Tag Archives: Wastewater

Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture in Gaza: Perspectives

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There are multiple constraints which limit the development of more sustainable and resilient urban agriculture in the Gaza Strip (and the West Bank). Current urban development policies, land use classification systems and planning have ignored to recognise urban agriculture as a land use category and urban development strategy. Furthermore, there is still a lack of research on participatory urban agricultural development, improved production techniques, urban policies and strategies related to agricultural land use. Policy and institutional reform initiatives will be significant to enhance the potential of urban agriculture for food security, poverty alleviation and sustainable urbanisation. Agricultural Land Availability and … Continue reading →

Waste Management in Jeddah

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Jeddah, a major commercial hub in the Middle East, is the second largest city in Saudi Arabia. Solid waste management is a big problem in Jeddah as the city’s population is increasing at a rapid pace and has now touched 3.5 million. More than 5,000 tons of solid waste is produced every day and Jeddah municipal authorities are finding it increasingly hard to cope with the problem of urban waste. The management of solid waste in Jeddah begins with collection of wastes from bins scattered across residential and commercial areas. Wastes is collected and sent to transfer stations from where it … Continue reading →

How Does A Wastewater Treatment Plant Work?

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Wastewater treatment is essential for minimizing water pollution that can disrupt delicate ecosystems, interfere with food chains, and transmit diseases. As the urban population continues to rise, this increasing population density can generate more organic waste and wastewater, which calls for proper treatment and more efficient wastewater treatment plants. A dwindling supply of clean water necessitates more cost-efficient, high-quality wastewater treatment systems. These modern treatment plants employ the latest technologies to decontaminate dirty water before funneling the water back into these ecosystems. What pollutants wastewater treatment removes? A wastewater treatment system harnesses the power of technology to facilitate wastewater treatment … Continue reading →

Egypt’s Water Crisis – Recipe for Disaster

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Egypt has been suffering from severe water scarcity in recent years. Uneven water distribution, misuse of water resources and inefficient irrigation techniques are some of the major factors playing havoc with water security in the country. Egypt has only 20 cubic meters per person of internal renewable freshwater resources, and as a result the country relies heavily on the Nile River for its main source of water. The River Nile is the backbone of Egypt’s industrial and agricultural sector and is the primary source of drinking water for the population. Rising populations and rapid economic development in the countries of … Continue reading →

Common Water Pollutants and Their Effects on the Environment

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English poet W.H. Auden once said, “Thousands have lived without love, not one without water,” and how true that is. Water is what keeps us alive and sustains us. Why, then, do we have such a problem keeping water clean, and what does water pollution do, not only to us but to the environment? Let’s delve into the subject of water pollution so we can better understand it and its effects on the whole world. Water Pollution Facts Water pollution is caused when a toxic substance gets into the water supply, whether that be a river, ocean, or the underground … Continue reading →

The Reuse of Greywater: Insights

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Greywater includes water from showers, bathtubs, sinks, kitchen, dishwashers, laundry tubs, and washing machines. The major ingredients of greywater are soap, shampoo, grease, toothpaste, food residuals, cooking oils, detergents, hair etc. In terms of volume, greywater is the largest constituent of total wastewater flow from households. In a typical household, 50-80% of wastewater is greywater, out of which laundry washing accounts for as much as 30% of the average household water use. The key difference between greywater and sewage (or black water) is the organic loading. Sewage has a much larger organic loading compared to greywater. Importance of Reuse of Greywater … Continue reading →

Water Crisis in Refugee Camps

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The refugee crisis has hit record heights in recent years. According to the UNHCR, as of the end of 2019 there were approximately 79.5 million refugees worldwide. This is a significant increase from a decade ago, when there were 37.5 million refugees worldwide. Syria’s ongoing civil war, with 7.6 million people displaced internally, and 3.88 million people displaced into the surrounding region and beyond as refugees, has alone made the Middle East the world’s largest producer and host of forced displacement. Adding to the high totals from Syria are displacements of at least 2.6 million people in Iraq and 309,000 … Continue reading →

Litani River: A Sorry State of the Affairs

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The Litani River, the largest river in Lebanon, faces a multitude of environmental problems. Due to decades of neglect and mismanagement, the river has become heavily polluted. The main contributors to the degradation of Litani River are industrial pollution from factories and slaughterhouse, untreated sewage, chemicals from agriculture runoffs and disposal of municipal waste. The pollution has reached such a level where it is obvious to the human eye and causing serious health issues for people drinking its contaminated water. The Litani River is a source of income for many families who use it in summer for many recreational activities; … Continue reading →

Future Water Scenarios in GCC

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Water is an important vector in the socio-economic development and for supporting the ecosystem. In the arid to extremely arid Arabian Peninsula, home of the GCC countries, the importance and value of water is even more pronounced. The GCC countries of United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, and Kuwait, are facing the most severe water shortages in the world.  Rainfall scarcity and variability coupled with high evaporation rates have characterized this part of the world with a limited availability of renewable water.  However, the scarcity of renewable water resources is not the only distinctive characteristic of the region, … Continue reading →

Pakistan’s Thirst for Water: Towards a National Sustainable Water Policy

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Being the world’s 6th most populous country, Pakistan is home to about 210 million people. The growing population reduces average water availability every day. In 2017, Asian Development Bank reported that the agriculture sector of Pakistan consumes 93% of the water resources and contributes 21% – one-fourth – to the Gross Domestic Product. Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources published a report titled “Water requirements of major crops in Central Punjab,” that has mentioned that over 60% of water is lost in transmission and applications. This implies that the agriculture sector that consumes 93% of water resources wastes two-third … Continue reading →

The Effects of Waste on Palestinians’ Health And Environment

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The State of Palestine faces multiple environmental challenges, most of them linked to waste management. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) highlighted in 2020 that “47% of all waste, including hazardous waste, is disposed of in unsanitary dump sites”. The figures shared by the  Heinrich Böll Foundation in Plastic Atlas focused on municipal solid waste and underlined that 65% of the waste is disposed of in landfills and 32% in illegal dumping sites. Just 3% of the rubbish is recycled or reused. The sociopolitical and economic context of the country dominated by the occupation makes even bigger the global challenge … Continue reading →