RAMALLAH, September 20, 2018 (WAFA) - Anera (American Near East Refugee Aid) recently launched a wastewater reuse project to conserve scarce drinking water in the city of Ramallah, according to a press release.
When completed in May 2020, it will protect the water supply by facilitating the reuse of 240,000 cubic meters (63,401,292 gallons) of wastewater annually. The treated wastewater will be suitable for a variety of non-household uses, including in construction and firefighting, and in the irrigation of fruit trees, gardens and parks.
The project, with funding from the Jim Pattison Foundation, the Vitol Foundation, and the Municipality of Ramallah, will also increase the amount of potable water available for human consumption and domestic use in Ramallah by 300 cubic meters (79,251 gallons) per day, and greatly improve the urban living environment.
The project will include a filling station and a distribution network to make the reclaimed water accessible to the three neighborhoods of al-Tira, Baten al-Hawa and Jadwal. A facility will be built to further treat the residual sludge from the treatment plant in order to reduce pollution and potentially produce high value fertilizer, said the press release.
The city of Ramallah, like most of the Palestinian territories, suffers from severe water shortages resulting from drought, population growth and ed access to groundwater resources.
“Utilizing reclaimed wastewater has already helped us to increase irrigation in the rural areas of Jenin,” says Anera’s agriculture program manager in the West Bank, Naser Qadous. “This project in Ramallah will help us to conserve fresh water and make the best use of treated wastewater to expand green spaces in the city.”
Demonstration gardens and parks will be utilized to promote the use of reclaimed water for private gardens, and use of water saving techniques of irrigation. Water filling stations will be constructed to make the reclaimed water accessible for fire trucks, and for construction and irrigation sites that are not connected to the distribution network.
M.K.
