Article: "In Israel, forging a path to a circular water economy"
March 27, 2023
The U.S.-Israel Collaborative Water-Energy Research Center (CoWERC), founded three years ago by Northwestern University and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, is looking to remedy the global water crisis through innovation. The center examines the link between water and energy, including the purification and distribution of water, the treatment of wastewater, and energy production, through a broad lens to identify and pursue the most impactful developments and technologies.
Research coming out of CoWERC includes new technology to capture the nutrients in wastewater. The process removes nitrogen for use in bioenergy applications and phosphorous to be used as fertilizer. The cleaned water can then be repurposed and distributed for use in agriculture. Wastewater technologies developed through CoWERC are working toward creating a “circular water economy,” an increasingly important goal with the growing world population.
To read the full news article, click here: https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2023/03/sustainable-water-management-israel/
*Image used is from the original news article published by Northwestern Now. After sounding the alarm on its shrinking freshwater supply, Israel now desalinates about 75 percent of its drinking water. It is also the global leader in reclaiming its wastewater, repurposing almost 90 percent for agricultural irrigation and other purposes.