Background on the LIFE Project

This LIFE project being implement by the Sakhnin Regional Environmental Education and R&D Center of the Towns Association for Environmental Quality- Agan Beit Natufa (TAEQ) in cooperation with Istanbul Technical University (ITU) deals with a major environmental problem in the region- wastewater treatment.  The wastewater problem is regarded one of the central problems in the rural areas, mainly in regions suffering from water shortage problems.  The wastewater, if treated improperly, may cause severe health problems, odor problems, and the effluents may damage soil and water resources (surface and underground water).   If properly treated, the effluent may be reused for agriculture as a substitute for fresh water.  The emission of green-house gases can also be reduced by the proper treatment the wastewater. The above mentioned advantages may assist agriculture and economic development in rural areas, mainly in arid zones of the globe.

The project involves technologically upgrading existing wastewater treatment facilities to produce improved quality effluent for local agricultural irrigation.  Educational and research activities related to the upgrading of wastewater treatment technologies are performed by high school and university students, both from Israel and Turkey. The joint bi-national activities of the LIFE Project encourage international development and will become a model of cooperation that will inspire of the agricultural communities in the world.

In the framework of the current LIFE Project, an experimental center, including advanced R&D facilities, have been established in the Sakhnin Center. This experiments center and all the facilities are used as a tool for R&D investigations concentrating on upgrading the quality of the Sakhnin wastewater treatment plant's effluents.

Activities of the LIFE Project

As part of the project, Israeli and Turkish scientist will exdange R&D programs and scientific information using all the conventional communication routes.  During the project's three year duration, two Turkish graduate students from ITU will come to the Sakhnin Center to conduct research work on the LIFE facilities as part of their graduate research. This connection between Israel and Turkey will encourage the development of similar connections in the future.Annual workshops are also implemented in which scientists, students, teachers and other participants belonging to the professional community will meet and discuss the results of the project. The scientific aim of the project is to investigate upgrading options for the various technologies used for wastewater treatment (WWT) in rural area plants. The target is to achieve high effluent quality that will permit using the effluent for unlimited irrigation, thus alleviating the problem of water shortage in dry, rural regions.The research projects in the framework of the Life project are executed by high-school and/or university students. About 80 Ecotop projects are planned for each year from 2004 to 2006. Also, ten "final works" are supposed will be executed annually during 2005 and 2006.The vast amount of teaching and scientific information that will be developed during the project will be gathered by the students, teachers and instructors and distributed to the professional community by various communication/dissemination tools, including the Internet, websites, workshops, and annual student meetings in which the participants will present their works by oral presentations and/or written reports.