Alon Tal

Seeking Sustainability: Israel's Evolving Water Management Strategy

The water management policies adopted to address Israels chronic scarcity have not been without environmental consequences. Yet, through a trial-and-error process, a combined strategy of water transport, rainwater harvesting, and wastewater reuse and desalination, along with a variety of water conservation measures, have put the country on a more sustainable path for the future.

Evaluating the Environmental Literacy of Israeli Elementary and High School Students

The authors conducted a national survey of 6th- and 12th-grade students in Israel to evaluate their environmental literacy, including the dimensions of environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. In this article, the authors present the results of the survey, the correlations between these different dimensions, and their associations with demographic and experiential data. The authors did not find a significant correlation between knowledge and behavior. Ethnic and socioeconomic characteristics were moderately associated with environmental literacy, whereas the presence of an adult who mediated childrens relation to nature was strongly related to environmental attitudes and behavior and weakly related to knowledge. The results suggest that the intended objectives of environmental education in Israel have not been achieved. The authors call for additional research to identify ways to improve environmental education in the Israeli public schools.

Safe on-Site Reuse of Greywater for Irrigation - A Critical Review of Current Guidelines

Reuse of greywater for landscape irrigation can significantly reduce domestic water consumption. Alongside its benefits, there are potential drawbacks to greywater reuse, raising legitimate concerns about the impact on human and environmental health. In this review, a risk assessment framework is used to assess the adequacy of different regulations to ensure safe and long-lasting, onsite greywater reuse for irrigation. Existing regulations from around the world are assessed along with a standardized evaluation of measures taken to protect public and environmental health. In most cases, human health considerations currently dominate regulatory strategies, while environmental risks are either ignored or underrepresented. A distinction between single and multiple households was found to be a fundamental component of the regulations which often lead to approved utilization of untreated greywater among single households. We concluded that the use of untreated greywater is not recommended, especially in multihousehold systems as it may compromise public health, with single household systems posing more likely risks to the environment. Existing rules to control greywater use should be further revised toward the establishment of a more advanced regulatory system which can avert the salient potential risks associated with greywater reuse, while exploiting the enormous potential of this alternative water resource.

Rehabilitating Israel’s Streams and Rivers

By the 1960s, the intermittent streams in Israel, emptying either into the Mediterranean or into the Dead Sea in the east, became perennial sewage conduits, with the local aquatic habitat decimated or changed beyond recognition. The natural flow of water that had once offered a seasonal pulse to these ephemeral wadis was typically tapped for agricultural utilization of drinking water. During the past two decades, there appeared initial signs that this ecological misfortune was reversible. In 2003, Israels water law was finally amended, adding ‘nature’ to the list of legitimate recipients of fresh water allocations (along with agriculture, industry and household uses). New standards were set for waste-water treatment. Recent advances in the construction of Israels desalination infrastructure have added substantial quantities of fresh water to Israels national grid and raise the prospects of a new deal for Israels streams. Improved regulation by Israels agencies and upgraded levels of sewage treatment also promised to improve conditions in the contaminated waterways. This article offers an historic retrospective of the progress of Israels streams made thus far and future restoration challenges.

Rethinking the sustainability of Israel's irrigation practices in the Drylands.

Broad utilization of drip irrigation technologies in Israel has contributed to the 1600 percent increase in the value of produce grown by local farmers over the past sixty-five years. The recycling of 86% of Israeli sewage now provides 50% of the countrys irrigation water and is the second, idiosyncratic component in Israels strategy to overcome water scarcity and maintain agriculture in a dryland region. The sustainability of these two practices is evaluated in light of decades of experience and ongoing research by the local scientific community. The review confirms the dramatic advantages of drip irrigation over time, relative to flood, furrow and sprinkler irrigation and its significance as a central component in agricultural production, especially under arid conditions. In contrast, empirical findings increasingly report damage to soil and to crops from salinization caused by irrigation with effluents. To be environmentally and agriculturally sustainable over time, wastewater reuse programs must ensure extremely high quality treated effluents and ultimately seek the desalinization of recycled sewage.

Stream restoration as a basis for Israeli–Palestinian cooperation: a comparative analysis of two transboundary streams

Transboundary environmental degradation often poses serious health and security threats to regional residents. The Israeli–Palestinian conflict further aggravates an environment already characterized by water scarcity, environmental distress and polluted waterways. Yet, common ground appears to emerge from a recent contingent valuation study in which both Israelis and Palestinians reveal common water use and riparian restoration preferences, as well as comparable willingness to pay for proposed restoration efforts. These surprising results – especially that despite vast economic hindrances, Palestinians have revealed similar willingness to contribute financially to stream restoration – indicate the seriousness of regional health issues and demonstrate a foundation for future cooperative restoration efforts. A simple cost–benefit analysis is conducted, which sheds light on future policy formation, especially with regard to water treatment and allocation decisions for both societies.

Chemical and biological monitoring in ephemeral and intermittent streams: a study of two transboundary Palestinian–Israeli watersheds

Although ephemeral streams constitute critical natural resources in dryland environments, water regulations and monitoring protocols typically focus on perennial streams, and may not always be appropriate for characterizing intermittent systems. The article presents findings from a comprehensive evaluation of environmental conditions in two ephemeral transboundary streams: the Hebron/Besor and Zomar/Alexander. The streams are representative of numerous watersheds which originate in Palestinian land and flow into Israel. Transboundary streams in the region exhibit high concentrations of point and non-point sources of pollution. Many of the regions streams that in the past had no flow except for isolated storm incidents have emerged as perennial streams, channelling raw or partially treated industrial or municipal wastes. Management of these natural resources constitutes a unique challenge because of the complex local political circumstances. The article presents chemical and biological monitoring results, identifying high levels of non-point source nutrient runoff during rainfall events and high percolation of contaminated stream water during its flow that should be addressed in future restoration strategies. The practical challenges associated with the monitoring of ephemeral streams are also discussed with suggestions for future studies and management efforts.

Environmental Problems, Causes, and Solutions: An Open Question.

In a national evaluation of environmental literacy in Israel, (Negev, Sagy, Garb, Salzberg, & Tal, 2008), the authors included both multiple choice questions and open questions. In this article the authors describe the qualitative analysis of the answers to an open question regarding a local environmental problem. Most participants specified solid waste, open spaces, or air pollution as the main issues. The perceived solutions were generally at the governmental level, including planning, infrastructure, legislation, and enforcement. The authors describe relations in these responses between the problems, their causes and solutions, and between the quality of these answers and the general environmental literacy of the participants. The authors end with a discussion of the special contributions and potential of open-ended questions for environmental education research.

Occurrence and fate of endocrine disrupting compounds in wastewater treatment plants in Israel and the Palestinian West Bank

Israel and its Palestinian neighbors constitute a unique venue for evaluating the treatment efficiency and potential environmental risks of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), because of their physical proximity yet contrasting societal dynamics. Israel primarily relies on advanced tertiary sewage treatment and recycles over 85% of its treated wastewater, while in the Palestinian Authority (PA), there is only secondary treatment levels at WWTPs and reuse is minimal (<1%). To evaluate the extent of EDC occurrence and treatment efficiency, we conducted four sampling campaigns over two consecutive years, and measured the concentrations of selected EDCs in raw wastewater (WW), treated WW and sludge in six WWTPs in Israel, as well as in two Palestinian plants. Low concentrations of bisphenol A, octylphenol and triclosan measured in the raw WW in the Palestinian WWTPs reflected the relatively modest industrial activity and consumption habits as compared to the westernized consumer patterns in Israel. On the other hand, hormone concentrations in raw WW were higher in the Palestinian WWTPs than those in the Israeli WWTPs, presumably because of a dilution effect associated with a higher water per capita consumption among Israelis. Despite these differences in raw WW concentrations, the removal efficiency in all advanced WWTPs was relatively high when compared to averages reported internationally.

Transboundary Stream Restoration in Israel and the Palestinian Authority

Abstract: Within Israel and the West Bank and Gaza Strip (WBGS), there are 15 streams that cross the Palestinian/Israeli Green Line. All originate in water-sheds located in the Palestinian Authority, or in lands that will eventually be outside Israeli jurisdiction, and then flow into Israel toward the Mediterranean Sea, flow east to the Dead Sea, or the Jordan River. These transboundary streams of Israel and Palestine are plagued by severe pollution, posing a serious health hazard to humans and devastating the natural ecosystems. Several factors have contributed to the severity of pollution in these streams. For many years, most streams were transformed into sewage conduits collecting raw sewage or low-quality effluent all year round. The region’s climate is semiarid and increasing demand for water has led to overpumping of the available groundwater, drying up of the headwaters of many streams. A range of pollu-tants, including nonpoint agricultural runoff, urban stormwater, and discharge from industrial sites can also be found in many streams. In 1994, the Ministry of the Environment established the River Restoration Administration as a coordinating body for actions taken by various govern-mental and nongovernmental bodies to restore or at least rehabilitate damaged streams. Although stream restoration constitutes a paramount environmental priority for both parties, the lack of a clear and relevant model that identifies and quantifies the key parameters for stream restoration including water flow, nutrient concentrations, and other contaminant loadings from nonpoint and point sources on a catchment scale across the virtual borders has frustrated all