Scaling UP! H2O

71 Transcript

The following transcript is provided by YouTube. Mistakes are present. To hear the podcast episode, click HERE.

0:08.0

0:13.2

Welcome to Scaling UP! H2O the podcast
where we’re Scaling UP! on knowledge so

0:13.2

0:17.2

we don’t scale up our systems
hi everybody Trace Blackmore here your

0:17.2

0:25.4

host for Scaling UP! and folks I gotta
tell you we’re in 2019 it is so exciting

0:25.4

0:32.0

to have the entire year in front of you
and be able to plan what we are going to

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0:36.5

do of course I had an episode earlier
this year is my very first episode of

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0:43.5

the year episode 67 where I spoke about
the things that you could do that would

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0:48.8

help you enhance your career and these
of course were items such as trade shows

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0:54.6

and conventions and different trainings
that you can go to many of you have

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0:59.9

written in saying that you do plan to
attend some of these others have written

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1:07.7

in to say that I have forgotten some and
one of the people that called in and did

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1:14.7

that actually they wrote me a message on
LinkedIn was Josh Cohen and Josh is

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1:20.1

responsible for the water delegation in
Israel now he put me in contact with

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1:27.3

Gilly Elkin and she works for the Israel
Colorado innovative fund and I have

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1:32.7

never met these people before and that’s
why social media and this podcast is

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1:39.4

such an amazing tool because I get to
meet so many people out there in the

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1:44.2

industrial water treatment industry and
these folks happen to be in the potable

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1:50.9

water treatment industry and they wanted
me to share with you this Scaling UP!

1:50.9

1:57.1

Nation what the water delegation in
Israel is doing and when we got to

1:57.1

2:03.9

talking I found out so many things that
we use today came out of Israel

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2:09.0

so I thought it would be a great
conversation to have and figure out why

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2:14.6

so many things are coming out of Israel
and what do they expect to happen from

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2:20.9

this water delegation so I hope you
enjoy my interview with Gil

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2:27.1

Elkin my lab partner today is Gilly
Elkin of the Israel Colorado Innovation

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2:33.2

Fund Gary thanks so much for joining us
on Scaling UP! H2O hi Trace very glad to

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2:37.8

speak with you today and Happy New Year
happy New Year to you as well

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2:43.9

I love LinkedIn LinkedIn has connected
me with so many interesting people in

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2:49.5

the water community your colleague Josh
Cohen reached out to me via LinkedIn and

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2:54.0

told me about a water delegation that
you guys are having in Israel and that

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2:57.9

led to this interview and a great
conversation before the interview so I

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3:01.9

just can’t wait to tell the Scaling UP!
Nation about what it is that you do and

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3:07.1

what you’re doing with the delegation
thank you Trace so I’m trying to think

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3:12.1

how what’s the best way for us to get
started and maybe we just start with

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3:19.5

what exactly is it that you do so I’m a
general partner in the Israel Colorado

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3:26.1

Innovation Fund the IC I fund which is a
private fund that invests in Israel II

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3:32.7

innovative technologies companies in the
water sector and brings them to the US

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3:39.2

and supports their scale up through my
partner in sphere that is located in

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3:47.0

Colorado in sphere is a 20 years
technology incubator that supports 40

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3:53.6

companies here for the last 20 years so
every company we’re going to select from

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3:58.3

Israel in the water sector for
investment and support is going to be

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4:04.4

supported by inner sphere with its scale
up in the US I find that fascinating I

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4:08.6

also find fascinating about all the
innovative water technologies that are

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4:13.2

coming out of Israel so I thought we
could take a moment and talk about you

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4:18.0

know why are these technologies coming
out of Israel well as I’m sure you know

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4:25.3

necessity is the mother of inventions
and since 60% of Israel is a desert we

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4:31.5

had to come up with innovation in water
to overcome the challenges of scarcity

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4:34.9

you know in fact innovation in water
started

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4:39.8

before the country was established when
the British government prevented

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4:44.7

immigration to the area claiming that
the area could not meet the demand of

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4:50.4

the growing population however these
days we are exporting water to our

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4:58.4

neighbours now I think that this is the
result of innovation in many areas for

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5:05.0

example desalination we have five
desalination plants providing 80% of the

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5:11.2

water consumption in Israel wastewater
treatment we treat 95% of our waste

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5:18.7

water and reuse 86 of that for
agricultural purposes irrigation we use

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5:25.4

drip irrigation that was invented in
Israel in 75% of our irrigated fields we

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5:30.2

see clouds capturing the rain and reuse
it and we have the leading cyber

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security leak detection and IOT
technologies for the water sector it

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definitely is impressive all the things
that come from that area of the planet

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5:43.3

what would you say is the most
innovative that you’ve seen come from

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5:50.0

Israel that’s a very good question so as
I see it we live in an era in which

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5:56.6

wastewater as I’m sure you know must be
reused re used for agriculture and reuse

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6:03.9

for drinking so in order to improve
quality of wastewater a groundbreaking

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6:10.6

technology was developed by can do with
a cake what’s unique about can do is

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6:18.1

that it is treating wastewater like
whiskey and what I mean when I’m saying

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6:23.8

that is that conduced technology
monitors continuously the quality of

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6:30.9

wastewater and identifies real-time
events that fret wastewater is quality

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6:37.3

so using artificial intelligence and
data analytics conduce innovative

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technology analyzes the entire
wastewater of a city and produces

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automatically insights and action items
for the operators of utilities

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currently conduce technology is deployed
all over israel and starting in

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6:59.3

California can do is now penetrating to
the US also through Colorado and other

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7:05.5

states with a goal to provide insights
into the quality of wastewater and

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increase the quantity that can be reused
and I encourage everyone to look for

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7:18.0

conduce meaning the word it’s a Japanese
word but I encourage people to look at

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7:22.5

the meaning of the word well I’ll put
that on my show notes page to encourage

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7:27.9

people how about that sounds good you
know it’s it’s great to live in the

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7:32.1

United States you turn on the faucet and
water comes out and you said before

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7:36.9

necessity is what makes people be more
innovative you said it a lot better than

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7:43.5

I just did but I look at in usage maps
and we have so much water in the United

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7:49.5

States but when you fast-forward 20 30
40 years it’s not going to be like that

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7:54.8

what do you what advice do you give
people in the United States to be better

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8:00.6

stewards of the water that we do have
that’s a big one so I didn’t touch and

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8:07.7

and the other factors that caused Israel
to be a leader in water management so

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8:13.0

not only water innovation but also water
management so people in Israel are

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8:19.8

educated from a very young age to
conserve water so we appreciate the

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8:26.3

scarcity of water since a very young age
if you compare the nursery rhymes that

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8:33.5

you have in Israel which same drip drop
clap your hands with us nursery rhymes

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rain rain go away it all starts in
education in a very young age all of

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8:47.9

Israel is covered with signs that are
telling the public to conserve water and

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8:53.4

that every drop counts people in Israel
do not wash cars because of the

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9:00.9

awareness to water conservation so
everything starts with education it’s a

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9:05.3

big
right for Israelis how we succeeded to

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9:13.3

export water to our neighbours so I
would advise first but it’s not to the

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9:19.9

people it’s more to the states and to
the educators to start educating kids

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9:28.5

from very young age to parish every drop
of water this would be our first advice

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9:34.9

another thing that Israel has done is
its separated water from politics since

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the consequences of water are only shown
many years after the official elected is

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9:52.4

out of office water was separated from
politics and we have one National Water

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Authority that manages water as a whole
and water in Israel belongs to the

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10:05.0

public which is very different than in
the US so it’s easier for this National

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10:13.1

Water Authority to plan water for the
greater good and plan the future of

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10:19.9

water taking into account innovation
that doesn’t exist yet not easy to

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10:25.9

duplicate all of those things and bring
them to a different culture different

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10:31.0

state but I would also recommend the
better advice would be maybe to look at

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10:38.6

innovation coming out of Israel and
deploy promising water technologies in

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10:45.0

the US by water and wastewater utilities
well and that brings us to the topic

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10:49.3

that you and I originally started
talking about where you are putting on a

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10:56.1

water delegation in Israel and what is
the overall goal of the delegation so it

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11:03.1

started a year ago by the establishment
of the Israeli US water initiative the

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initiative is a platform that connects
between US water and wastewater

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11:14.3

utilities and between Israeli water
companies so US utilities benefit from

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the screening
done by the Ezreal Colorado Innovation

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Fund by the icy I fund which is a
private fund that anyway screens

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hundreds of Israeli companies before
selecting one for investment and support

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in the US the IC I fund introduces the
u.s. utilities to the selected companies

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such as can do that was selected out of
hundreds of companies for investment and

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support in the US the support that we
are providing helps water utilities

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understand that those companies are
going to be sustainable in the US so the

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main goal of the Israel u.s. water
initiative is to educate us utilities

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12:04.2

water and wastewater utilities about
innovation coming out of Israel

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now this initiative is supported by the
Israeli government on one hand and by

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12:16.0

AWWA and the other hand which is the
largest water organization in the US it

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is also supported by a few governor’s
from different states in the US so under

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12:27.6

this initiative we bring us water and
wastewater utilities together with

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Israeli companies to talk about the
challenges of US utilities adopting new

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12:38.8

technologies and to talk about and to
introduce solutions for the water

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12:44.1

industry coming out of Israel the
delegation that we’re hosting now is

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12:48.4

under this initiative so the delegation
is supported by the Israeli government

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12:54.6

in AWWA and some of the costs of the
delegation are covered by the Israeli

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12:59.7

government and AWWA the goal of the
delegation is to take us water

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13:06.0

professionals to Israel and educate them
about the water ecosystem in Israel and

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about the innovative landscape there
we’re going on February and first week

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of February we currently have around 15
delegates and we are limited to 30

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delegates and we will be happy to add
more participants and anyone who is

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13:28.3

interested can contact me at Gilead I
see I thought fun

13:28.3

13:32.4

I’ll make sure to have that on my show
notes page as well and thank you so much

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13:36.6

for inviting me unfortunately I’ve got
something else planned during that but

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it sounds incredible
so for the listeners out there who

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13:46.1

specifically are you looking for who’s
the listener that needs to email you and

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13:51.2

say yes I need to be part of this
delegation so anyone who is interested

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13:58.8

in learning about Israel’s water
ecosystem and innovation landscape

13:58.8

14:04.9

innovative technologies should come to
this trip and I can give you some

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14:12.1

destinations and some facilities that I
can mention some facilities we are going

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14:17.4

to visit during our trip there so we’re
going to visit the Israel National Water

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14:23.7

Authority and understand how it manages
water in Israel we’re going to visit

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14:28.5

Zurich the Silla nation plant the
world’s largest sea water reverse

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14:33.9

osmosis desalination plant we’re going
to visit chef Dan the wastewater

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treatment plant
many other big utilities that will tell

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14:45.5

us what technologies they are using
we’re going to have a day dedicated to

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14:50.8

cybersecurity so we’re going to have a
cybersecurity drill for water utilities

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14:56.1

of course and listen and learn about
innovation in cybersecurity coming out

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15:01.1

of Israel Israel is very strong in
cybersecurity – we’re going to have two

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15:05.7

nights one night is going we’re going to
have many startups pitch their

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15:11.3

innovative solutions to the water
utilities and one night that is going to

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15:16.7

be a round table having all water
utilities all participants together with

15:16.7

15:23.0

Israeli water utilities discuss
challenges of the water industry in the

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15:28.7

US and in Israel of course we’re going
to visit also historic sites such as

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15:36.6

Jerusalem the old city Caesarea and the
desert Mitsuda and the Dead Sea the

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15:42.3

lowest point on earth and the best thing
would be we’re going to

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15:47.6

the best food on earth which is here in
Israel and you’re probably a little

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15:53.0

biased about that I would guess I
wouldn’t say so so this is the second

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15:58.2

time you’ve put this on correct this
delegation is the first time but water

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16:06.6

roundtables we had three of them so we
had one in Denver hosted by AWWA we had

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16:12.0

one during Westec in New Orleans and we
had one in Maryland all of them

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16:17.1

connected between many water and
wastewater utilities in the US and they

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16:23.4

were introduced to adopt technologies
and what are their technology needs and

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16:29.2

they were introduced to different water
solutions coming out of Israel so this

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16:34.4

will be the fourth water roundtable
which will be hosted for the first time

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16:38.9

in Israel Oh excellent well I’m hoping
that you get some people out of the

16:38.9

16:44.0

Scaling UP! Nation that are interested in
learning all the wonderful things that

16:44.0

16:47.4

you describe that are going on in Israel
and then hopefully taking some of that

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16:51.6

information back gilja is there anything
that you want to add for the Scaling UP!

16:51.6

16:58.1

Nation no I think that the u.s. is a
great market to scale up innovative

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17:02.2

companies coming out of Israel this is
the mission in everything we are doing

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17:07.4

here and I hope to talk with you and
maybe next year and talk about great

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17:12.5

results and how we succeeded to scale up
can do all over the United States that’s

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17:16.3

the first company but I’m hoping to
speak about many more companies next

17:16.3

17:21.0

time and more important I’m hoping to
have you visit Israel next time we are

17:21.0

17:26.9

doing this having this delegation well I
am gonna hold you to every one of those

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17:30.9

items you mentioned please do Gary
thanks so much for coming on the show

17:30.9

17:35.3

this has been very informative and if
you don’t mind sharing some of the links

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17:39.3

with me and I’ll put those on my show
notes page so if people do want to find

17:39.3

17:43.2

more information about what it is that
you do and what the delegation does

17:43.2

17:47.8

it’ll be very easy for them to go to
scalinguph2o.com well thank you so

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17:51.6

much for coming on the show and I look
forward to finding all the wonderful

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17:55.9

things that come out of this delegation
thank you so much it was great play

17:55.9

18:01.2

you’re speaking with your tres I just
can’t tell you how cool that was to meet

18:01.2

18:07.7

people through the podcast and you can
tell she is delightful we had a little

18:07.7

18:13.6

conversation before we started recording
it is amazing what they do and of course

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18:18.7

the reasons that they do it so thank you
so much for coming on and letting the

18:18.7

18:23.8

Scaling UP! Nation know Gili
what you guys are doing over in Israel

18:23.8

18:30.2

now I wanted to talk about a few things
one we just had the ASHRAE show a

18:30.2

18:33.9

couple of weeks ago so I’m going to be
telling you a little bit about that on

18:33.9

18:39.7

some upcoming episodes and we also have
the association of water technologies

18:39.7

18:45.7

technical training coming up very soon
so if you’re interested in that go to

18:45.7

18:54.3

scalinguph2o.com/awttt that’s three
T’s at the end and that will shoot you

18:54.3

19:00.4

directly to that page and of course you
will see me there if you’re interested

19:00.4

19:04.8

in finding out more about some of the
water related things that are going on

19:04.8

19:11.4

this year go to https://scalinguph2o.com/67
and that was my first

19:11.4

19:16.5

episode of the year and that was a
sampling of some of the water related

19:16.5

19:22.7

industries for what you can do this year
some things that you can participate in

19:22.7

19:29.5

I gotta tell you that the fact that
people are reaching out to me like Gilly

19:29.5

19:36.3

like Josh and it’s allowing people to
come together to share ideas to spread

19:36.3

19:41.2

ideas and you all know that one of my
favorite books is the seven Habits of

19:41.2

19:48.8

Highly Effective People and that is
habit six coming to life habit six is of

19:48.8

19:54.3

course synergy and synergy is when two
or more people get together they can

19:54.3

19:59.9

create a result that’s much bigger
that’s much stronger than either one

19:59.9

20:05.8

could by themselves and I’m sure that’s
what’s going to happen as a result of

20:05.8

20:09.1

this water delegate
folks many of you call in and you ask

20:09.1

20:14.5

how you can help me and of course my
answer is always going to be to keep

20:14.5

20:17.1

listening
but there’s so many water traders out

20:17.1

20:24.1

there that have not heard of the Scaling UP! H2O podcast I would love it if you

20:24.1

20:29.4

could post on your social media that
there is a podcast for us water

20:29.4

20:35.1

treatment people out there I would love
it if the next time you saw a fellow

20:35.1

20:41.4

water treater you let them know about
Scaling UP! H2O and many water traders

20:41.4

20:46.2

out there still don’t grasp the concept
of podcasts folks there are so many

20:46.2

20:52.7

great podcast apps out there you do not
have to go online of course you can and

20:52.7

20:56.1

we have that on our website https://scalinguph2o.com/

20:56.1

21:02.0

but you do not have to go online to
listen to each and every episode so

21:02.0

21:06.3

folks when you’re out there speaking
with those water treatment professionals

21:06.3

21:12.0

remind them to use their favorite
podcast app and subscribe to Scaling UP!

21:12.0

21:17.4

H2O that way you don’t have to go
anywhere you don’t have to do anything

21:17.4

21:23.3

and every time I deliver a new show to
the Scaling UP! Nation it will go

21:23.3

21:28.3

directly to your podcast app and you
will see that you have a show waiting

21:28.3

21:32.5

for you folks thank you so much for
listening to Scaling UP! thank you so

21:32.5

21:37.1

much for helping me grow the Scaling UP!
Nation and I’ll talk to you next week on

21:37.1

21:40.4

Scaling UP! H2O

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