Wastewater and Water Re-Use in Israel
Eng. Alexander Kushnir
Director General
Israel Water & Sewage Authority
March 2012
1
Overview
• Israel’s Water Challenges
• Nation-Wide Domestic Wastewater
Treatment and Re-Use in Agriculture
• Next steps
• Conclusions
2
Challenge:
Minimizing the gap between supply and demand
• Israel is located in an arid region of the world.
• Continuous nation-wide efforts and innovations have
played a vital role in minimizing overconsumption.
• By responding to the unavoidable
challenges of water scarcity, Israel
has become one of the world
leaders in water conservation
3
Challenge: Providing Consistent, Sustainable
National Water Supplies
Key Historical Innovations:
1960’s – Construction of the National Water Grid: transports
water from the Sea of Galilee southwards, irrigating the
Negev desert.
1980’s – Droughts and increasing water demands
– Initiated re-use of domestic effluent for irrigation
2000 – Droughts and further increases in water demands
– Initiated large scale seawater desalination
Throughout the Past, Present, Future:
Improvements in water use-efficiency in all sectors. This
includes new methods of reducing water demands and water
losses.
4
Towards a sustainable balance
Added Supplies:
•
Large-scale re-use of treated wastewater in agriculture
and other sectors is the biggest step towards
sustainable water-use.
•
Decreasing future desalination requirements
Allocations for Nature:
•
Preserve natural water resources
•
Preserve water for the environment
5
Challenge: Managing the Quality and Nation-Wide
Distribution of Israel’s Many Unique Water Supplies
• Sea of Galilee and Watershed
• Fresh water aquifers
• Brackish water aquifers
• Storm water
• Effluent (treated domestic wastewater)
• Desalinated water
• Greywater - Future increases in the safest,
most economical way.
Each of these originates in different locations, has different
quality-levels, & has different energy-requirements for
supply.
6
Challenge:
Water Shortages in Agriculture
Innovations:
• Irrigation with domestic effluent
• By 2016: Increase the proportion of tertiary or tertiaryplus level effluent to 90%, to enable its unlimited
irrigation.
• Advanced irrigation systems
(eg. drips released immediately beside the roots)
• Maximize use of storm water
• Crop tolerance of: brackish water, minimal water
The most cost-effective water-energy balance is obtained
by using these methods of reducing demand and re-using
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resources.
90
80
Effluent Quantity for Irrigation:
Percent of National Effluent Used
80
70
60
%
50
40
30
20
10
0
17
10
8
5
1
1
Next Steps (Improvements Within 5-7 Years):
Israel will increase use of the total national effluent
produced each year from 80% to 90%
8
Effluent-Quality for Irrigation
Currently:
 Monitor and ensure all quality parameters to prevent
any potential long-term harm.
 Reduce salts by combining desalinated water with
natural potable water. Results:
higher effluent quality  higher plant yield
& lower water requirements
Next Steps (Improvements Within 5-7 Years):
 Raise effluent quality from secondary to tertiary to
increase tertiary-level effluent from 36% to 90%.
9
National Consumption: Agricultural Sector
1600
2050
1400
2010
350
(26%)
1000
500
(48%)
400
(38%)
2030
100 (7%)
2025
2020
2015
2010
2000
1995
1990
1985
1980
1975
1970
1965
0
2005
144 (14%)
Year
If effluent were not used in agriculture, desalinated water
production would be required (a more costly alternative) to supply
the agricultural sector’s needs.
2050
200
2035
400
900
(67%)
2045
Potable
Effluent
Brackish
600
2040
800
1960
MCM/yr
1200
Increasing Proportion of Effluent in
Agricultural Consumption
Currently, effluent provides ~38% of the water
used for agriculture in Israel
….and plans are to increase this to 67% by
the year 2050
11
Next Steps:
Improvements in
Wastewater Purification & Re-Use
in the Next 5-7 Years
Quantity – Increasing the total percentage of reused
effluent from 80% to 90%
Quality - Upgrading tertiary-quality effluent from 36%
to 90%
12
Options in Effluent Management
Effluent Re-Use Systems – National, Regional, Local
Tariffs – True cost, Government subsidy, Cross-Sector
Financing
Maintenance – Government, Private, Both
13
Conclusions
• Water shortages have led to national-level innovations in water
conservation, re-use, and desalinated supplies. These have made
Israel one of the world’s leaders in water use.
• The Israeli model can provide assistance to the global community;
not only to arid countries.
• The most cost-effective methods have been used to reduce water
demands and re-use resources.
• Nation-wide use of effluent provides almost 40% of the agricultural
sector’s water.
• During the coming 5-7 years, effluent that is used in the agricultural
sector will increase in both quantity (use of 90% of all effluent ) and
quality (90% treated at tertiary-level)
14
Thank you !
Don’t Waste Your Waste!
15