Waste Not, Want Not
All over the world, national and local governments, municipalities and water authorities, institutions and everyday consumers are faced with a dwindling supply of fresh, clean water from natural sources. While there may not be less water around, there is less potable water because traditional water sources – wells, rivers, lakes, and
aquifers – absorb more pollutants than ever before. In many ways, the “water emergency” has pushed the issue of finding clean water supplies to the top of national agendas in countries around the world.
According to Danny Sorek, V.P. business development at Israel’s Global Environmental Solutions (GES), the water emergency has impelled many of Israel’s top scientists and entrepreneurs to come up with unique approaches to ensure clean, safe water both in Israel and around the globe. Sorek explains the relative advantage of the Israeli water companies. “As a country with limited water resources, Israel has been the perfect ‘experimental platform’ for scientists to develop the most effective methods of reclaiming polluted fresh water and brackish water, transforming these sources into reliable supplies of fresh water for home and industrial use. Water authorities and governments branches seeking help in ensuring safe and clean water supplies can draw on the vast experience we bring to the table. GES has worked on hundreds of projects in Israel and abroad and is a market leader in all areas of water reclamation. We are available to help at all levels, from consultation to turnkey systems,” he says.
GES, a member of the Granite Hacarmel Group, which is a member in the Azrieli Group, has been a leader in Israel in water management and reclamation for decades and has been at the forefront of many of the advanced water reclamation technologies in Israel. GES has designed,
built and operates hundreds of facilities for water reclamation and water purification for industrial and residential use in Israel and abroad.
The various solutions include treatment of lake, river, and well water; desalination of brackish and seawater; and purification of water for industrial purposes. Many GES facilities are located outside of Israel, with facilities to reclaim polluted well and river water in places such as
China, Greece and Mexico.
As examples of GES drinking water facilities in Israel, Sorek cites the Atlit plant for treating brackish well water, a facility that supplies approximately two million cubic meters per year of drinking water for residents of the northern part of the country; the K’tziot facility, which supplies approximately three million cubic meters per year of drinking water; and the Palmachim desalination plant.
While much work has been done in reclaiming brackish water, the development of plants for desalination of seawater – a technology that could ultimately eliminate water shortages almost everywhere in the world – has, surprisingly, been somewhat neglected by water authorities.
GES is an active player in this sphere as well. The company’s experience in the industrial area has given it a profound understanding of how it works, with engineers able to build systems that yield as much potable water with as little input of energy or other resources as possible. GES’s desalination technology consists of a combination of
techniques, which supplement the company’s superior reverse osmosis technology.
The desalination facility in Palmachim, which was built according to GES process design by GES and other partners, is set to supply 45 million cubic meters of desalinated water a year for a period of 24 years.
GES designed a treatment process that contains three major elements:
pre-treatment for coarse seawater treatment; reverse osmosis for fine treatment; and post-treatment to create the final product.
The desalination plant in Hadera supplies 127 million cubic meters per year. Two additional tenders for desalination plants are under negotiation:
the Ashdod plant with a capacity of 100 million cubic meters
per year, and the Sorek with a capacity of 150 million cubic meters per year.
According to Sorek, GES experience focuses not only on municipal purposes but on industrial interests as well. GES industrial experience includes establishing facilities for clients of various fields such as the soft drink industry, food plants, power stations, microelectronics plants and
pharmaceutical concerns, as well as other facilities that require particularly high water quality.
With all this experience, says Sorek, water authorities seeking assistance in increasing the supply of potable water for their customers will be able to reach their goals using GES-developed technologies. “Israel is blessed with many unique technologies that have advanced the cause
of clean water, and we have adopted many of these technologies for use in our systems, working on them for years to ensure their effectiveness and reliability,” he says, adding that the company is eager to provide
whatever help it can to areas in need.
Sorek suggests looking at the big picture. “We have to understand that supplying drinking water is only one part of the solution. Another part is preserving the grid water that is available. GES assists plants to recycle the water that already exists in the industrial process and thus
helps the plant reduce the amount of water it extracts from the national grid.”
By recycling the water extracted from the industrial grid, there is a double benefit. First, less water is extracted from the national grid, which means more clean water is available for public use. And second, there is an economic benefit for the plant: the expenses for water are reduced, and recycling processed water costs less than grid water. “As we can
see, it a win-win situation; both the public and the plant’s owners benefit from recycling processed water,” Sorek reasons. Another factor that allows for a reduction in the use of national grid water is wastewater treatment at the tertiary level. Sorek says, “Using an additional phase in the wastewater treatment plant allows us to use
the treated water for agricultural purposes, meaning for irrigation. This helps us preserve valuable grid water and use all the resources that are available to us.”
Sorek concludes, “We at GES are proud to offer a number of water solutions, starting with providing people with clean, safe water from unclean water sources and ending with preserving water by recycling processed water in industrial plants and treating wastewater to irrigation levels. I think that if we understand how to use our sources wisely,
we could all benefit from supplying clean drinking water.”
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