The researchers of the Water Research Institute at the Technion recommend a series of measures, including: recycling water in industry, using wastewater in earthworks and closing private pools
The researchers of the Grand Institute for Water Research at the Technion, led by Professor Rafi Smith, It is claimed that 100-150 million cubic meters can be added to the water system every year, the amount produced from each of the existing desalination facilities. In a letter to the Minister of Energy and National Infrastructures, Dr. Uzi Landau, and to the head of the Water Authority, Professor Uri Shani, they write: "As you know, the water system in Israel is in a serious crisis. The main proposed solution is in the direction of building additional desalination facilities. The schedule for the construction and operation of the new facilities in Nahal Sorek, Ashdod and other sites is on the order of years, therefore the water sector is planning emergency measures aimed mainly at restricting the use of water and harming scenic values. We believe that there are some practical steps that can be taken immediately and through this it will be possible to add significant amounts to the economy, in a very short time."
In the following, the researchers present their proposals:
Water cycle in industry: Industry in Israel produces about 80 to 100 million cubic meters of wastewater. In most cases, this wastewater is treated and disposed of in different water bodies. The amount of effluents currently recycled in industry in Israel is extremely limited (refineries in Haifa, paper mills in Hadera and a few other individual factories). Car wash systems, for example, at car dealerships, rental companies and car wash facilities, can cycle water at low cost and in a short time. The researchers of the Grand Institute for Water Research at the Technion believe that with a small organizational effort, it will be possible to cause the industry in Israel to increase the amount of water used at least to the level of about 30 million cubic meters per year. This will be made possible by upgrading the effluents produced today through advanced treatment systems, such as filtration through membranes and disinfection with ultraviolet radiation.
Earthworks: In a study currently being carried out at the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Technion, it was found that the amounts of water needed in Israel for paving and earthworks amount to several tens of millions of cubic meters per year. There is no justification for continuing to use benign water and there is no problem in switching to the use of effluents that have been treated in municipal or regional facilities. This can be implemented immediately only by giving appropriate instructions.
Better utilization of effluents: About 30% of the purified wastewater is discharged into the sea. It is necessary to examine the reasons for the non-utilization, to locate facilities where quick solutions can be found to introduce some of these effluents into the circulation cycle.
Gray water cycle: Gray water is defined as water that originates from sinks and showers. Studies carried out in recent years in the world and at the Technion offer available, simple and safe technologies for the treatment and reuse of gray water for flushing toilets or for gardening purposes. Gray water recycling technologies can be applied in public buildings, hotels, student dormitories and sports centers, where there is a maintenance infrastructure of other systems. The introduction of gray water treatment and recycling facilities may be carried out in a very short time, one to two months, and the amount of water returned to the water system is estimated at about 20 cubic meters per year. It should be noted that using this water reduces the recycling capacity of wastewater, but it also saves benign water. However, as long as 30% of the purified effluents are poured into the sea, there is room to allow the use of gray water for interested parties.
Saving water in homes: At the same time as the demand to stop the bagging of gardens, it is necessary to order the closure of private pools. In addition to the media campaign, it is recommended to publish instruction sheets and explanations on how to save water at home, when washing dishes, bathing, even when using the toilet. Emphasis should also be placed on simple measures to detect leaks in the home. Here, too, it is possible to save several tens of millions of cubic meters per year.
Increasing water production in existing desalination facilities: Instead of importing wasteful desalination facilities where the price of water will be 4 times higher than the price of desalinated water today, it is possible to increase production in the existing desalination facilities at much lower prices. It is possible to produce an addition of at least 60 million cubic meters of desalinated water in facilities that operate at reasonable costs, in less than a year.
The taxes on water: Water prices in the urban sector have recently been raised dramatically. It has already been announced that the excess payment, including the taxes imposed on the water at the source, will be transferred to the state treasury. These taxes should be used to increase and optimize the current water supply.
The future desalination facilities: The solution for several years depends on these facilities. The current crisis in the global economy is manifested in the lack of loans for investments in the private market. The state must prepare from now on to assist the winners of the Ashdod and Nahal Sorek desalination tenders in obtaining funds to finance the construction of the facilities.
Summary: The researchers of the Grand Institute at the Technion believe that in parallel to the steps that are already being taken today, it is possible to initiate additional steps, such as those mentioned above, and by doing so it will be possible to add orders of magnitude of at least 150 - 100 million cubic meters per year to the water system. This amount is equal to the amount of desalinated water in each of the large facilities, Ashkelon and Hadra. The big difference is that obtaining this amount of water is possible within short periods of time, a few months, only through effective organizational measures. The members of the institute are ready to assist in whatever is required to achieve these goals.
On the same topic on the science website:
19 תגובות
If so, then I will check it with the site developer. I was convinced it was part of the underlying system. In any case, transports, babysitting services and many other irrelevant things can only harm the site's ranking if links to them are given a free hand, unlike links to news sites or other science sites.
Are you sure? It's not like that on my blog. By the way, there is a nice plugin called Nofollow Case by Case and a plugin from the same programmer that completes it, which allow you to easily control which comments allow following of links and which not. Essential when you actually want to promote friends'/partners' websites.
This point of the link in our Polvo is part of the foundation of WordPress and not some plugin, even if I want to I can't change it.
It would be really interesting if you ever reveal what plugins you use and also link to them. For the benefit of other WordPress users of course.
To Mr. Volot, WordPress is referring to you with the NOFOLLOW tag anyway. That means the link will not be picked up by Google. Shame on your efforts.
It seems as if the solution must be implemented already in the construction phase
Because referring to Ami Bachar's words, it's pretty ridiculous to shower with
A bucket under you.. At least the water in the shower must be reusable
Really unfortunate
What about preventing evaporation from reservoirs and aquifers? The initial investment is large, but saves millions of cubic meters of water per year
Thanks, Ami.
I wonder what the law really is.
Since there is no law prohibiting all neighborhood dogs from defecating on my lawn - I don't think the problem is coliforms.
And if we're talking about my grass - the cutting was removed before it died, but it seems to me that the university will no longer grow grass again.
Michael:
At my place of work (known as Desert Research, Midrash Sde Boker) there is a researcher and his female student who deal with exactly this matter of gray water and its contact with the law. I don't have a place in my head that shows me the law, but from conversations with the people I understood that this is the point. Today they are working on a book that will be proposed to the Israeli Knesset in order to pass the gray water law.
The problem with restoring water at the home level is of course the control. There are standards in the world for reclaiming water and there is a great fear that it will not be possible to control tens of thousands of home installations and ensure that our children do not play on a dish saturated with coliforms or other pathogens.
The standard talks about how many units of coliform bacteria are allowed to be in gray water that has been reused. There are very green ways to reclaim the water - such as heating it with solar energy (a very effective process both from the biological point of view and from the point of view of harvesting solar energy for heating purposes).
In different parts of the world, for example, in a two-story family house or in multi-story buildings, a system is built in which the shower water from the floor above is stored and used to flush the toilets on the floor below. In this way, the energy that the water has from a high place to a low one is actually used and saves a lot.
With the correct planning of buildings, huge amounts of water can be saved. The problem is that the standards sometimes don't exist and the investment falls on the simple consumer who, overall, wanted to save the state and himself on water and money expenses.
Greetings friends,
Ami Bachar
Ami:
I did not know about the existence of a law prohibiting the recovery of gray water at the domestic level. I would appreciate it if you could point to a place where the ban appears officially.
It may be that reclamation of the water is prohibited for fear that it will be used for needs that the state does not want to encourage, such as watering lawns, but it is not a problem to prohibit watering lawns even with reclaimed water.
By the way, I really started drying the grass around my house.
Yesterday I saw that Tel Aviv University has already completely dried its lawns.
Are there other suckers besides me and the university?
The problem in the water sector is not a mathematical problem that can be solved if we adopt the conclusions of a respected institution like the Technion.
The problem is governmental leadership, the problem is a water economy managed by sick and distorted thinking, which causes a water shortage.
I would be happy to receive responses to the link I am attaching that examines this topic from a refreshing angle:
http://www.kav.org.il/pages/show/?id=74
And as usual, the countries of the world will implement these solutions, from Canada to Iran, and Israel will continue to dry up in arguments and political power...
An effective organization in Israel?
Isn't he supposed to arrive riding a white donkey by any chance?
Each generation and finding its waters and the solutions for its waste.
The right solution is to raise the price of water.
That way, the plant managers in the industry will go to the Technion themselves to check how the water can be recycled, the earthworks operators will take the effluent water themselves and I will stop watering the grass.
If Turkey has water, why not conquer it?
That's how they used to do it in the good old days.
One of the serious problems is legislation that prohibits the return of gray water in private homes. Very simple facilities that can restore gray water to the size of a private house for irrigation water or, alternatively, facilities that do not restore the gray water but reuse it - such as flushing toilets - these are prohibited by law in Israel.
When I run the dishwasher, I put a bucket in the water outlet pipe and collect it and use it to flush the toilet. Even when I shower I do it with a bucket under me. A lot of water is saved this way. I do not see and do not expect people to do as I do - it is too "hard". Systems must be created that do this automatically and the technology for this is very primitive and readily available.
Moreover, there is not enough research on the subject in Israel. Relatively old technologies are used in wastewater treatment. There is no coupling of processes using green energy (mainly solar energy) to purify water and utilizing the sludge and organic matter to create biogas. Waste water is gold for those who know and want to use it.
Greetings friends,
Ami Bachar
Lucky to have Ket Techniou, the voice of common sense
who knows how to look at the whole picture.. the question
How do you convey the message to the execution level?
The solution is peace with Syria and a water agreement with Turkey