Eilon Adar Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research

J.B. Institutes for Desrt Research

Ben Gurion University of the Negev

eilon@bgu.ac.il Colombia 2013

Water in the Middle East

is a scarce commodity

Demand and the actual consumption of water is far beyond

the annual rate of replenishment, exceeding the safe yield.

Annual renewable amount to about 1,400 m3

per person per year - less than 20% of the global average.

Closing the Gap between Water Availability (Supply) and Demand .

All major water resources

in the region are

transboundary – Cross-Borders Water

Resources

The Goal: Bridging Over Water Shortage

Securing Sufficient & Adequate Water Supply by implementing novel

water innovations and technologies

1. Improving Water utilization efficiency: irrigation & water application; water reuse; water management: supply and quality

2. New Water: Reclaimed treated sewage &

Seawater and groundwater desalination

Simultaneously performed !

Agriculture: past and present

1958

1963-1975

1985-2010

Open field cultivation- History!

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• Elevating Water Use Efficiency: • Eliminate soil water evaporation.

• Sub-surface drip irrigation; Pulse-response irrigation; • Sequential use of water.

Protected cultivation Net houses & Green Houses

Avoiding soil water evaporation and top soil salinity

Water use efficiency on the farm scale

Isolated confined "soil root zone”

Developing plant species that can tolerate relatively wide range of water & soil quality under variable micro-climate conditions

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Salt resisting shoots grafted with Merlot

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New Mango plantation on sandy salty soil in the Arava Valley.

Olive plantation in the Southern Arava Valley Olive plantation in the Southern Arava Valley

Grafted plants

Commercial varieties

Salt tolerant species

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BGU Grafted Melons Tolerate Salty Water

Mini Watermelon Tolerate Salty Water

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Will the conventional policy of Water Saving & Increasing Water-Use Efficiency enable humanity to avoid water shortages and provide water security? Will the conventional policy of Water Saving & Increasing Water-Use Efficiency enable humanity to avoid water shortages and provide water security?

At most, only temporarily mitigate water scarcity! At most, only temporarily mitigate water scarcity!

We shall not be able to meet the increasing demand for water (and food) by simply improving water-use efficiency.

We shall not be able to meet the increasing demand for water (and food) by simply improving water-use efficiency.

One cannot sustain the water and food supply with a

diminishing amount of water and a continuously growing

population.

One cannot sustain the water and food supply with a

diminishing amount of water and a continuously growing

population.

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Sub-Surface Water Saving Account:

Enhanced Groundwater Recharge

Exposed Groundwater in the Arava (Timna Mine)

Groundwater in the Arava Valley

Hatzeva Reservoir 19.1.2010 אלבטרוס: צילום

Attenuation of Floods along the Arava Wash

SKY VIEW

Infiltration Lagoons

Ein Yahav Village

Groundwater production wells

Water release from Nekarot Reservoir to enhance groundwater recharge

RA

S

Sludge Treatment

The AGAR® Technology

• Advanced Biomass Carriers

• Increased effective surface area

• Unique aeration design (airlift double role)

Cotton plantations

Drip Irrigation with treated effluents

In

Judea Lowland Plateau

Israel: 82% Reclaimed Effluents = 68% of the water used by the

agriculture Sector

Israel: 82% Reclaimed Effluents = 68% of the water used by the

agriculture Sector

Reverse Osmosis Desalination

Production of Alternative New Water

On Sept 2006 completed first 100 Million m3/year

Creating New Water: seawater, groundwater & treated sewage desalination

By May 2010 - 150 Million m3/year

Ashkelon Plant

Hadera – 2010

Desalination plant

160 million M3/y

96”C

oncrete

pipe

Two 64”

HDPEIntak

e pipe,

1,300

m

64”HDPE

outfall pip

e, 800

m

96”Con

crete pip

e

Palmachim 85 Mm3/y. April 2010

036

100130 145 160

280 305

405

505

20042005

2006

2007

2008

20092010

2011

2012

2013

Development of sea water desalination plants in Israel along

the national system

(60 )30

(100)

(135) 100

Hadera

Palmachim

Ashdod

Ashkelon

Full production Since 12/05

Construction phase. Production at 10/09

Shafdan

(100) Full production Since 9/07

Sea Water Desalination Cost : 0.60- 0.70 US $/m3

Sea water desalination plant Saline water desalination plant

(150M/y)

605 Mm3/y in 2015!

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Gypsum crystals Mag x100

Calcium crystals Mag x800

Avoid sealing & damaging of membranes by minerals deposition

Gypsum crystals Mag x100

Avoid sealing & damaging of membranes by minerals deposition

Bio-fouling

Extracellular Material

(Polysaccharides, Proteins)

Benefits of antimicrobial peptides:

•Active against wide range of microorganisms

•Bacteria do not acquire resistance to it;

•Non toxic to humans

Peptide

Peptide

Peptide

Peptide

Re

ve

rse

os

mo

sis

me

mb

ran

e s

urfa

ce

Covalent immobilization of peptides on RO membranes through long linkers

Antimicrobial peptides kill bacteria by

permeabilization of bacterial cell membrane

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In-Land RO Desalination Plant

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Toward Zero Liquid Discharge Wind Aided Intensified Evaporation

From a Prototype to Alfa Model and Beta site

Prototype

Alfa Model

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WAIV Projects Around the Globe

The client: Mekorot – Israel’s national water company

Location: Ketziot – Israel

Application: Brackish water desalination brine Colombia 2013

WAIV Projects Around the Globe

The client: Dead Sea Works

Location: Israel

Application: Minerals production Colombia 2013

WAIV Projects Around the Globe

The client: General Motors

Location: Ramos Arizpe – Mexico

Application: BW Desalination brine

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The Main Challenge: Safe Discharge of Surplus Flow back/Produced Water Generated During

Production

Large volumes

Improper configuration

of sewage treatment

plants (STP’s)

Only a small fraction of

the flow back can be cut

into a new frac without

significant treatment to

remove TDS

On-site capacity

limitations frequently

require producers to

truck excess water to

alternative commercial

disposal facilities which

can be a major expense

and risk (Hazmat spills)

Water Reuse Practices and Brine Management Alternatives

Why Reuse?

• Potential to reduce discharges

• Minimize underground injection of wastewater

• Conserve water resources

Byproduct Brine

• For now, evaporation or discharge into drainage systems are still the most common methods in North America (reuse of treated water is growing in Australia). Hence, brine minimization solution is of critical need!

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Increasing water saving and eliminating groundwater contamination associated with leaching and tailing of mining industry

Eilon M. Adar & Ofer Dahan

Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research at the Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Sede Boqer Campus

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Real time monitoring of the heap hydraulic and chemical properties

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The tailing dumps, the piles of waste material, and the superficial channels of effluents increase the rate of contamination of the aquifers, affecting all the downstream rivers and groundwater reservoirs with negative impact on agricultural activities that take place downstream.

Objectives Increasing water use efficiency for saving on water application by the mining industry. Eliminating deep percolation of polluted water to protect local aquifers and eliminating further contamination of downstream groundwater reservoirs. The goals are: Introducing an efficient water application method that decreases losses by evaporation and eliminates un-necessary deep percolation; Improving leaching efficiency in the heap-leaching production processes; Containing the already polluted groundwater to avoid further contamination of the downstream aquifers; Assessing the hydro-chemical evolution of the percolating water along the vadose zone; Assessing the hydro-chemical evolution within the sub-aquifer unites along the groundwater flow trajectories.

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Methodology In order to face the aforementioned objectives one has to determine the following parameters: • Developing of combined under-cover high-low pressure sprinkling-dripping water

application system; • Identifying the precise subsurface flow paths within the unsaturated (vadose) zone

from the on-surface treatment heap leaching piles and floatation and tailing lagoons down to the local aquifers;

• Identifying the groundwater flow trajectories within and in-between sub-aquifer units; • Identifying the hydraulic connectivity among the water bearing formations and the

neighboring aquifers; • Quantify the water fluxes across the vadose (unsaturated) zone; • Quantify the groundwater fluxes within and in-between sub-aquifer units.

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Optimization of heap leach productivity while reducing environmental pollution

The concept

Forming HYDRAULIC CONNECTIVITY between the SOIL WATER and the sampler

Direct contact Vadose zone Sampling Ports

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Real time monitoring of the heap hydraulic and chemical properties

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Chloride concentration in soil water extracts (right hand profile), water samples collected by the VSP (left hand four profiles), and in shallow groundwater under a natural sand dune overlying the Coastal Aquifer, Israel.

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Tortolas Area – Sources of Groundwater Recharge

X ?

Groundwater Barrier Groundwater Barrier

Mountain-Front Recharge ?

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Moavian

Desert

Dead Sea

Negev

Desert

Sedom

The Arava Valley

A complex hydrogeological systems with scarce hydrological information

Yotvata

Ya’alon

UOA 2013

Tucson, 10, 2013

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Exposed Groundwater in the Arava (Timna Mine)

dt

dp

dp

dV

dt

d

dt

dp

dp

dV

nn

=)(

dt

dV

nnn

n

)(111

nnnnn

R

r

rnr

J

j

njn

I

i

inidt

dVWQqq

Water Balance Expression for Cell n

dt

dhSWQqq nn

R

r

rn

J

j

nj

I

i

in

111

The Mathematical Description

dt

dhg

dt

dpghp dt

dh

dp

dgV

dt

dp

dp

dV

nn

2

nnn=)(

dt

dV

n

nnn

dp

dgVS

*

dt

dhS

n *

nnn=)(

dt

dV

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n Cnk

C4k

n CIk

C2k C1k

C3k

C3k

CIIk

CIIIk

CR4k

CR3k

CR2k CR1k

Cnk

Mass balance expression for every "k" dissolved species

dt

dc

dt

dcc nkVnV=)(

dt

dV

nnnknnknn

dt

dc

dt

dhc nk*

nVn*

nS

nknnkrn

R

1rrknj

J

1jnkin

I

1iik

WcQc)q(c)q(c

(k=1,2,3,...,Kn)

)c(dt

dVWcQc)q(c)q(c

nknnnnkrn

R

1rrknj

J

1jnkin

I

1iik

dt

dc

dt

ndp

dp

dcc nkVnV=)(

dt

dV

nnnknnknn

dt

dhg

dt

dpghp

dt

dc

dt

ndh

dp

dcc g nkVnV=)(

dt

dV

nnnknnknn

n

nnn

dp

dgVS

*

nnn VV *

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The Mixing Cells Modeling (MCM) concept

Water Balance Expression

011 1

)1(

n

J

j

nj

R

r

I

i

inrn WQQSnn n

All potential sources are identified

nn

J

j

nj

R

r

I

i

inrn WQQSnn n

11 1

)2(

Leakage from the clay & marls formations

Wn

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Mass Balance Expression

nk

I

i

J

j

nnjnkinink

r

rnrnk WQCQCSCnR

1 11

)3(

rnrkQC

inkC

inkC

nkC

Every source is designated by a unique hydro-chemical composition

N

ALMATY

GARKENT

TALDYKORGAN

Il

y

STUDYAREA

StorageWater

BALKHASH

South-East Kazakhstan

Sand dune terrain

Illi River

Irrigated RICE fieldsColombia 2013

5 2 1 1 {

{

O 1 O 2 {

{ O 3

O 4

2 2 0 0

4 0 0

2 0 0

2 0 0 0

1 8 0 0

1 6 0 0

1 4 0 0

1 2 0 0

1 0 0 0

8 0 0

6 0 0

g Q I I - I I I 5 - 7 - 3 . 5

6 . 1 - 7 . 1

a p Q I I

a p Q I V 3 3 1 7

3 0 8

0 . 0 5 - 6 5

N 2 i l

5 2 0 6

0 . 3

1 0 0 0

9 0 0

8 0 0

7 0 0

6 0 0

2 0 0

1 0 0

Q o u t

0 . 2 - 1 4 4 0 . 8 - 3 3 . 3

a p Q I

N 2 i l

0 . 4

a p Q I I

0 . 4 - 9

0 . 3

0 1

0 3

0 4

0 2

0 . 2 - 1 5 4 5 . 1 - 6 4 . 2

4 9 . 1 - 3 5

3 0 - 2 2 . 6

0 . 5

0 . 2

a p Q I I I

8 3 . 1

S

S

Q o u t 5 8 - 3 . 2

0 . 2

0 . 3 - 1 1

5 0 3 6

3 6 1 a p Q I I I

S 0 . 1

+ 4 0 . 2

R

2 0 0

4 0 0

6 0 0

8 0 0

1 0 0 0

B

C

C

7 0 0

6 0 0

2 0 0

1 0 0

5 0 0

4 0 0

3 0 0

S

+ 1 6 . 5

A

5 0 3 3 3 0 1

S

R + 2 4 . 8

3 5 8

5 0 0

4 0 0

3 0 0

0 . 3 - 1 0 4 8 . 8 - 4 4

V E S N O V K A R i v e r

0 . 1 1 4 . 8 - 2 3 . 7

S C A L E :

H O R I Z O N T A L 1 : 2 0 0 0 0 0 V E R T I C A L 1 : 2 0 0 0 0

0 5

0 5

R

R

R

1 3 1 8

5 0 1 9 5 0 2 0

5 0 2 1

Q o u t

Pm

Pm

Almaty Basin, Kazakhstan

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5 cell

interflow between cells

interflow between levels

outflow

streambed infiltration

source of pollution

mountain front recharge

pumpage

1

2

5 3 6

4

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4

Level 5

1

6

2

3

4

5

7

1

4

6

5 2

3

300

43

1342 0 0 51

0 75

24

403 4825 1071

7

8

7

36000 45000

50600

29300

57

80

0

42

30

0

7932 39713

17

54

6

49

44

7

11621

0

0

6205

56241 0

17670

500

17

90

0

22000

5870

12300 14400 11400

9848 20484

15789 17345 2546 11338

62567

20000

0

0 0

7035

0

31

90

0

Simplified Flow Pattern

And

Calculated Fluxes

in

Almaty Basin

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Mulde coal mining area, Germany.

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Contaminated lakes in the flooded mining pits.

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Concerns: contaminated subsurface groundwater trajectories and

polluted shallow water flow paths!!!

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4.525.000 4.530.000 4.535.000 4.540.000 4.545.0004.520.000

5.725.000

5.720.000

5.730.000

5.735.000

5.740.000

5.745.000

5.715.000

Goit37587

Goit211

Goit455

Goit385

Goit432

HyO37/69up

HyO36/69up

HyJ23E/2.2

Grob880

HyO27/69

GermanyLevel 1-2Cells configuration

I IIIII

VI

V

IVVII

VIII

IX

X

XI

S-2

S-2

S-2

S-1

S-2

S-3

S-2S-4S-5

S-3

S-4S-5

S-6

S-5

S-6

S-5

External source

Intermediate flow

Pumping rate (%)

662

894

618

650

644

620

660

772

877

570

894 EC (S/cm)

OUTFLOW

552

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The groundwater flow pattern and connectivity among sub-aquifer units in the Mulde groundwater basin

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Basic Assumptions for the Transient Mixing Cell Model (MCMtr) The spatial structure, geometry, size and volume of the cells remain constant along the entire duration of the model; The isotopes and the dissolved minerals are inert and do not compose any chemical reactions within the aquifer; The dissolved ions are in pseudo-equilibrium with the rocks and soil minerals; All potential unknown fluxes (groundwater fluxes between compartments of the system and discharge of external contributors to the compartments) have been identified in terms of its hydrochemical and isotopic composition. Spatial and temporal variations in chemical and isotopic composition within the aquifer is exclusively due to 1) variable mixing ratios among the recharge components, and 2) dilution and mixing along the groundwater flow-paths. Complete mixing of all dissolved constituents within the designated cells; No gradients of hydraulic heads, isotopic and chemical compositions are allowed within the cells, only across the cell's boundaries.

Groundwater and surface water resources combined with the

anthropogenic impact (industry and agriculture), create a complex

hydrological and hydro-chemical flow system.

The spatial distribution of various sources of pollutants along rivers

and within lakes is closely related to the relative contribution of each of

the active sources.

complex hydrological and hydrochemical flow system

Diffused sources.

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Objectives

Identifying active sources of recharge: fresh water &

pollutants;

Quantifying the amount of deep percolation into each sub-

aquifer unit along every segment of the aquifer;

Quantifying the groundwater fluxes within and along

every water bearing sub-aquifer unit;

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Future implementation: The impact of mining on the quality of

groundwater reservoirs Colombia 2013

Heap Leaching

Piles

Evaporation Lagoons

Deep percolation from processing And

Tailing water

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Sources of Groundwater Recharge and Possible Pollutants Into the downstream Basin

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Surface reclamation does not eliminate subsurface downstream leachate and leakage!

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Summary

The MCM is aimed for complex hydro-geological basins with lack of hydrological

information that eliminate the possibility to solve hydrological model based on the

continuity equation.

The MCM model identifies and provides a quantitative assessment of deep

percolation into groundwater from different sources such as mining and agriculture.

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Innovation In Water: The Origins are Already In the Bible!

Water needs care & attention

Thank you