

After additional cleaning by flocculation and passive carbon filters the water is distributed throughout the country. Besides the collection of runoff water, desalination is another important method for the production of drinking water. Distribution of this drinking water is executed using the Nation Water Carrier Project that consists of hundreds of kilometres of pipelines and canals supplying drinking water all over Israel, the Palestinian Territories and some neighbouring countries.

After the Eshkol Reservoir, we visited the Sea of Galilee, the Church of the Beatitudes and the Jordan River. The Sea of Galilee is both a historic site and an important piece in the National Water Carrier Project.  The Church of the Beatitudes and the baptizing location in the Jordan River were great to get familiar with parts of Israel’s history. We would like to thank professor Avi Shaviv from Technion University and Matan Hadarie of Mekorot for their efforts and enthusiasm during this day.

At the evening we made ourselves a royal diner at our guesthouse and celebrated Giel Hakman his birthday. Tomorrow is Sabbath, but we are looking forward to start the Wetskills program in two days and work on the projects that were introduced today.

Sabbath Sjalom