The issue of raw sewage may not be hitting the headlines in the Middle East like concerns over water scarcity, but in the Palestinian territories and Israel it’s a real problem. Inadequate waste water treatment plants in the Palestinian territories means that only 22.5 million cubic metres out of around 150 million cubic metres of […]
Raw sewage from Jerusalem flows straight into the Dead Sea. Many of Israel’s army bases were built quickly, in isolated spots, and 150 of them are not even connected to the country’s sewage system. The waste ends up in the groundwater, contaminating fresh water sources and crops and preventing the water from being recycled for […]
Sewage on the streets of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, left more than 120 dead and questions about the country’s green credibility very much open to debate. Photo: Reuters. We’ve covered the recent Hajj 2009 to Mecca in Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Abrabian government’s desire to make future Hajj pilgrimages more environmentally friendly. All these efforts may […]
The concept of achieving peace through pipes may have originated with Native Americans, but today, unbeknownst to most of us, Israelis and Gazans are seeking peace through sewage pipes. It was a wild idea back in 1997, and perhaps it is even more unrealistic today. However, against the odds – and working around their governments […]
A report published Sunday by the Israeli human rights group B’tselem, titled, “Foul Play: Neglect of Wastweater Treatment in the West Bank” found untreated wastewater to be a major source of pollution in the West Bank. 91 million cubic meters (mcm) of wastewater is produced each year in Israeli settlements, parts of Jerusalem, and Palestinian […]
A new scheme has just got underway for Palestinians to treat their sewage waste and purifying it for agricultural use by using wetlands. Forsaking electricity, the system instead relies on a system of man-made pools which utilise plants to assist in the organic breakdown of the sewage. The West Bank village of Um a-Rihan, not […]
Imagine being able to place an entire farm, complete with crops and livestock, in the same space as is required for one of today’s modern urban skyscrapers. A Columbia University professor, Dickson Despommier, has been involved in such a project that could turn a 30 story glass faced building into a vertical agricultural enterprise capable […]
As the dust settles on the recent round of violence between Israelis and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, reports indicate that the environmental damage is another unfortunate byproduct of the war. The political situation aside, Gaza’s ecological conditions are already conducive to groundwater pollution. The sandy desert soil tends to absorb water – or pollutants […]
The army unit I served in (way back when) was featured in tonight’s news broadcast for having cancer levels more than twice as high as other infantry units. Channel 2 TV (Arutz 2) reported this evening (video, in Hebrew) that IDF’s Nachal infantry had 2.5 as many Hodgkin’s Lymphoma cases than either Paratroopers or Golani, […]
Israel Environmental Protection Minister Gideon Ezra and his Korean counterpart Environment Minister Lee Maanee signed a memorandum of understanding on bilateral environmental cooperation on November 12, 2008. Under the agreement, the two countries will enhance cooperation on air pollution, climate change, biological diversity and sewage disposal and will promote exchanges between environmental experts. Among the […]
Green Prophet interviews Andreas Weil, director of EcoOcean. Tell us a little about who you are and what you do. My name is Andreas Weil and I am the co-founder and acting director of the Israeli marine environmental nonprofit organization EcoOcean. I live for environmental issues and education. The sea is my passion and EcoOcean […]
With its lavish six-star hotels and glitterati reputation, Dubai has quickly risen to fame as a tourist paradise. But now that fame might be heading towards infamy, as sewage including excrement and the contents of septic tanks has been pouring onto Dubai’s tourist-filled beaches. Doctors are warning bathers that they run the risk of contracting […]
Industrial and municipal waste doesn’t go away when we flush it down the drain. It takes an enormous amount of energy for treatment plants to process it, while massive environmental and financial costs go into disposing of the leftover sludge. Now, two Israelis are about to change the way we look at wastewater, by turning […]
Events over the past week indicate that Palestinian surface and ground water resources are in great danger. Last Friday, around three hundred Palestinians protested the reopening of an Israeli dump site near the West Bank village of Deir Sharaf, outside Nablus. The dump, which was closed several years ago, may pose a grave threat to […]
Any place that has wastewater treatment plants, must deal with the issue of sludge – all of the solids left over after the sewage is treated. Sewage treatment consists of a number of stages. Stage I, where the solids are flocculated (encouraged to glom together) and settled out of the stream. Stage II, where the […]