Mikveh water

June 21, 2011 - 4:51 AM by Jessica · Leave a Comment
Filed under: design, Environment, General, Israeliness, Life, Religion

These days, it’s all about recycling, whatever the material and wherever the venue. Even at the Pisgat Ze’ev mikveh, that’s a ritual bath, folks, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, water will soon be recycled, saving more than a million gallons of water each year.

It’s an experimental filtering and purification program that was recently approved by the Israeli Health Ministry, and will include the required changing of water at least once a day, as well as facilitating online checks of the water quality. The plan is for health ministry officials in Pisgat Ze’ev to supervise the purification process for six months before they introduce the system in other mikvehs.

If they actually succeed, 35 other mikvehs around Jerusalem will be recycling their water, saving more than 26 million gallons of water each year, as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars. Which would be ecologically meaningful, for the many women who use the mikvehs regularly to ritually bathe themselves. But it doesn’t really deal with the amount of water used by the women who have to bathe or shower before entering said mikveh. Or the mikvehs that are clean vs. those that are less so. For that, check out this link that tells travelers where to find the best mikvehs in Jerusalem, including more ancient ones.

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