Ka’afikim baNegev: Israel’s Massive Water Resource

In colloquial 1970’s Hebrew: “מֵי בְּרֵאשִׁית” (Waters of Creation) – in English: “Fossil Water” -and- Israel has more than enough for many centuries of flourishing domestic needs; including ALL household, agricultural, industrial, and recreational uses. This Astoundingly Enormous water resource is divided into two deep (non-renewable) Sealed Aquifers – one atop the other; which span beneath most of Sinai & Negev, Yehuda & southern Shomron -AND- (of course) even include a deep subterranean projection going under Har HaZeitim and up to Har HaBayit ⇒ as foretold in Ezekiel 47:1-12; Joel 3:18; and Zechariah 14:8 ⇒ ‘later’ partially reported in https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0022169472900923 (1972) & https://www.jstor.org/stable/24967728 (1985) & numerous Subsequent/Current geological surveys – conducted by the Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research (BIDR) → often with various international researchers: Summary (2019) → https://www.sciencealert.com/there-s-a-reservoir-of-ancient-water-below-the-israeli-desert-scientists-just-traced-its-origin -and- in Greater Detail (including link to “Supporting Information” Data – 1.09 MB Appendix) → https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1904260116

SURPRISE: The upper one – of these two sealed Fossil Water aquifers – is correctly located at depth 15,000 Biblical-cubits {not Q-bits} – as recorded (500-600 CE) in Talmud Bavli’s Sukkot 53b (depth measurement ⇒ therein attributed to Duvid HaMelech A”H at about 1000 BCE). This upper Fossil Water aquifer is below a better-known intermediary quasi-sealed (very slowly recharging) aquifer https://boris-portal.unibe.ch/entities/publication/395c9019-84ca-41f9-9853-d1920a67ee68.

Penetrating into the upper fossil water aquifer, after having failed to discover recoverable Fossil Fuel deposits (in these last fifty years), there remain today more than a few capped wildcat prospecting wells among Harei Yehuda’s ridges, near Arad, and (at or) above the sea-level ‘zero’ edges of central north-eastern Negev [https://en-il.topographic-map.com/map-4j6knh/Dead-Sea/?center=31.04519%2C35.22879&zoom=9]. 

These fossil waters are ‘peculiarly’ brackish (requiring special processing – described below in ‘3a-3e’) – albeit significantly less saline than Mediterranean Sea water; thus amenable to Reverse Osmosis (RO) processing → that will cost less than ongoing RO processing of saltier coastal Sea water ⇒ By reason that: (i) This homogeneous ancient water does not include any (costly to filter out) organic material whatsoever; (ii) It emerges from wellheads under pressure (needs NO energy-use costly: saline-tolerant water pumps -nor- pre-pumping pressurization into the RO); and (iii) At Most Wellheads – this water is warmer than Negev daytime temperature extremes (thus instantly exploitable as a ‘green’ geothermal energy asset).

While these RO sweet waters are less costly to pump back into the national water carrier than are the RO recovered Mediterranean waters – current Mediterranean coastal RO facilities will remain substantially cost competitive for providing sweet water to Mishor HaḤof. Furthermore, each RO fossil-facility provides greater mutual redundancy for sustaining growing national water consumption needs than the Kinneret ‘reserve’ does.

As Israel’s most significant natural resource, higher salinity Discharge waters from RO facilities (to be located at some of these capped wildcat wellheads) – should include numerous value-adding processes – before naturally (beneficially) flowing down into an otherwise continuously shrinking Yam HaMelach. 

Fossil water processing, herein, relates to three unique VALUE ADDING aspects: (1) firstly – operations between the wellhead and RO; then (2) the RO sweet water output delivered to the National Water Carrier; and simultaneously (3) to a progressive controlled sequence of interdisciplinary ecological-&-chemical engineer-scalable (R&D negligible) Profitable Stages that the RO saline water discharges undergo → on their way down to Yam HaMelach. Note: If there are northern most wellheads, then RO facilities there can deliver sweet water back into the Kinneret. 

(1) THREE operations between the wellhead and RO: In the course of allowing the naturally pressurized fossil water to come down to optimal pressure for RO processing → 

(1a) immediately precipitates out and quickly settles ⇒ large amounts of an ultra-fine metallic silt sediment (primarily iron oxides) which are quite usable (as is) for sintered metallurgy & ceramics (also for glazes or enamels – with minimal Yam HaMelach borate-or-alkali flux added); likewise as durable pigments, as catalysts, in magnetic storage materials, as additives for amber-’opal’-glass windows & doping specialized alloys, in photocatalytic semiconductors (https://eureka.patsnap.com/report-research-on-improving-iron-oxide-use-in-semiconductors), in wastewater treatment (https://neptjournal.com/upload-images/(20)B-4336.pdf), and for primary inclusion (competing with Exotic/Expensive additives) into high-density heat-conducting drilling muds ⇒ (ALL from this unusually easily harvested ultra-high density silt); and simultaneously, (1b) various dissolved gasses instantly separate from the geo-pressurized liquid → when brought down to optimal pressure for RO ⇒ these gasses may include sufficient harvestable methane and/or noble gasses; otherwise the pressure release should power small-turbine electricity. 

Furthermore, (1c) the wellhead waters are hotter than necessary for optimal RO processing, thus extracting excess heat may be converted into electricity for subsequent electroplating process (described in section ‘3a’) -or- used to accelerate drying some target products of the ultra-fine metallic silt sediment. 

FACTS: Control regulated pre-RO water pressure & temperature – in comparison to post-RO atmospheric pressure & temperature – provides a maximum RO-possible separation of toxic heavy metals into Saline RO-discharge water ⇒ equivalently an allowable minimum of these into Sweet RO-output water. Alternately, if any wellhead pressure is lower than needed for optimal RO processing, then the wellhead pressurized water fills a tank that is significantly higher than ground level – so that these waters – dropping down to the RO installation – have optimal pressure; which sacrifices RO throughput –for– optimal separation of heavy metal laden RO Saline from RO Sweet water discharges.

(2) the RO sweet water output into the National Water Carrier: Given that Israel has a longitudinal ‘continental divide’ – meaning water west of that divide flows toward the Mediterranean while water east of that divide flows toward the Jordan River rift valley (below sea level – including Yam HaMelach) → RO process fossil water will be more cost effective to supply the Negev basin and southern rift valley areas (greater than 20,000 km2). 

(3) a sequence of FOUR value adding stages that the RO saline water discharges undergo on their way to Yam HaMelach: The most problematic aspect is → RO saline discharge water includes various heavy metals; which are toxic ⇒ yet comprise Tangible Assets when (3a) electroplated (harvested). After –substantially– removing these metallic compounds, the saline waters flow down (through carefully lined channels & conduits – so as not to leach salts into the ground) toward Yam HaMelach – to be pooled (in engineered reservoirs) for Ecologically → 

(3b) GROWING numerous seaweeds & shallow water peripheral plants (that DO take up residual heavy metals → such as Salicornia Species & Phragmites Australis ⇒ these are applicable for industrial fiber-encapsulation uses in Geopolymers and Cementitious Matrices) -and- thereafter (in subsequent aqua-culture reservoirs – (3c) BREEDING warm-water ocean fish (Kosher Species → that do NOT accumulate heavy metals in their flesh & bones – such as sardine & anchovies), and after that (on the Yam HaMelach proximate – periphery of eventual slowly flowing saline) to (3d) develop semi-tropical salt marsh forests (which actually grow when their waters are occasionally flooded by Negev ‘familiar’ fresh water flashfloods) → including numerous types of Mangroves, Eastern Red Cedar, Red Alder, River Cane (bamboo – 4 meters tall), etc. [https://ecosouk.org/forests-in-the-desert/; https://lankamangrovemuseum.lk/avicennia-marina/] ⇒ before finally ‘dumping’ the remaining/residual brine ⇒ to (3e) assist in keeping Yam Hamelach’s ‘sea level’ stable. 

Both hotter wellhead water and excess wellhead gas pressure should be used (1b & 1c → 2 & 3a) to generate the electricity necessary for the RO facilities and/or the electroplating of the RO Saline discharge water’s metallics. Interestingly, given Dimona Electric Power Station’s proximity to many of these RO/wellheads, any required external electricity incurs minimal transmission losses.

The Win-Win-Win aspects of this “Ka’afikim baNegev” proposal are much more awesome than our Fossil Water ‘reserves’ size ⇒ Winning pre-RO value recovery of heavy ultra-homogeneous inorganic silt for sintered metallurgy, ceramics, etc. ⇒ Winning RO sweet water production at lower costs than currently contracted for ⇒ Winning post-RO value recovery of numerous byproducts before eventual saline discharge into the otherwise shrinking Yam HaMelach!

Returning to the Fossil Water encounter of Duvid HaMelech A”H ⇒ HIS expression “Ka’afikim ba’Negev” has become forever embedded in HIS Tehillim/Psalm [https://www.sefaria.org.il/Psalms.126.4?lang=he] – “Restore, G?D?, OUR fortunes; Ka’afikim ba’Negev: like streams in the Negev!” → which is AMIDST The Sequence of HIS 15 ‘Songs of Assent’ ⇒ likewise >BEHOLD< ALL ISRAEL is now –presently– (as YOU are reading these words) amidst The Sequence of OUR Assent! >>>> Physically, Spiritually, Intellectually, Emotionally, Ethically, Politically, Progressively, & Ideologically FROM each-and-every generation TO the next… 

Briefly: This Tehillim/Psalm (126.4) “…verse beautifully compares the miraculous return of the Jewish people to Israel -to- the sudden flashfloods in the desert. Just as a dry riverbed suddenly transforms into a rushing, life-giving river after a rainstorm, OUR return from exile will bring {is already bringing} a sudden, joyous wave of life and redemption to OUR {pillaged by multiple conquering armies & continuously eviscerated by their neo-pagan empires} desolate land.” [https://edu.929.org.il/enrichment/%D7%9B%D7%90%D7%A4%D7%99%D7%A7%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%91%D7%A0%D7%92%D7%91/]

Postscript: However beyond comprehension our Intellectual Capital resources are – also the wonderful brackish aquifer resources waiting beneath our very feet, THEN how much more to appreciate these Fossil Waters upon extraction-RO and value recovery (as described above), yet I prefer to be awestruck by raw real-time mechanism constructs delivered from Our Innate Ideations & Applications; especially (more so) after pre-processing with https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/jaccuse-the-fall-and-rise-of-torah-true-education/ and post-processing via the patient emergence of National Social-Cellular Consciousness [https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/democracy-2-0-simple-protocol-israeli-relevancy/ <Links Inclusive>] …of course – like the vast majority of my ideas, Torah ‘insights’, technical invention-concepts, mechanisms & prototype characterizations [a 1986 public domain example – https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/15711.15713] → optimal utilization of our Fossil Water resources are still ‘over the horizon’ ⇒ that is: NOT instantly anticipated. ⇒ THUS: Whether our Fossil Water utilization may or may not occur, a National priority should actively be → the (re)locating all Toxic Liquid-Discharging industries ⇒ to be near Yam HaMelach! 

…Once upon a time… My World: a great invisible forest – lush – deep – densely packed with giant old growth hard woods – having barely a path between them; interspersed – Behold – miraculous tiny meadows thriving – surrounded in assorted saplings, shrubs, thickets, and flowering vines; simply because occasional small fires left robust clearings – wherein Nature’s recombinant renewal likewise responds.

Enter nameless wandering explorers, then official site surveyors, then rustic pioneer families, then scrupulous tax assessors, then creative AgriTech ventures, then natural resource transformers → who ‘innovate’ forests using teams of lumberjacks, supporting crews, great haulage contraptions, and little bands of ecological engineering recyclers – who plant all manner of foreign-fruit bearing orchards – in mundane rows and monastic columns – equally suitable for migrant hand picking or AI electro-optical harvesting. 

Of course all the habitat happy animals fled, the birds too – appropriately leaving insects & rodents to compliment inhuman activities → then eradicated with insecticides and little gift wrapped parcels of sweet smelling poison ⇒ until the only sounds filling this great wooden cathedral of celestial aspiring vaulted green canopies was a din of man-machines yelling at each other & destroying all that was the great woodlands; while imbibing fermented drippings (to feel self aggrandizement with gusto).

Now, while everyone hears trees falling with shouts of T-I-M-B-E-R, if I may be so bold to ask about a small wayward foul, lost from its flock, that found a lonely resting place (in the upper most remaining branches) among a few frightened albeit neighborly insects. So I have been wondering, given my personal life history – where most of my ‘ancestural’ kith ascended through industrial European chimneys (an innovation of sorts – compared to their traditional burning Jews alive in town squares – upon haphazard piles of random combustibles) and thereafter my remaining blood-related ‘co-generational’ kin were flushed down into post-modern sewers of ‘pseudo-civilization’ → leaving me as a solitary surviving nestling; and my question is: “When a lost bird (on high) peeps-or-chirps, does anyone hear it?”

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Blogger’s note: The paragraph beginning “SURPRISE” has two errors: (1) the episode relates to the water table (depth of ground water) NOT to “fossil water” -and- (2) it describes the water table’s lowering & arising by 15 Significant-cubits NOT by “15,000 Biblical-cubits”. ⇒ The author apologies -and- sincerely requests the readers’ forgiveness.