Friday, March 05, 2021
Elder of Ziyon
One of the major issues affecting water utilities in the State of Palestine, and developing countries, in general, is the considerable difference between the amount of water supplied into the distribution system and the amount of water billed to consumers - or Non-Revenue Water (NRW). NRW is attributed to either real losses related to water leakage during pumping, storage and transmission in network pipes or apparent losses due to theft or illegal connections, metering inaccuracies or unbilled consumption.According to the Water Sector Regulatory Council (WSRC) in the State of Palestine, the average rate of 33% NRW accounts for US$45 million of more than 85 million cubic meters of fresh water lost annually that would have been utilized to relieve part of water scarcity and insufficient supply.
If they are losing 33% of their water because of leaks and other inefficiencies, that means that fixing those problems would increase the amount of drinking water available by 50%.
If only they had some experts nearby that they could ask to help them....
In an area where water is “liquid gold”, they use high tech monitoring to discover leaks in water systems so that they can be found soon and fixed. Water system leaks can occur at any point from main feeder lines to distribution and service pipes that convey water to homes and businesses. Leaks can range from tiny (at the time) pressure leaks to large cracks and can add up quickly. For example, a one-eight inch crack in a pipe at 60 pounds of pressure can lose more than 3800 gallons per day. Because of this, water leakage rates around the world are high (In the UK, it is estimated that water losses are more than 3 billion liters per day). Israelis have invented and applied technology to find and stop leaks when they are small. This commitment accounts for Israel’s leakage rate of 7-8% on average, the lowest in the world.
Israel has a number of companies that specialize in detecting and preventing water leaks. If the Palestinians would ask, they could get eager graduate students from Israel more than willing to work with them to fix their issues.
But they won't. The reason is the same as the reason that they are not asking Israel for COVID-19 vaccines - because asking for help from the people they tell their kids are genocidal racists is shameful.
People who say that Israel is the reason there is no peace in the Middle East don't want to know the truth: the Palestinians do not want peace, they do not want "normalization," they do not want Israel to help them in any way whatsoever unless it can be painted as a concession from the Jews.
(h/t Irene)
