The thick goo along Israel’s Gal On Reservoir was a putrid, practically-neon green; a stagnant stew glaring in the August heat. Along the shoreline, a dried, cracked mosaic of blue-green algae framed the water’s edge. A hardy team of scientists from BlueGreen Water Technologies descended on the lake with tools in hand: beakers, shovels, testing probes, and a drone. Wearing thick rubber gloves, masks, eye protection, and protective clothing, the scientists went to work taking samples and assessing the extent of the outbreak. Baking in the summer sun, the infected water produced an overpowering stench.
Such is a day in the life of a BlueGreen water scientist. They are true water detectives - seasoned scientists with decades of experience, working at the intersection of environmental science, hydrology, and microbiology to inspect, detect, and treat water bodies around the globe plagued by harmful algal blooms.
Being a BlueGreen water detective can be taxing work in challenging conditions. On every treatment mission there’s an element of risk; after all, they are dealing with a toxic organism. Mere contact with infected water can sicken or even kill. Such detective work is not for the faint of heart.
Water is a dynamic, chaotic environment. When good water goes bad, you need a scientist to nose around, hunt for clues, analyze, monitor, assess, and prescribe. You need a water detective on the job.
From Israel to the U.S. and China to Africa, from the water’s edge to the hydrology lab, BlueGreen’s water detectives are on the case.
Meet the BlueGreen scientists who are healing water bodies around the globe.
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Dr. Moshe Harel is the mastermind scientist behind BlueGreen Water Technologies. Dr. Harel had what might be described as an aha moment in a university lab in Houston when he came up with the idea of floating algaecide on the water’s surface. He hypothesized that a floating, timed-release delivery method would better target the toxic species where they exist, while ensuring the treatment process would be environmentally friendly. That idea sparked the creation of BlueGreen Water Technologies and its Lake Guard® line of treatment products.
This was no small feat – taking an idea in a lab from concept to large-scale manufacturing and deployment across multiple continents. Harel may not have realized it that day in the lab, but he had created a ground-breaking treatment regime which, with the help of his brother, CEO Eyal Harel, launched a global water-tech company that is healing water bodies and helping to safeguard Earth’s most precious natural resource.
Dr. Harel received his Ph.D. in Environmental Microbiology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and served his postdoc at the Dept. of Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.
Dr. Gad Weiss has been with BlueGreen from the very beginning. He and Dr. Harel crossed paths over a decade ago in Professor Aaron Kaplan’s lab at Hebrew University where both were researching cyanobacteria. That fateful meeting launched more than a decade of algae-sleuthing teamwork. When the Harel brothers launched BlueGreen, Weiss was at their side, conducting field research on a product prototype that would one day be deployed at scale. Much of that very early research took place in Dr. Harel’s backyard.
At the time, Weiss wore many hats, handling research and development, logistics, and sales. As the company grew, Weiss’ job evolved. He now serves as BlueGreen’s Scientific Director based in Israel.
Today, Weiss-affectionately known as Dr. Algae-travels the globe diagnosing and treating troubled water bodies of all sizes. He oversees teams deploying BlueGreen’s innovative treatment methods and keeps an eye on production lines to make sure each BlueGreen product meets stringent guidelines. Weiss actually wrote the production and testing protocols for BlueGreen’s product line.
Weiss received his Ph.D. in Environmental Microbiology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, with an emphasis on the interaction of cyanobacteria and its environment.
Dr. Jessica Frost serves as BlueGreen’s Scientific Director in the U.S. Though her territory spans from coast to coast, you will often find her in Florida keeping tabs on troubled water bodies large and small, including Lake Okeechobee and the Indian River Lagoon.
With over 25 years of experience in Aquatic Ecology, Dr. Frost brings her expertise in water quality monitoring, water chemistry, phycology, natural resources management, and a breadth of experience in both freshwater and marine environments, including phytoplankton, zooplankton, invertebrates and macrophytes.
Frost has a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science, a Master of Science in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences from the University of Florida, and a PhD in Biology from the University of Hamburg, Germany.
To learn more about the work of BlueGreen’s water detectives, check out the free course at BlueGreen Academy. You too can unlock the mysteries that lie beneath the surface and learn the secrets of being a cracker jack water detective, just like the crew at BlueGreen!
