Project Summary

In the West Bank, many groundwater wells show a high concentration of chloride exceeding 250 mg/l and relatively lower nitrate concentrations. Most shallow wells in Jordan valley and Jericho areas have elevated levels of salinity, and their water is categorized as brackish. An alternative way to ensure access to clean drinking water is to provide small-holder farmers and individual households with a small, decentralized, and affordable water purification system to purify the saline/ polluted groundwater. The research developed a Capacitive Electro Dialysis (CED) system, which does not exist on the market yet, has several competitive advantages in terms of affordability and accessibility, in comparison with existing purification technologies such as reverse osmosis. Equipped with a small solar panel, the developed device can operate off-grid, which makes it suitable for areas with poor infrastructure or no electricity at all. As such, our innovation also contributes to addressing slow-onset disasters, such as drought and salinization, by increasing the resilience, and self-sufficiency of individual households and farmers in terms of their water and food security.

This project is interlinked with the PADUCO-2 Integrated Research project on DSS for groundwater management (GDSS).

Research Objectives

• Evaluate the effectiveness of CED technology by doing field testing for desalination and safety standards for irrigation water, and compare the results with drinking water standards;
• Implement one prototype for the performance testing, aiming to deliver 1000 liters of irrigation water per day;
• Conduct durability testing of the CED-system for 12 months at the test location, to evaluate continuous performance of the system;
• Develop recommendations for appropriate governance arrangements (regulation, policies, licensing) to implement the new technology in a sustainable, effective and equitable manner; 
• Development of three private sector business models for the implementation of the CED technology. knowledge and capacity.

Project team