Chascham, the water saving device that can reduce flow by as much as 42%.
In April, Green Prophet had a chance to go from door to door with Vered Hatab, a water savings advisor hired by the Milgam Municipal Services company to sell Israelis on using less water.
Hatab, 23, was lugging a case full of plumbing tools through apartment buildings in Herzliya. Dressed in a light blue button-down blouse, a brown skirt and black sneakers, she made her pitch to the residents.
“I want to talk to you about the water shortage in Israel,” she said, as an elderly woman in a housedress poked her head out the door. “Can I come in?”
Hatab is part of a team of 45 water saving advisors deployed in 20 Israeli cities. They knock on doors for five hours in the afternoon, offering water tips and installing chaschams, which are small metal cylinders that reduce water flow by up to 42 percent while using air to maintain the same pressure. Chascham in Hebrew is a shortening of the words “saves water.” The project started as a pilot in 2007, and if it reduces water demand within this year, it will be rolled out on a nationwide scale.
Israel’s water shortage is pretty dire. Yet one untapped resource is getting consumers to use less of it. On average, Israelis consumer more water per capita than Germans.
On that Thursday, Hatab went into the woman’s living room and started reeling off water facts.
“You have a two-handled toilet? Excellent,” Hatab said to her customer. “Ok, let’s talking about water for drinking and cooking, you can save 20 percent. There’s a phenomenon of leaving the faucet running [while you wash dishes]. It goes through nine liters a minute. In the shower, it’s 16 liters a minute.”
Moments later, Hatab was screwing a chascham onto the woman’s faucet. She sold 15 devices that afternoon.
By April, Milgam had installed about 60,000 chaschams, with the average house taking three. The advisors also run school programs on water savings.
Zaki Libi, Milgam’s director of the project, said installing devices is the best way of permanently reducing demand for water because its effect lasts longer than an ad campaign that only runs for a few months.
Similar water-saving projects have been run in Australia, which is suffering from a drought so bad its rice industry has collapsed this year. Since domestic use in Israel accounts for just under 40 percent of the national water budget, projects like this can have a strong impact. Let’s hope they go national – and fast!
Photo by Daniella Cheslow.
Author: Daniella Cheslow
Daniella Cheslow grew up in a car-dependent suburb in New Jersey, where she noticed strip malls and Wal-Marts slowly replacing farmland. Her introduction to nature came through hiking trips in Israel. As a counselor for a freshman backpacking program at Northwestern University, Daniella noticed that Americans outdoors seemed to need to arm themselves with performance clothing, specialized water bottles and sophisticated camping silverware. This made her think about how to interact with and enjoy nature simply. This year, Daniella is getting a Master’s in Geography from Ben Gurion University of the Negev. She also freelance writes, photographs and podcasts. In her free time, she takes day trips in the desert, drops off compost and cooks local foods like stuffed zucchini, kubbeh and majadara. Daniella gets her peak oil anxiety from James Howard Kunstler and her organic food dreams from Michael Pollan. Read more at her blog, TheTruthHerzl.com. Daniella can be reached at daniella (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
I have an invention that I think that the creators of this project would be interested in, I may be coming to Technion University during my winter break from school. This product that I have created would become instrumental in bringing awareness to and the actual saving of water.
Please email me with contact information for this person or someone who knows Vered Hatab.
Dear Sir/Madam
How can I purchase this product? I reside in the U.S. Massachusetts.
Thank You John Haddad
Great effort,
saving water can be fun, too.
We offer great looking designs, that can even become a marketing tool.
For anyone who would like to order these, as mentioned in a previous comment, the email address for Zaki Libi at Milgam is [email protected]. Good luck.
Hi,
Kindly send me the contact details of the chascham manufacturer. I need to get in touch with them for business purposes. I live in Nairobi where water has become a scarce commodity. We certainly need the chascham here.
Regards.
Dorcas.
Dear Sir
We interst of your products saving water
kindly send me your prices and detials
best regards
Please send me the detail address/contact no. of the seller/agent in india…..waiting for reply…..
hi there,
it looks to be very good water saving device. i think we indians should use it on a large & permanent scale.Yes,we need to save water resources and it should be given prime importance in our country.
WATER IS LIFE…WE SHOULD SAVE OUR LIFE TO SAVE PLANET EARTH….
Martin – You can send an email to Zaki Libi, above, or email me at [email protected] and I’ll send you additional info. Chaschams in Ireland sound great!
Hi.
I would like to be put on to the supplier of the chascham with the view to exporting them to Ireland. I would be much obliged if you can set this up for me.
Kind Regards
Martin Lane
CEO Drainbo Ireland
Nope, not complicated. Unscrew the shower head, pop in the flow regulator – which is usually plastic or rubber disk with a series of holes drilled in it – and make sure the rubber sealing ring is in place. Then just screw the shower head back on and you’re done!
Ah, that’s great news that you can get them at any hardware store. They simply screw onto your faucets, so you shouldn’t need any special tools for your kitchen sink, but it may be more complicated for a shower head.
The “chascham” also saves on hot water, thereby significantly reducing your water heating bills (if you don’t use solar heated water) – and CO2 emissions.
As far as I know, you can get them at any hardware store, and even you can install them with a simple wrench (no need for a plumber).
methinks you can actually buy them at Homecentre Talpiot branch, or at Eliezer’s hardware store on Rehov Aza in Jeru (tell him I sent you…)
Everyone in the world should use this device. I want 7!
I want one!
You may want to email zaki libi at [email protected].
Nu, how can i get me a ‘chascham’ too?