Lebanon is a country naturally endowed with plenty of clean water. But unregulated industry, farming, garbage disposal along other activity has rendered the water undrinkable and in some areas, dangerous to people’s health, making Lebanon among the most water vulnerable countries in the world.
Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities reported a new discovery of several Greco-Roman era mummies near Minya in northeastern Egypt, 250 kilometers south of Cairo. The new discoveries occurred when police found two wooden sarcophagi floating along a village waterway in a pool of raw sewage. Polluted water is a persistent problem for the country’s archaeological treasures. But it’s a […]
Besides the really terrible ew factor, the consequences for the environment are as equally yuck: the Egyptian army is looking to stall and stop Gazan smugglers from digging tunnels from the Gaza Strip to Egypt’s Sinai have found a new and dirty way to flush out smugglers: they are pouring raw sewage into the underground tunnels. Leaders […]
A relief to the environment as Israel allots money to upgrade poorly services sewers in Arab towns. Last Wednesday, Israeli Energy and Water Resources Minister Uzi Landau announced the government is allocating NIS 355 million to improve the sewerage systems in Arab neighborhoods across Israel. In recent years, the neglected and dilapidated sewer infrastructures in […]
Eventually the paper you write on could come from a loo near you thanks to the company Applied Clean Tech. We’ve reported earlier than Applied Clean Tech is creating fuel with every flush. Now the same company has developed a system that makes paper from sewage, Ynet News reports. Dr. Refeal Aharon from Applied Clean Tech […]
This graphic shows other ways to spend the $2.4 billion planned for what critics call Morocco’s luxury high speed rail project A group of Moroccan Non-Government Organizations have launched the Stop TGV campaign in protest of Morocco’s $2.4 billion high speed rail project. The TGV line is expected to link up Casablanca with Tangiers by […]
According to PCHR, poor sewage infrastructure in Gaza poses a threat to “the safety and security of Palestinians – especially children” On the afternoon of 11th of February, Ahmed al-Zein, 10, from Beit Lahia in the Gaza Strip went out with his friends to hunt birds. They made their way to a sewage water basin […]
Oxygen aerators at Israel’s IDF Nevatim Air Force Base are purifying sewage water for irrigation use. Photo: Trlabarge/Wikipedia Many modern armies are now practicing clean technology by using equipment run on solar energy. This also holds true for the Israeli Defense Forces known as the IDF which aims to be greener. One of the prime issues […]
Every day we flush energy down the toilet. Here are 5 projects that prevent such shameless waste by turning poop into power. The COP 17 debacle is droning on and it is starting to look like the whole planet is going down the toilet because of America’s shortsighted inaction, but don’t worry, there’s […]
There are many different kinds of pollution and many ways in which they are hijacking our children’s future. Children exposed to pollution are more likely to develop autism, attention deficit disorder, and dyslexia, according to Haaretz. These findings were unveiled by both scientists at a recent conference in Israel, and those are only the dangers […]
This handy gadget, which looks like a camping flashlight, delivers a secret formula to animal and human waste that turns it into ash within seconds!
The Israeli High Court recently ordered an Israeli sewage treatment plant built illegally in the West Bank to stop its work. So should Israel be thinking of building solar fields there? A couple of days ago, the Israeli High Court of Justice banned the operation of a sewage treatment plant built illegally on Palestinian land […]
Right in the middle of a crowded tourist destination, a sewage drain overflowed and no one rushed to the scene to clean it up! Last night, hundreds of tourists that descended upon the popular La place Jemâa el Fna in Marrakech were greeted with a stinking treat. Right next to the open air restaurant that […]
Locals and holiday makers who love the beautiful Gordon Beach will have to leave their bikinis at home. Contaminated waters off Gordon Beach and Charles Clore Beach in Tel Aviv are stinking up plans to get the summer fun started. Leaked sewage has forced the municipality to shut down the beaches, and signs have been […]
The Israeli government wakes up to concerns about hormones and antibiotics in drinking water. Last week at Green Prophet, we wrote about how an increase in breast size may be connected to hormones in the water supply. Estrogens in the environment or in our food are implicated in lower sperm counts and higher rate of […]
The issue of raw sewage may not be hitting the headlines in the Middle East like concerns over water scarcity, but in the Palestinian territories and Israel it’s a real problem. Inadequate waste water treatment plants in the Palestinian territories means that only 22.5 million cubic metres out of around 150 million cubic metres of […]
Raw sewage from Jerusalem flows straight into the Dead Sea. Many of Israel’s army bases were built quickly, in isolated spots, and 150 of them are not even connected to the country’s sewage system. The waste ends up in the groundwater, contaminating fresh water sources and crops and preventing the water from being recycled for […]
Sewage on the streets of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, left more than 120 dead and questions about the country’s green credibility very much open to debate. Photo: Reuters. We’ve covered the recent Hajj 2009 to Mecca in Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Abrabian government’s desire to make future Hajj pilgrimages more environmentally friendly. All these efforts may […]
The concept of achieving peace through pipes may have originated with Native Americans, but today, unbeknownst to most of us, Israelis and Gazans are seeking peace through sewage pipes. It was a wild idea back in 1997, and perhaps it is even more unrealistic today. However, against the odds – and working around their governments […]
A report published Sunday by the Israeli human rights group B’tselem, titled, “Foul Play: Neglect of Wastweater Treatment in the West Bank” found untreated wastewater to be a major source of pollution in the West Bank. 91 million cubic meters (mcm) of wastewater is produced each year in Israeli settlements, parts of Jerusalem, and Palestinian […]
A new scheme has just got underway for Palestinians to treat their sewage waste and purifying it for agricultural use by using wetlands. Forsaking electricity, the system instead relies on a system of man-made pools which utilise plants to assist in the organic breakdown of the sewage. The West Bank village of Um a-Rihan, not […]
Imagine being able to place an entire farm, complete with crops and livestock, in the same space as is required for one of today’s modern urban skyscrapers. A Columbia University professor, Dickson Despommier, has been involved in such a project that could turn a 30 story glass faced building into a vertical agricultural enterprise capable […]
As the dust settles on the recent round of violence between Israelis and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, reports indicate that the environmental damage is another unfortunate byproduct of the war. The political situation aside, Gaza’s ecological conditions are already conducive to groundwater pollution. The sandy desert soil tends to absorb water – or pollutants […]
The army unit I served in (way back when) was featured in tonight’s news broadcast for having cancer levels more than twice as high as other infantry units. Channel 2 TV (Arutz 2) reported this evening (video, in Hebrew) that IDF’s Nachal infantry had 2.5 as many Hodgkin’s Lymphoma cases than either Paratroopers or Golani, […]
Israel Environmental Protection Minister Gideon Ezra and his Korean counterpart Environment Minister Lee Maanee signed a memorandum of understanding on bilateral environmental cooperation on November 12, 2008. Under the agreement, the two countries will enhance cooperation on air pollution, climate change, biological diversity and sewage disposal and will promote exchanges between environmental experts. Among the […]