Suggestions for radical re-study of the whole question of irrigation in Israel were offered here by Prof. Philip W. Manson, American soil and water conservation expert, who is at present serving with the Technion as special advisor in the setting up of the Institute’s newly planned Department of Agricultural Engineering.
Prof. Manson declared that no adequate study had been made of the relative value to Israel of flood irrigation as against the overhead sprinkler system, and he believed that such a study might reveal startling information.
No established facts are yet available, he said, to determine which irrigation method was best for Israel. He questioned whether the sprinkler system was economical in the use of water, pointing out that under temperature and humidity conditions in Israel possibly as much as 25 percent of the spray never reached the ground.
The American expert, who heads the Soil and Water Conservation Department at the University of Minnesota, declared that in his opinion the Technion should be enabled to undertake such a study as part of its significant work in the field of engineering generally, in Israel. At the same time, he expressed surprise at the progress made in other areas of agricultural development here. Some of the hillside terracing he had seen in the Jerusalem Corridor and in Galilee were engineering feats of the first magnitude, he said.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
