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
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we don’t scale up our systems
hi everybody Trace Blackmore here your
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0:25.4
host for Scaling UP! and folks I gotta
tell you we’re in 2019 it is so exciting
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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
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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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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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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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5:35.4
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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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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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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that is that conduced technology
monitors continuously the quality of
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wastewater and identifies real-time
events that fret wastewater is quality
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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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6:53.5
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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7:11.7
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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8:40.6
rain rain go away it all starts in
education in a very young age all of
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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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9:43.5
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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9:58.8
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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11:27.8
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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11:46.5
support in the US the support that we
are providing helps water utilities
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11:52.6
understand that those companies are
going to be sustainable in the US so the
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11:59.8
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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12:09.4
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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12:22.0
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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12:33.7
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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13:11.8
about the innovative landscape there
we’re going on February and first week
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13:18.8
of February we currently have around 15
delegates and we are limited to 30
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13:23.7
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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13:41.4
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
14:04.9
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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14:38.3
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
14:45.5
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
14:56.1
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
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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
16:47.4
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
16:58.1
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
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17:21.0
time and more important I’m hoping to
have you visit Israel next time we are
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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
17:47.8
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