Avner Adin, D.Sc., Dipl.-Ing., BCEEM
Lunenfeld-Kunin Chair Professor of Environmental Sciences,
Head of Water Treatment Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment,
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
Visiting Professor, Patel School of Global Sustainability,
USF, Tampa, Fl., USA
Planet Earth is facing growing shortage of water supply due to climate change and population growth. Not water quantity, but inadequate water quality and water transport energy are limiting factors (“Water-Energy Nexus”). In addition to water restrictions, Israel's and Singapore’s strategy focuses on massive New Water generation through water reuse and seawater and brackish water desalination. A new concept of the Revolutionary Water Cycle is proposed, presenting us - researchers, water suppliers, industrialists, economists, sociologists and decision makers – with big challenges, e.g. blending different water qualities in the supply system, changing flow directions in existing infrastructure, innovative technologies in water and energy and corresponding drinking water quality standards.
Avner Adin (1943) is an internationally known environmental engineer who combines teaching, research, innovation and engineering practice in the field of water treatment, wastewater reuse and water security and safety. Chair of Israel's Drinking Water Standards Committee and Central Committee on Water of the Israeli Institute of Standards, Member of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Management Team Member of the multi-group SWITCH Project (EU). He has been the Founder and Past-President of the Israeli Water Association, Board Member of Waterfronts-Israeli Water Union and SWITCH Project (EU) and representing Israel in IWA and WEF. adin@vms.huji.ac.il
I'm looking forward to Dr. Adin's presentation tomorrow on revolutionizing our water cycle, and how his research is innovative in the field of water reuse and security. Are more strict water restrictions necessary in developed nations to ensure a continual supply of water quality? Should desalination be considered a necessary part of water-quality security worldwide? And globally, what technological and social impediments are creating the issues of water-quality scarcity, and are there easily implimented solutions? Is industry actively involved in creating water-quality issues or in helping devise solutions to our future predicament?
ReplyDeleteI'm also looking forward to today's presentation by Dr Adin's. First, it will be interesting to know if there's any way this massive new water generation through water reuse and seawater and brackish water desalination could alleviate the problem of climate change in the future. Secondly, often, the underdeveloped and developing nations face huge obstacle in implementing new and useful technologies due to government policies and regulations. From Dr. Adin's decades of experience in innovation and engineering practice in the field of water treatment, wastewater reuse and water security and safety what steps should be taken by the third world nations to be a active players in this 'new' water cycle of 21st century.
ReplyDeleteI have always been startled by the gains made by Israel in desalination. I am looking forward to know how the country addresses some environmental concerns from desalination particularly loss of public coastal spaces, discharge of brine into the sea and the greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation
ReplyDeleteAccording to Dr. Alden Adin’s presentation there are about 1.2 billion people lacking water and another 2.4 billion with unsafe sanitation. Due to this, about 250 children (under 5 years old) die every hour. Countries in the Middle East are facing water shortage. Israel, as an example, receives less than 100mm of rainfall in a year hence the country is in a water stress zone. According to Dr. Adin, “there is enough water on the surface of the earth for many generations to come…” the issue is the water quality. Another issue I would add is transportation of the water to the community. Water supply challenges can be resolved by reducing consumption (by water saving and regulations), increasing water supply (by desalination, transportation and reuse) and decreasing water losses. Unfortunately increasing water supply methods are quite expensive. The Israeli government has taken action to increase their water supply. Some of the methods mentioned in the presentation are: encouraging facilities to recycle water by offering low interest loans, desalination and reusing wastewater for irrigation. The sewage effluent reuse can contribute to about 510MCM/year. For instance, in Tel Aviv there is a 3rd Line Project where according to the SWITCH website, wastewater is treated through Soil Aquifer Treatment (SAT) and then it is transported to the south of the country for irrigation. (Loftus, 2011) The Ashkelon desalination plant, built in 2003 produces about 100 MCM of clean water per year. There are other small desalination plants that have been built since then with productions ranging from 30-150MCM/year. The plants water sources are, surface and ground water, recharge and from agriculture. Apart from water treatment, he also spoke about water cycle. Israel’s like other nations, water resources are rain, groundwater and natural sources like the Lake of Galilee. Water is for domestic, industrial and agricultural use. Domestic and industrial water can be recycled, desalinated and reused by consumers. Rain harvesting is also important but unfortunately there is not always enough room to store the water. Sources of fresh water will soon be insufficient as the world’s population keeps growing. (Water, 2009) To conclude, taking advantage of desalination and water cycle can be a major source of water and the projects with positive outcomes in Israel prove that this can be efficient.
ReplyDeleteReference:
Loftus, Anne-Claire. February 2011. Tel Aviv, Israel: Treating wastewater for reuse using natural system. SWITCH.http://www.switchtraining.eu/fileadmin/template/projects/switch_training/files/Case_studies/Tel_Aviv_Case_study_preview.pdf. 09.20.2011.
Water Desalination. 2009. Renewed Water Mineral. http://www.renew-minerals.com/showpage.asp?page=2. 09.20.2011.
I think that it was said that he was also involved in water security. I would have liked to hear more about that topic during his presentation. I know time limitations are a big factor. But I also think this is also a topic where Israel is probably ahead of the game and it would be nice to know how they have evolved in that arena.
ReplyDeleteAurybel, it depends on your definition of water security. If it means security in terms of adequate supplies of water of required qualities for various purposes (human consumption, ecosystems, agriculture etc.) then his talk covered that in terms of the various interventions like the extensive desal network. Internationally I have found that most in the world see water security in those terms and in the US it is more about securing the potable water supply from terrorist attacks.
ReplyDeleteI found Dr. Adin's talk very interesting. It was full of tidbits about water processing that I had not heard before. For example, he explained that desal water is very low in Mg and Ca which are needed for health of both human, animal, and plant users of desal water. The health effects of relying heavily on desal water must be considered along with the costs and environmental impacts of desalinating water.
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