Mekorot
The Mekorot Water Company Ltd. ( Hebrew מְקוֹרוֹת חֶבְרַת מַיִם בָעָ"מ Məqōrōt Chevrat Majim BaʿA "M , German 'Quellen Wassergesellschaft GmbH' , by Sg.מָקוֹר Maqōr ) is one of the largest and oldest national drinking water supply companies in Israel , based in Eshkol .
history
Mekorot was founded on January 31, 1937 by Levi Eschkol and from 1937 to 1951 he himself was the director of the company that secured the water supply for the first Jewish settlements.
Today the Mekorot Water Company is responsible for the nationwide water supply, water quality, infrastructure, wastewater treatment and seawater desalination plants . Mekorot supplies the drinking water to around 5,000 smaller water suppliers, including municipalities, regional associations, agricultural settlements and industrial customers. One of the company's greatest accomplishments is the development and operation of a nationwide water network capable of rapidly moving water from freshwater sources and water treatment plants to distributors and end users. Mekorot's large seawater desalination plants are located in Ashdod and are supplemented by the brackish water desalination plants in Lahat and Atlit . In addition to the pipeline network, Mekorot also supplies end users with tankers. Mekorot supplies around seven million people with drinking water.
Water supply statistics
- Amount of drinking water: 1,500 billion cubic meters annually, around 90% of Israel's water needs
- Production sites for water supply and water quality: 3,000
- Pumping stations: 691
- Number of units in the pumping stations: 2,565
- Deep wells (groundwater): 1,200
- Number of buffers: 714 (each with a volume of 500 m³ or more)
- Number of reservoirs: 104
- Length of the water pipes: 12,000 km
- Control centers: 9 (with process control systems)
- Desalination plants: 34
- Central large filter systems: 8
- Wastewater treatment and wastewater recovery facilities: 13
- Facilities for the improvement, disinfection and treatment of water: 800
- Total water production: 1.5 billion m³ per year
- Energy consumption: 1.994 million kWh per year
- Distribution points: 9,265
- Water analysis laboratories: 1 Eshkol central laboratory and 5 regional laboratories
Mekorot has developed a wide range of proprietary computerized models and decision support systems such as process control systems, models for the operation of a national water demand forecast, water system planning, weather and water level forecast, integration of desalinated seawater into the existing national water supply, chemical and biological models, decision support systems for the Groundwater supply with hydrological models for optimal operation and statistical models for the analysis of changes and trends in the water supply.
Eschkol visitor center
In the Beit Netofa valley in the immediate vicinity of Channaton , Mekorot operates a visitor center at Ma'agar Eschkol (Eschkol reservoir) where visitors can find out about the treatment of drinking water using the example of a central filter system, one of the largest and most complex of its kind in the world . The system further improves the quality of the water that is taken from the Sea of Galilee and distributed throughout the country. At the end of the filtration process, the water from the Sea of Galilee has reached a level that meets the most stringent requirements. With these standards, Mekorot is at the forefront of western countries in terms of the treatment of drinking water.
A video show illustrates the Mekorot process, in which a drop of water obtained from the Sea of Galilee, or from the groundwater or from the sea, finally reaches the taps in the homes of around seven million residents.
criticism
According to a study by the Israeli non-governmental organization B'Tselem , the Palestinians in the West Bank had around 60 liters of drinking water a day, in the north even just 30 liters, while the Jewish settlers consumed up to 330 liters a day. The Israeli water monopoly Mekorot is responsible for the unjust distribution. The water shortage has "serious consequences" for the two million Palestinians living there. The embassy of the State of Israel in Berlin, however, referred in 2012 to a study on the water situation in the West Bank, according to which "there is currently almost no difference in the per capita consumption of natural water between Israelis and Palestinians".
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Numbers and facts on mekorot.co.il
- ↑ Thorsten Schmitz: Arabs in the West Bank are undersupplied: Israel digs up the water from Palestinians , Süddeutsche Zeitung , May 17, 2010
- ^ Study on the water situation in the West Bank , Israeli Embassy in Berlin , January 20, 2012