How easy would it be to feed 10 Billion (10,000,000,000) people in 3 decades? Will, we – humanity, as a whole – be able to “stretch” our liters, so to speak, use the same amount of water needed to grow our food – for an ever-growing number of mouths? In this episode, we learn how agricultural R&D, alongside soilless growing methods, might be an answer (if not the answer) to make more – out of less. https://episodes.castos.com/5e0db8ae40e9f5-43113304/Waterline-EP28-Making-Food-Final-short-mid...
Feb 05, 2020•1 hr 3 min
In 2007, out of 6.7 billion human beings in the world, a tad more than 50% of them lived in cities. With the number of cities – and especially Megacities (urban entities with at least 10 million inhabitants) – constantly on the rise worldwide, we examine how human beings – and water – coexist in a city. https://episodes.castos.com/5e0db8ae40e9f5-43113304/W-line-EP27-The-city-and-I-final-short-Midroll.mp3 Download Episode (Mp3) Interviewed in this episode: Dr. Noam Austerlitz – architect and scho...
Feb 05, 2020•46 min
A healthy water sector in a country is a predictor for high GDP, lower poverty rates and – not surprisingly – lower child mortality. In our high-tech world it is hard to imagine that every day 800 kids under the age of five die due to ill health caused by lack of clean water and lack of sanitation. That’s nearly 300,000 boys and girls who die needlessly every year. It’s as if the entire population of Cincinnati or Pittsburgh would suddenly vanish. The UN came up with a holistic view on the probl...
Dec 17, 2019•40 min
On November 18th 2019, in Tel Aviv, at the David Intercontinental you’ll find leading figures in the global water sector – all you have to do – is to attend! In this special episode Ari Goldfarb – WATEC19 chairperson; and Gili Elkin – a WATEC19 board member, reveal what’s to be expected in this year’s conference. https://episodes.castos.com/5e0db8ae40e9f5-43113304/Waterline-EP24-WATEC-2019-Here-We-Go-final-short-midroll.mp3 Download Episode (Mp3) Music credits Music from https://filmmusic.io “Dr...
Oct 16, 2019•27 min
In 2003 Nik Kowsar had to flee his country – Iran – after life there, for him, became unbearable. 3 years earlier, a cartoon he drew, had an implied remark on a Muslim cleric. He was put in jail. Although he was released 6 days after his imprisonment – he had to choose between life under the IRGC’s boot – or life in exile. Nik is a clear and a loud voice against the Islamic Republic’s water sector (mis)management. The water challenges Iranians face is something that is quite lost amid the consta...
Oct 16, 2019•57 min
What makes a person – one individual – build his career on the notion of we rather than me? In the following two episodes we will meet two inspiring people who do just that. For all of us to have an abundance of safe water to consume tomorrow – they don’t wait for others. They say – Yes I Can! In this episode, Anirudh Keny – an engineer from India who decided to come to Israel to do his Master’s degree in environmental studies – talks about the path he is carving for himself in the world of wate...
Oct 15, 2019•40 min
In our final episode examining the triad of legislation-structure-pricing – the triad within Israeli Model – we have asked for the assistance of an uninvolved party – a researcher from the University of Oxford – about the way he views the paradigms the Model offers. DR. Michael Gilmont is our special guest in this episode. https://episodes.castos.com/5e0db8ae40e9f5-43113304/Waterline-EP23-A-Spider-s-Web-Triad2-Final-short-midroll.mp3 Download Episode (Mp3) ———- Follow these links to learn more: ...
Jul 09, 2019•31 min
Today’s episode is about the most intricate components of the SPELT model – Israel’s model for water sustainability. Legislation, Structure & Pricing go hand in hand, and thus we present them together. Our guests today took an active part in shaping Israel’s national water sector. Their work – both past and present – will ensure the smooth supply of water for years to come. Not an easy task when you consider the outlook of an increase of 70% in population by 2050. https://episodes.castos.com...
Jun 07, 2019•40 min
Today’s episode is all about the ecosystem that creates the T in SPELT (Structure, Pricing, Education, Legislation & Technology) – the Israeli model for water sustainability. This model enables the country to consume twice the amount of water nature bestows on it annually. The technological solutions that enable this are not based purely on engineering and scientific advancements. It is the outcome of societal characteristics, commercial facts, and prestige – on top of the basics of technolo...
May 16, 2019•37 min
Today – an episode-long prologue. Before we consider the role technology plays in the SPELT model (Structure, Pricing, Education, Legislation & Technology) – the Israeli model for water sustainability – let us first meet three companies and their unique technologies and methods. Eli Perets – CEO, Utilis Dana Hubner – Business Development Manager, WFI Group Ari Goldfarb – Founder & CEO, Kando https://episodes.castos.com/5e0db8ae40e9f5-43113304/Waterline-EP20-The-21st-Century-Plumber-Il-Mo...
May 07, 2019•37 min
It’s no secret that Israelis consume twice the amount of water nature supplies it with. The main enabler for this phenomenon is a unique model that lies at the heart of the Israeli water sector. SPELT – Structure, Pricing, Education, Legislation and Technology are the 5 key elements. In this episode – the first one exploring the model’s aspects – we examine the role education plays in the model. High-schools and the academia are constantly in correspondence, and the system as a whole encourages ...
Apr 18, 2019•46 min
Design, has a profound impact on the way we live, influencing the way we go about our day-to-day, the way we make decisions – design isn’t about aesthetics but rather about developing solutions with the ultimate goal of making our lives better. In this episode we explore water through design – how do we use design to promote widespread sustainable water usage in the private and public sphere? https://episodes.castos.com/5e0db8ae40e9f5-43113304/waterline-ep18-form-follows-flow-designing-with-wate...
Apr 01, 2019•41 min
The International Water Association was established 20 years ago to create a worldwide organization that promotes and enables “creative friction”, in their own words, between engineers, innovators, governance experts, and water sector people across the range. Diane D’arras – IWA’s president since 2016 – was interviewed in Waterline’s special studio, part of the Israeli pavilion at the 8th World Water Forum that convened in Brasilia in March 2018. https://episodes.castos.com/5e0db8ae40e9f5-431133...
Mar 05, 2019•27 min
Situated in a semiarid region, Israel’s natural water resources supply it with only half of what it uses annually. The gap is being bridged by a unique combination of implemented technology, education and smart governance that enables more water to be manufactured and used. The result – a thriving country with a booming economy. However, the story of the Israeli water sector was very rarely told. In 2015 Seth Siegel – an American author publishes a book that almost instantaneously finds its way ...
Feb 15, 2019•1 hr 1 min
The World Water Forum convenes once every 3 years. The World Water Council – the convener – put the notion of sharing water as the arranging theme for the 8th forum that assembled in Brasilia in March 2018. This episode features interviews conducted during the forum with people from both public and private sectors, all geared towards bringing water to people. https://episodes.castos.com/5e0db8ae40e9f5-43113304/waterline-ep15-sharing-water-mst.mp3 Download Episode Interviewed in this episode: Ode...
Aug 13, 2018•38 min
The Mediterranean sea is where Europe, Asia, and Africa all meet. Throughout the ages, empires ruled over its entire coastline, and people used it to transfer goods, for recreation purposes, or to harvest its many food items. Today along its shores there are more than 20 countries. No longer a single empire – but rather a Mosaic of People, as was described by Waterline’s guest in this episode. Konstantina Toli, a Senior Programme Officer at Global Water Partnership – Mediterranean, points out th...
Jul 20, 2018•32 min
In this second part of our tale of dams, we will hear what happens once things go horribly wrong. Throughout history, faulty dams have created man-made disasters costing lives and the earth. We will be hearing about one disaster in particular – The Mariana Dam Disaster – that happened in Brazil in 2015. We will also revisit the town of Gatun , the dam that was built there and the lake that made the Panama Canal, with a somber look on the life of ordinary people there. https://episodes.castos.com...
Jul 04, 2018•34 min
It took nearly four decades, the lives of some 30,000 human beings and billions of US Dollars in current values to build; it was a source for heated debates and the kiss of death to some careers; it was rooted in vision – but took ample amounts of practicality to realize. You might know it simply as The Panama Canal – in a stretch of land not wider than 70 kilometers wide, humanity saw the opportunity to connect two great oceans – the Atlantic and the Pacific – and managed to cut the route by se...
Jun 07, 2018•32 min
Ask anyone “what is water?” and most likely you’ll hear them say – water is life. What is it about water that makes it stand out more than any other element? What is the effect water has on us humans – on a metaphysical level? How do we perceive water? Once you meet people for whom water is their job – the water sector people – you get to see the answers to these questions in practice. In this special episode, we examine water from chemical, religious and spiritual points of view, to mention but...
May 24, 2018•39 min
The rainy season of 2017-2018 in Israel marked the 6th year of drought in a row. However – water is still available on tap 24/7. In a semi-arid land, any drop missing from the annual natural precipitation creates a deficit. Six years of diminished precipitation might spell disaster. And yet – if you look at a satellite image of Israel – you see a green blotch in the desert. A key component in Israel’s water management system is desalination – the topic of this episode. https://episodes.castos.co...
May 10, 2018•34 min
Water is a global issue as much as it is a local issue. Water is life – anyone will tell you that. However, when was the last time you thought about water and the role it plays in the global economy? I am sure you can tell me the price of a used car but are you able to tell me the value (in real monetary terms) of the water you consume ? in this episode, we take a deeper look at the water economy. https://episodes.castos.com/5e0db8ae40e9f5-43113304/waterline-water-makes-the-world-go-round-mst-2....
Apr 26, 2018•36 min
It is midnight. The house is quiet, and everybody is asleep. You are reminded that the faucet in the kitchen is faulty by the constant drip-drip-drip-drip noise it makes. You toss and turn – but not alarmed; just ever so slightly annoyed. If you allow it to drip at a rate of a drop a second during one year, you’ve wasted an amount equivalent to 15 years worth of a person’s water consumption. Municipalities worldwide are losing an alarming amount of up to 60% of pristine freshwater due to unseen ...
Apr 12, 2018•33 min
Carlo Galli is Nestlé’s Technical Manager of Water Resources. In his work, he is in charge of making sure that Nestlé’s worldwide operations are water-sustainable ; not an easy task, taking in count the fact that it takes a lot of water to make food. In this episode, we focus on sustainable water management. Idan has a candid conversation about water, coffee, industrial practices, sustainable value-chain and social responsibilities with the man whose job is to make sure that the biggest food &am...
Mar 29, 2018•35 min
Israel is in a semi-arid region. Global climate changes create longer drought periods in the region. And yet, looking from above, one can see green fields and forests, and high-quality water is delivered to homes, businesses, farmers and the industry 24/7. Several components contribute to this success, but it all begins with the Israeli Water Law, passed in 1959. In this episode, we see how Israeli water regulation, stemming from the Water Law, enables self-sufficiency and continuous growth – ev...
Mar 15, 2018•34 min
The industry of water is regarded to, traditionally, as low tech. This fact makes it an excellent place for entrepreneurs to find new ways to disrupt, update, change and streamline the processes. To bring this industry – effectively – from low tech to high tech. In this episode of Waterline, we will hear from Eytan Levy – a serial water and wastewater technologies entrepreneur. How innovation, hard work and luck play a role in any venture – especially in regards to water technology. https://epis...
Feb 28, 2018•32 min
More often than not – water has been a source of deadly conflicts worldwide. For example, the spark that ignited the Syrian civil war is attributed to the country’s poor management of its water sector. Are we able – in this day and age, when water scarcity is a growing global phenomenon – to create a paradigm shift towards a water-based conflict resolution? this episode of Waterline focuses on hydro politics. https://episodes.castos.com/5e0db8ae40e9f5-43113304/waterline-ep09-hydropol-mst-1.mp3 D...
Feb 15, 2018•34 min
As with any great invention – drip irrigation began by chance. All it took is a man with an abundance of curiosity and a strong will to solve problems. In 1961 Eng. Simcha Blass realized an idea he carried with him for more than 30 years, with the help of Kibbutz members in the Negev Desert. They founded Netafim. Today, the company is a world leader in drip irrigation, and innovation is their main driving force. Interviewed in this episode: Naty Barak – Chief Sustainability Officer at Netafim . ...
Feb 01, 2018•33 min
Have you ever thought about the vast potential there is in the water (and, er… the… ahhh… ingredients, let’s say) you flush down the toilet? Discarded wastewater – once treated – has an economic and ecologic value that can drive a nation’s economy and even light up your house. How? All inside this episode of Waterline. Interviewed in this episode: Seth Siegel , author of Let There be Water – Israel’s Solution for a Water-Starved World Zohar Yinon – CEO of Hagihon – Jerusalem’s regional water &am...
Jan 18, 2018•32 min
The amount of water in our world is finite. And albeit all around us – the actual amount we humans can consume is minute. The sources of freshwater around the world – rivers, lakes and underground sources – are extremely delicate and prone to contamination .The best way to deal with water pollution? – a smart combination of technological solutions and human actions , as the story of the river Rhine, reveals. Interviewed in this episode: Dr. Tabea Stotter , an environmental scientist from the ICP...
Jan 09, 2018•31 min
