http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=education&id=5039128
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdJP0_1XnwU
Enjoy...J
Monday, February 19, 2007
A Couple of Very Cool Links
As we all know, volunteering is an essential component of humanity. Our old friend and former AIS principal's son went on a trip to Ethiopia. I am including a link from ABC news as well as his son's short but really well-filmed short piece on the trip.
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Pollution Threat in our Backyard
Israel's Coastal aquifer in danger of becoming unusable
By Tzafrir Rinat, Haaretz Correspondent
One of Israel's three sources for fresh water, the coastal
aquifer, is in danger of becoming unusable because of
contamination, according to data collected by the Water
Authority and the Health Ministry.
The data shows that over the past decade, 160 wells were shut
down (because of various kinds of contamination) from an
overall figure of 1,000 wells, which provide about 20 percent
of the country's annual water consumption.
The main sources of contamination are: untreated sewage,
salination stemming from the penetration of sea water,
agricultural fertilizers and industrial pollutants, including
heavy metals and carcinogenic organic products.
Most of the sources of industrial pollution are no longer
active, but the
materials spilled at those sites continue to contaminate the
ground and seep into the aquifer.
"There are materials that can reach the groundwater in a
matter of hours, and other types can take decades to get
there," explained Prof. Daniel Ronen of the Water Authority.
In recent years, it has been found that gas stations are also
a significant source for contamination of the groundwater.
"Only recently we discovered a layer of gasoline, near a gas
station in the Tel Aviv area, that was four meters deep in the
ground water," said Baruch Weber, district director at the Tel
Aviv office of the Environment Ministry.
In recent months the problem of contamination of the fresh
water sources has been discussed in ministries, and
countermeasures are being considered.
All relevant authorities realize that due to a deterioration
in quality, the amount of potable water that will be available
from wells along the aquifer will be gradually decrease in the
coming years.
Some of the contamination problems were discussed yesterday at
a seminar
organized by the Environment Ministry's Tel Aviv office with
the participation of representatives from the Water Authority
and the Health Ministry.
The extent of the danger is reflected in the Health Ministry
data on the Tel Aviv district, which shows that since 1980,
some 88 drilled wells used for potable water were closed and
that is more than half the available wells in the district.
Pressure on water carrier
As a result of the closures, the dependence on water drawn
from the
National Water Carrier has risen significantly.
In many of the wells still in use, the process of
contamination continues, even if the level as yet is still
below the acceptable contamination standard for drinking water
in Israel. For example, in 18 active wells, scientists found
arsenic (an extremely toxic material) in samples tested. In
nine wells, heavy metals such as lead and chrome were found in
test samples.
Some of the experts raised the possibility that drawing
potable water from the coastal aquifer cease; this proposal,
however, was rejected by most relevant authorities.
"I think that it is still possible to rescue the aquifer, but
this will have to be an effort that includes all parties in
the system, and I hope that this is not too much for the State
of Israel to manage," Dr. Yeshayahu Bar-Or, the chief
scientist at the Environment Ministry said yesterday.
One of the ways that the contamination problem could be
countered is through the installation of purification
equipment in each of the wells showing high levels of
pollutants. This was adopted in contaminated wells in Rishon
Letzion and Ramat Hasharon.
Another option is to set up a number of large purification
installations to which water drawn from various locations
along the coastal aquifer will be piped for treatment.
At the Water Authority preparations are underway to set up a
backup water
supply system for communities in which their wells were closed
due to
contamination.
One such community, Bnei Dror in the Sharon region, has been
without a local drinking-water supply as a result of
contamination levels that exceeded the standard.
Professor Ronen also raised the problem of underground toxic
gases that affect the water supply, even though it is not
always easy to trace them.
This sort of contamination was discovered five years ago in
the Israel
Military Industries compound on the municipal boundary between
Tel Aviv and Givatayim.
By Tzafrir Rinat, Haaretz Correspondent
One of Israel's three sources for fresh water, the coastal
aquifer, is in danger of becoming unusable because of
contamination, according to data collected by the Water
Authority and the Health Ministry.
The data shows that over the past decade, 160 wells were shut
down (because of various kinds of contamination) from an
overall figure of 1,000 wells, which provide about 20 percent
of the country's annual water consumption.
The main sources of contamination are: untreated sewage,
salination stemming from the penetration of sea water,
agricultural fertilizers and industrial pollutants, including
heavy metals and carcinogenic organic products.
Most of the sources of industrial pollution are no longer
active, but the
materials spilled at those sites continue to contaminate the
ground and seep into the aquifer.
"There are materials that can reach the groundwater in a
matter of hours, and other types can take decades to get
there," explained Prof. Daniel Ronen of the Water Authority.
In recent years, it has been found that gas stations are also
a significant source for contamination of the groundwater.
"Only recently we discovered a layer of gasoline, near a gas
station in the Tel Aviv area, that was four meters deep in the
ground water," said Baruch Weber, district director at the Tel
Aviv office of the Environment Ministry.
In recent months the problem of contamination of the fresh
water sources has been discussed in ministries, and
countermeasures are being considered.
All relevant authorities realize that due to a deterioration
in quality, the amount of potable water that will be available
from wells along the aquifer will be gradually decrease in the
coming years.
Some of the contamination problems were discussed yesterday at
a seminar
organized by the Environment Ministry's Tel Aviv office with
the participation of representatives from the Water Authority
and the Health Ministry.
The extent of the danger is reflected in the Health Ministry
data on the Tel Aviv district, which shows that since 1980,
some 88 drilled wells used for potable water were closed and
that is more than half the available wells in the district.
Pressure on water carrier
As a result of the closures, the dependence on water drawn
from the
National Water Carrier has risen significantly.
In many of the wells still in use, the process of
contamination continues, even if the level as yet is still
below the acceptable contamination standard for drinking water
in Israel. For example, in 18 active wells, scientists found
arsenic (an extremely toxic material) in samples tested. In
nine wells, heavy metals such as lead and chrome were found in
test samples.
Some of the experts raised the possibility that drawing
potable water from the coastal aquifer cease; this proposal,
however, was rejected by most relevant authorities.
"I think that it is still possible to rescue the aquifer, but
this will have to be an effort that includes all parties in
the system, and I hope that this is not too much for the State
of Israel to manage," Dr. Yeshayahu Bar-Or, the chief
scientist at the Environment Ministry said yesterday.
One of the ways that the contamination problem could be
countered is through the installation of purification
equipment in each of the wells showing high levels of
pollutants. This was adopted in contaminated wells in Rishon
Letzion and Ramat Hasharon.
Another option is to set up a number of large purification
installations to which water drawn from various locations
along the coastal aquifer will be piped for treatment.
At the Water Authority preparations are underway to set up a
backup water
supply system for communities in which their wells were closed
due to
contamination.
One such community, Bnei Dror in the Sharon region, has been
without a local drinking-water supply as a result of
contamination levels that exceeded the standard.
Professor Ronen also raised the problem of underground toxic
gases that affect the water supply, even though it is not
always easy to trace them.
This sort of contamination was discovered five years ago in
the Israel
Military Industries compound on the municipal boundary between
Tel Aviv and Givatayim.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Zoo Laws
Here is a link to an article discussing ethical treatment and the definition of zoos here in Israel.
Click Here to Read the Article
Click Here to Read the Article
Thursday, February 1, 2007
The AIS-ECO X Club...
hopes to post some articles here as well as some photos of interest. Content may/should relate to any and all ecology related issues as well as group activities. To get this started, I (Mr. Margolis here) will post a few photos and an article. Hope that others will come to this site to share with us. Mr. M
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