The Coming Age of Desalination for Gaza: Visions, Illusions and Reality / Dr. Nahed Ghbn
The Gaza Strip is located along the coast of the eastern Mediterranean Sea covering an area of 378 km2 stretching over a distance of approximately 45 km, with width of 7-12 km. Growing population and deteriorating water quality has created a growing water “overdraft”. The total deficit in domestic water supply for 2005 was more than 7 MCM for the Gaza Strip. While Gaza has no permanent surface fresh water resources, its only fresh water source, the coastal aquifer level has been in long-term decline and water quality continues to degrade. In addition, existing waste water treatment plants are overloaded, causing pollution and untreated wastewater is discharged to the wadi from the surrounding communities with unacceptable environmental impacts. As a result, most Gaza residents use a variety of techniques to improve the quality of their drinking water or simply purchase bottled water. Operating home RO filters is an expensive method and is not affordable for most of the people. The small desalination firms that have emerged are also inherently inefficient, selling relatively expensive drinking water in 20 liter jerry cans. There is therefore an urgent need to develop new water resources in addition to upgrading and developing the storage and distribution facilities. Ultimately, desalinated water from Gaza could relieve the water shortages in the West Bank. Yet, to date, no broader supply strategies have been designed beyond local production and supply of desalinated water for Gaza itself. This chapter, therefore, focuses on present plans for desalination in the Gazan context with the understanding that production could eventually be expanded to service all of the Palestinian territories.
Desalination in Israel: Status, Prospects, and Contexts / Dr. Yaakov Garb
Desalination is a marvelous technical feat, separating pure water out of the salt water of seas, brackish aquifers, and wastewater. With membrane technologies improving and the costs of desalinated water dropping, this once exotic water source is fast becoming a mainstay of Israel’s water system. But desalination must be located as one element within a range of approaches and technologies for managing water needs and provision, with ramified inputs and implications. In this broader context, the creation of new water through desalination in facilities such as the Ashkelon plant is distinctive in the degree to which it is, at once, energy intensive, technology-intensive, capital intensive, centralized, and privatized. Similarly, the costs of desalinated water should be contextualized to include the cost of land and negative externalities (the discharge of brine and chemicals, the energy use and air pollutants associated with this, thermal effects and loss of coastal lands). In addition, more subtle benefits are identified, such as the value of water reliability and the benefits of relieving water stress, which may reduce political tensions or aquifer depletion. This chapter opens with a brief history of desalination in Israel and an overview of the current scope and consequences of its adoption, framing these within some larger contextual questions regarding Israel’s overall water system.
