Earthquakes fail to shake interest in irrigation

TIM PENSON wasn’t in Narromine when the Israeli earthquakes hit a couple of weeks ago, he was in the midst of a trip to the Middle East looking at innovative irrigation techniques, something the Israelis are experts at.

He said the earthquakes were a terrifying experience. “It felt just felt like turbulence in a plane, magnified from a 12-storey building getting a sway up,” Mr Penson said.

Israelis felt three earthquakes over two days and additional ones were recorded by instruments of the Geophysical Institute of Israel, with one quake measuring 3.2 on the Richter scale in the cities of Tiberias and Safed in northern Israel.

The next night, Haifa and Western Galilee region residents felt a quake measuring 4.5, and earlier, residents of the same region felt a tremor placed at 4.1 on the Richter scale – luckily no damage or injuries were reported.

Mr Penson said it was “a bit of a concern”, because it’s not something many Australians have direct experience of, coming from a geologically very stable country.

“We didn’t know when it would stop or if another worse one was coming – they are due for a big one and have realised buildings pre-1980 probably won’t fare well,” he said, noting that locals didn’t seem at all worried about the earth shaking violently.

“They weren’t particularly concerned, no damage seemed evident around the place and many jokes were made the day after by locals,” Mr Penson told Dubbo

Some of his group stayed on an Israeli Kibbutz, which are co-op style communities.

“This was one of the most interesting things for me. We stayed first in the kibbutz khafr chazr situated in the Gollan Heights overlooking the Sea of Galilee.

“The community was amazing, with all the agriculture surrounding, businesses, shops, dining hall, school and children’s play equipment. (The concept of) equal pay and sharing was quite different to what we are used to,” he said.

In 2010, there were 270 kibbutzim in Israel and their factories and farms account for nine per cent of Israel’s industrial output, worth $US8 billion ($10.84 billion), and 40 per cent of its agricultural output, worth over $US1.7 billion ($2.3 billion).

Some kibbutzim had also developed substantial high-tech and military industries, with Kibbutz Sasa, containing some 200 members, generating $850 million in annual revenue from its military-plastics industry in 2010. There are lessons to be learned on how Australia can wean itself off the corporation-dominated agriculture and manufacturing sectors.

The trip was primarily an irrigation field study for 10 days.

“The main focus from the companies that set up the trip was filtration and valves. We focused a lot on hydraulics and the importance of air release in systems which is often overlooked and can

Above:

Tim Penson, on the right, inspecting irrigation pumping equipment on his study tour looking at innovative use of water for agriculture. PHOTO: SUPPLIED. Left: An irrigation system sprays recycled waste water on a field in Kibbutz Magen in southern Israel. Israel has developed a billion-dollar industry by sharing water reuse systems and expertise. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE directly effect efficiency, life span of parts and more importantly energy savings,” Mr Penson said.

“Their water supply is a lot different, using effluent water for irrigation, bore water and fresh water. They are doing high-yield crops with little water and changing farming methods to increase yields, decrease water usage and so on.

He said many crops are under shade cloth, and the piped water infrastructure on the road sides is very noticeable. Desalinated water in the region supplies around 70 per cent of the towns and cities. It’s a country the size of Victoria, but “they have an amazing water infrastructure setup considering what they spend on security/military”, he said.

One highlight was a desalination plant visit, where the waste

water is sent to a biogas plant.

“The manure will be collected from farms throughout the country and shipped in closed containers,” Mr Penson explained.

“Upon reaching Be’er Tuviya, the manure is pasteurised and then stored in air-tight concrete tanks, where it produces methane.

“This in turn is be used to generate electricity and any leftovers can be used as fertiliser,” he said.

Mr Penson said he found Israel unlike what he saw portrayed in the news before he left Australia. He said the Israel army didn’t need to have a presence at any time during his visit as they monitor everything from above with drones and satellites.

Although, from where he was staying on the Gollan Heights, Mr Penson could hear the bombings and gunfire from about 2km away. z John Ryan is employed parttime by Mid Macquarie Landcare as a Local Landcare Co-ordinator