As the global community celebrated World Water Day on Sunday, many eyes were on the Middle East. The region’s ongoing water crisis is a cause for serious economic, political, and – most importantly – humanitarian concern.
So it’s great to hear that, as one of many possible solutions to the ongoing scarcity, Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) introduced a kit designed to treat and reuse household wastewater at the World Water Forum in Istanbul, Turkey.
The kit, which will mainly benefit rural areas of the Middle East and North Africa, will treat grey water, non-industrial wastewater that comes from dish washing, laundry, and bathing, and comprises 50-80 percent of domestic water consumption.
Hammou Laamrani, project coordinator for the IDRC’s Regional Water Demand Initiative, told IRIN News, “It is a very simple, easy to manipulate, inexpensive water treatment kit which can be handled without special training and technological skills, and can be used in the context of poor and marginalized communities.”
The kit includes two four-foot (1.2 meter) barrels containing up to 52 gallons (200 liters) of water, pipes, and sand. After passing through filters that remove bits of small food or other debris, the water passes through sand, where anaerobic digestion removes pathogens like E.coli and parasite eggs that could create health hazards.
Although the recycled water can’t be used to wash vegetables that are eaten raw, like cucumbers and tomatoes, it is suitable for “productive purposes” like irrigation or for flushing toilets. The system also reduces the amount of water that flows into cesspits, lowering the costs of emptying the cesspits because they don’t have to be cleaned quite as often.
“The cost of the kit is $300-400, and in some cases even less depending on the price of components in any given market. If you take into account the productive use of the treated waste water and the reduced frequency of cesspit evacuation, outlay costs can be recouped in a year in places like Jordan and Lebanon,” Mr. Laamrani explained. He also said IDRC has projects in the Palestinian Territories and Yemen.
Despite the enthusiasm surrounding the kit, some researchers still say more research is needed before they can recommend household water treatment systems like this one to policymakers.
Mr. Laamrani emphasized, however, that there is no single solution to the regional water problems, so “all options should be kept open.”
:: IRIN News
Image: tyger_lyllie
Other posts related to grey water recycling:
Ayala Water & Ecology to Remediate Israel’s Sh*t Mountain With Aquatic Plants
Water Arc’s Water Recycling Gets a Boost at Cleantech 2008
Bustan Qaraaqa: Permaculture and Empowerment For Palestinians in the West Bank
Author: Rachel Bergstein
When her vegan summer camp counselor explained to a fifteen-year-old Rachel how the dairy industry pollutes the groundwater in poor rural communities and causes global warming, there was no turning back. Her green fire lit, Rachel became increasingly passionate about the relationship between human societies and the natural environment, particularly about the systemic injustices associated with environmental degradation. After snagging a B.A. in Peace and Justice Studies at the University of Maryland, where she wrote an undergraduate thesis on water injustice in Israel/Palestine and South Africa, Rachel was awarded the New Israel Fund/Shatil’s Rabbi Richard J. Israel Social Justice Fellowship to come and spread the green gospel in Israel for the 2009-2010 academic year. She currently interns for Friends of the Earth Middle East in their Tel Aviv office. When Rachel is not having anxiety about her ecological footprint, carbon and otherwise, she can be found in hot pursuit of the best vegetarian food Tel Aviv has to offer. She also blogs about her experience as an NIF fellow and environmentalist in Israel at organichummus.wordpress.com. Rachel can be reached at rachelbergstein (at) gmail (dot) com.
It is great to see greywater practices implemented in the middle east… Many parts of the US are experiencing drought I can only imagine how drought effects areas that get little to no water on an average year….. Greywater really is the solution for these regions and I’m sure in years to come will make a dramatic impact on our global water situation. Would you be willing to re-post this blog in the greywater recycling forum on our water harvesting community? There are people who would really be interested in this post. The purpose of our site is to promote water harvesting, both rainwater and greywater and also to help people learn how to harvest through others.