Water Management with Wastewater Treatment and Reuse, Desalination, and Conveyance to Counteract Climate Change in Gaza
Location
Eccles Conference Center
Event Website
http://water.usu.edu/
Start Date
4-2-2009 10:55 AM
End Date
4-2-2009 11:00 AM
Description
Water deficit coastal regions such as Gaza Strip of Palestine have groundwater as the only natural source of fresh water. However, groundwater is severely polluted due to salt water intrusion caused by over-abstraction to satisfy the increasing demands from the agricultural sector. Water shortages and rising sea levels could lead to reduce fresh water availability in the Gaza Strip. The drinking water of 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza faces contamination from rising sea levels leading to sea water intrusion of their only water source, the Coastal Aquifer. In regions such as Gaza, innovative methods considering desalination, use of treated wastewater, and improved water conveyance between demand centers should be considered to provide adequate water for different sectors. However, such management improvements need to be carefully studied for their economic merits given the large capital investments needed. In this work, a methodology is proposed using the Water Allocation System Model of Fisher et al. (2005) to study the economic benefits of different water supply enhancements. The improvements considered are desalination, water distribution between different Districts through improved conveyance, and the use of treated wastewater. We make the analysis for urban, agricultural, and industrial water demand in 2030 using existing conditions of supplies (147 MCM) and climate-change impacted supply reduction (125 MCM). Results show that climate-change induced decrease in supply will likely impose losses of up to $100 million/year on the Gaza water system. Yet, these losses can be substantially mitigated by adding a large desalination plant, reusing treated wastewater in agriculture, and conveying water among Gaza districts. We further discuss the institutional restructuring required to implement these measures in Gaza and find that costs for institutional restructuring are well below the likely benefits.
Water Management with Wastewater Treatment and Reuse, Desalination, and Conveyance to Counteract Climate Change in Gaza
Eccles Conference Center
Water deficit coastal regions such as Gaza Strip of Palestine have groundwater as the only natural source of fresh water. However, groundwater is severely polluted due to salt water intrusion caused by over-abstraction to satisfy the increasing demands from the agricultural sector. Water shortages and rising sea levels could lead to reduce fresh water availability in the Gaza Strip. The drinking water of 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza faces contamination from rising sea levels leading to sea water intrusion of their only water source, the Coastal Aquifer. In regions such as Gaza, innovative methods considering desalination, use of treated wastewater, and improved water conveyance between demand centers should be considered to provide adequate water for different sectors. However, such management improvements need to be carefully studied for their economic merits given the large capital investments needed. In this work, a methodology is proposed using the Water Allocation System Model of Fisher et al. (2005) to study the economic benefits of different water supply enhancements. The improvements considered are desalination, water distribution between different Districts through improved conveyance, and the use of treated wastewater. We make the analysis for urban, agricultural, and industrial water demand in 2030 using existing conditions of supplies (147 MCM) and climate-change impacted supply reduction (125 MCM). Results show that climate-change induced decrease in supply will likely impose losses of up to $100 million/year on the Gaza water system. Yet, these losses can be substantially mitigated by adding a large desalination plant, reusing treated wastewater in agriculture, and conveying water among Gaza districts. We further discuss the institutional restructuring required to implement these measures in Gaza and find that costs for institutional restructuring are well below the likely benefits.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/runoff/2009/AllPosters/2