Is Big Brother watching your sewage?
Israeli polluters can no longer dump raw sewage, lest they get caught. Drivers often dump collected waste into open areas to save on fuel and avoid paying authorized landfills. One incident occurred in 2009 in which drivers dumped the contents of 50 trucks worth of sewage food waste near the Sea of Galilee, polluting the area’s groundwater. But will the government put GPS trackers on all the country’s sewage trucks to monitor their whereabouts?
“The Kolhey Golan sewage and water company first began tracking its sewage trucks to maintain the sewage removal timetable,” CEO Rony Zigler said to the Haaretz newspaper: “Then we realized the GPS could be used to supervise the trucks, preventing them from dumping sewage illegally and polluting the environment.
“We are about to issue another tender to operate sewage-removal trucks. One of the tender’s conditions will be to install the GPS on all trucks, to let us view their location at all times.”
Kolhey Golan has also proposed to the Environmental Protection Ministry that it grant licenses to sewage-truck companies only if they agree to install a GPS in every truck and monitor their driver’s movements to prevent illegal dumping.
The company manages the waste disposal of over 30 towns and villages in the Golan Heights. If the Ministry accepts the truck-monitoring proposal, all sewage in Israel, and possibly construction debris as well, will go where it should: sewage-treatment plants and landfills – instead of getting dumped near fields and water sources.
More on Israel’s sewage problems and solutions:
- Sewage Flows Where Pilgrims Once Trod
- Paper Made From Sewage Rolls Off Israeli Shelves
- Israeli Sewage Plant a Hot Art Venue
- Army Sewage Irrigates Nature Park
::Haaretz
Photo by Gil Eliyahu via Haaretz
Author: Miriam Kresh
Miriam Kresh is an American ex-pat living in Israel. Her love of Middle Eastern food evolved from close friendships with enthusiastic Moroccan, Tunisian and Turkish home cooks. She owns too many cookbooks and is always planning the next meal. Miriam can be reached at miriam (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
I see Israeli trucks that transport fuel to gas station illegally transfer gasoline from one truck to another in the middle of the Jerusalem Forest almost on a daily basis from our home. I’ve seen the gasoline spills on the ground where they’ve done this. I complained to the police, but they just ignored my complaint. Maybe you should publish a report on that.