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Research Assistant Opportunity (Remote)

Argonne National Laboratory’s Energy Infrastructure System Assessment Division is developing a comprehensive database and conducting analyses concerning non-traditional water resource availability and its application in energy production across the United States. This initiative is strategically designed to tackle the impact of climate change and heightened occurrences of extreme weather events on the freshwater resources, all within the framework of a circular water economy.

We are seeking 1-2 students with data science skills and background training in mathematics or engineering to join our team. This opportunity extends to both graduate and undergraduate students. The internship is part-time with the potential of remote working and lasts 3-6 months with the possibility of renewal.

Details in UNIVERSITY STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES (myworkdayjobs.com)

Job number: 416379

Big News!

The Center for Water Research, Current and our 50+ Great Lakes ReNEW partners are one of 16 finalists in the inaugural National Science Foundation (NSF) Regional Innovation Engines competition, keeping our diverse six-state, cross-sector team in the running for a $160M award.
Our goals for this project are ambitious: leverage and align the tremendous scientific, economic and human assets of the great lakes region to accelerate the development of an inclusive blue economy innovation engine.
For more information, please visit the following sites:

 

Project Website

 

NSF Announcement

 

 

EES Seminar Series

Please join this week’s EES Seminar with Adam Smith on Friday, April 28 at 2pm in Tech A230.

Prof. Smith will discuss “Antibiotic Resistance in the Engineered Water Cycle: Emerging Biotechnologies, Portable Water Reuse, and Surveillance”

Northwestern team wins Chicago Innovation Award for Illinois State Wastewater Surveillance effort

Illinois Wastewater Surveillance System receives Chicago Innovation Award! Product makes waves across the state with a new approach to monitoring COVID-19

https://chicagoinnovation.com/winners/discovery-partners-institute/

https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2022/11/northwestern-chicago-innovation-awards

Chicago Innovation Award Team Photo

CoWERC All-Hands Annual Meeting

CoWERC’ s first annual in person meeting was held both remotely and in person at Northwestern University, Chicago and Sde Boquer, Israel on Wednesday, October 19th and Thursday, October 20th. Our lineup of events included individual technical project presentations by both projects leads and students, Lunch at Northwestern University’s Allen Center, Lab Tours, and an Executive Committee Meeting on the last day. The Executive Committee Meeting covered research and financial updates, as well as year 3 project plans. Overall, it was a very productive meeting, and it was great to finally be able to meet each other in person. Thank you to all who came to Northwestern University, including Amit Gross of Ben-Gurion University. To all our students and consortium leads – thank you for all your hard work thus far! We look forward to seeing everyone in-person next year.

Lab Tour

Group at Northwestern University

GET Israel: Topic 12 – EcoPeace

Transboundary water management

By Natalia Rodriguez, Alex Perry, Molly Whalen

Friday September 16th, 2022

Having visited a number of cultural sites and novel water facilities during our time in Israel, our last stop was EcoPeace Middle East, a nonprofit organization comprised of Israeli, Palestinian, and Jordanian environmentalists with the common goal of protecting shared water resources and ensuring access to them for the current and future generations.

We met with Daniel Nahum, education officer for environmental peacebuilding and water diplomacy of EcoPeace, in the Kiryat Sefer Park in Tel Aviv. In this gathering, Daniel exposed that EcoPeace was founded in 1994, amid the Oslo Accords. This organization was created as a way of fostering peace and sustainable development in the Middle East. Today, EcoPeace has three regional offices (Tel Aviv, Al Bireh, Amman), and their work not only includes urging actions to government officials, but also environmental awareness among the community. For example, they train teenagers to become agents of change and learn youth organization-building principles. Additionally, they prepare teachers in topics such as biology and water diplomacy so that they are able to teach them to their classmates.

The main highlight of our talk was the discussion of the severe water issues in the Gaza Strip, a 365 km2 region on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, which is under Palestinian control. Traditionally, the Gaza Strip has relied upon well drilling to provide water to over 2 million inhabitants. However, over drilling has led to contamination of the groundwater. Israel sells 10 to 30 million cubic meters of drinking water to Gaza annually, but this does not come near the amount needed to sustain the population. This supply is also unstable as Israel stops selling water to Gaza during periods of conflict. The second main point of our meeting was the introduction of the Green Blue Deal, a proposal that got buy-in from Israeli mayors to provide wastewater treatment to the people of Gaza. The pollution from Gaza’s sewage is so extreme that Palestinians were not able to swim in the Mediterranean until this summer, after the Green Blue New Deal was implemented. This pollution also affects Israelis as the pollution spreads northwards through the Mediterranean.

The Kiryat Sefer Park includes several water systems, such as ponds and fountains.

View of the center of Tel Aviv from the playground area of the park.

The water lily pond in the park attracts local birds and is the home of several koi fish.

GET Israel members exploring the water lily pond.

The Global Engineering Trek (GET) to Israel is jointly organized by the Northwestern Center for Water Research (NCWR) and the Israel Innovation Project (IIP). This program is focused on the topic of water (GET Water-Israel) and is offered to all first- and second-year Northwestern undergraduate students. GET Water-Israel is co-sponsored by McCormick Global Initiatives, the Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern (ISEN), the Crown Family Center for Jewish and Israel Studies, NCWR, and IIP.

GET Israel: Topic 11 – Kinneret

Israel’s Sweet Water Resource, On the Verge of a Drought

By Kayd Bhagat, Emilia McDougal, and Vianey Guadian

The Sea of Galilee, also known as Lake Kinneret, is one of Israel’s most abundant sources of freshwater. At approximately 53 km (33 mi) in circumference, it is the largest freshwater lake in the country. It is also the second lowest lake in the world at 212 meters below sea level, second to none other than the Dead Sea. This, however, does make it the lowest freshwater lake in the world. The lake’s name has changed throughout history, the first being the Sea of Galilee as found in the New Testament. It was then named Lake Tiberias, after being conquered by the Roman empire. Its’ most modern name, Lake Kinneret comes from the Hebrew word kinnor (“karp”), corresponding with the shape of the lake.

In the past, the Sea of Galilee provided a third of Israel’s drinking water, but constant consumption of the lake water led to dramatic decreases in the water level. Over the years the Sea of Galilee has been pumped less and less to avoid exhausting its volume. Today, the Sea of Galilee has its highest water level ever recorded and has pumping restrictions in place. Pumping is stopped once a year for cleaning, on Passover, and when the country experiences low annual rain levels. The installation of desalination plants around Israel has also helped maintain its water level by supplementing the country’s drinking water. When the sea is pumped, the water is sent to the Eshkol site for treatment, and then dispersed to the rest of the country via the Jordan River.

While the Sea of Galilee plays an integral role in providing fresh drinking water to Israel and its neighbors, it is more famously known for its ties to the Christian religion. It is this body of water where Jesus was said to walk on water and calm a storm. Many other miracles were performed in areas surrounding the sea, like Jesus feeding 5000 from just a few fish and loaves of bread. Our group also had the chance to visit the Mount of Beatitudes where Jesus gave the famous sermon on the mount. The church of the Beatitudes is thought to be located on the spot where Jesus gave his sermon and has eight sides to represent the eight different Beatitudes. Water from the Sea of Galilee flows south to Yardenit, a section of the Jordan River where Christians believe Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. Each year, tens of thousands of people come to this holy site to participate in the sacrament and fortify their faith by entering the water. At both Yardenit and the Mount of Beatitudes, scripture from the bible was displayed in dozens of different languages, showing the far-reaching significance of these Christian sites.

Our visit to the Sea of Galilee reflected the grandeur of its historical, religious, and municipal significance in Israeli society and the rest of the globe.

The Sea of Galilee from afar.

A few of the students at a sandwich shop near the Sea of Galilee. Pictured left to right: Kayd Bhagat, Shyam Chandra, Molly Whalen, Damien Koh, Aidan Ocampo, Charis Lee, and Emilia McDougal.

Lake Kinneret and a nearby field.

The Mt. of Beatitudes on the visit to the Sea of Galilee.

View of the Sea of Galilee from the Mt. of Beatitudes.

The Global Engineering Trek (GET) to Israel is jointly organized by the Northwestern Center for Water Research (NCWR) and the Israel Innovation Project (IIP). This program is focused on the topic of water (GET Water-Israel) and is offered to all first- and second-year Northwestern undergraduate students. GET Water-Israel is co-sponsored by McCormick Global Initiatives, the Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern (ISEN), the Crown Family Center for Jewish and Israel Studies, NCWR, and IIP.

GET Israel: Topic 10 – Eshkol and Sapir Site

National Water Carrier

By Shyam Chandra, Sara Bhaidani, Charis Lee

On September 15th, 2022, our GET Israel trip visited Mekorot, Israel’s national water carrier company that supplies Israel with 90% of its drinking water. More specifically, we visited the national water carrier’s Eshkol and Sapir sites — the pumping and filtration facilities located on the shores of the Sea of Galilee — to gain a deeper awareness of Israel’s national water infrastructure and treatment practices.

We had spent a large portion of our trip visiting specific desalination and treatment plants, so this was an especially engaging experience to tie everything together from a national perspective. Our visit began with an immersive water show that emphasized water’s significance in the history of Israel’s origin as a nation.

Water show experience.

We learned that around 85% of Israel’s current water supply comes from desalination, 10% comes from ground and surface water like natural springs and aquifers, and around 5% comes from the Sea of Galilee itself. The amount of reliance on the Sea of Galilee as a water source has reduced dramatically because the sea has been losing around 240 million cubic meters of water per year from heat and evaporation.

This experience helped us realize the harsh reality of Israel’s water supply (if innovations in desalination hadn’t alleviated water burdens). On average, there are only 40 days of rainfall in Israel per year, almost completely condensed to the rainy season (October – April), and every six years there is a severe drought. At times, springs will completely collapse, especially ones located nearby the Sea of Galilee. When it comes to aquifers, various contaminants from industrial processes and sites, like gas stations, have seeped into the groundwater. Mekorot is responsible for monitoring these changes in the water supply and ensuring that Israel’s population has safe and reliable water at all times of the year.

Floor map of the Sea of Galilee and surrounding areas.

During our visit, we got to see all five stages of the filtration process. It was fascinating to see how two independent filtration sectors were used to reduce the spread of problems in order to be able to run the plant 24/7.

View of filtration reservoirs from the Visitor’s Center.

Beginning with stage one, our tour guide illustrated the usage of Polyaluminum chloride (PAC) on flocculation/coagulation within incoming water. In this step, the aggregates sink to the bottom of a sedimentation pond forming sludge, and the remaining 99% of pre-treated water is returned to the sedimentation area. Then in the second stage, the water is moved into a standing operational reservoir where certain fishes are used to remove impurities and nuisances that bloom in the reservoir (i.e., particles, plankton, snails, algae, etc.). In stage three, the water is placed in the center filtration plant where another round of coagulation is used to remove additional bacteria, pathogens, and particles. Here, the particles are caught by an anthracite substrate, and the water is further purified through the use of a passive coil. Moving to stage four, the filtered water is advanced to a vacuumed reservoir where hypochlorite is added as a disinfectant. Lastly, in stage five the filtered water (10x better in quality than international standards) is transferred to the national carrier pipeline.

Scaled models of the Eshkol and Sapir sites (1).

Scaled models of the Eshkol and Sapir sites (2).

While this process is able to deliver 1.5 billion cubic meters of water a year through the 85 km long main national carrier pipeline to the Yarkon-Negev system to be distributed, there are still three parts of Israel that do not have access to this reliable water source. One of the major goals is to expand the water distribution and sewage pipelines both South to North and West to East. Highly impressed with the inner workings of this system, Mekorot did give us some food for thought on how to address their biggest challenges involving pushing back water into the sea of Galilee and dealing with the decreasing levels of the Dead Sea.

Sinking levels of the Sea of Galilee.

The Global Engineering Trek (GET) to Israel is jointly organized by the Northwestern Center for Water Research (NCWR) and the Israel Innovation Project (IIP). This program is focused on the topic of water (GET Water-Israel) and is offered to all first- and second-year Northwestern undergraduate students. GET Water-Israel is co-sponsored by McCormick Global Initiatives, the Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern (ISEN), the Crown Family Center for Jewish and Israel Studies, NCWR, and IIP.

GET Israel: Topic 9 – Sorek and overall desalination water supply in Israel

By Iphigenie Bera, Destiny Lara, Damien Koh Tze-In

Introduction:

On September 16th, 2022, the Israel GET group visited the Sorek Desalination Plant, the biggest desalination facility in Israel. This trip aimed to gain further insight into Israel‘s water problem and learn about the desalination process in detail.

To open the discussion on Israel’s water situation, the speaker from Sorek highlighted the entire world’s water situation; he showed that only 0.62% of all water on the Earth is readily available to humans and animals. Additionally, by showing the individual factors contributing to the net water change in Israel, he stated that the country faces a shortage of 700 million cubic meters of water every year. Hence, justifying the need for desalination plants like Sorek.

Currently, there are five desalination plants already operational around Israel. They all provide a total of 597 million cubic meters of potable water every year. Once fully functional, two more desalination plants are expected to bump that number to 897 million cubic meters. With several factors, such as population growth and increasing standard of living, Israel will only require more desalination to sustain its home, industrial, and agricultural usage of water. Desalinated water makes up 75% of water for domestic use. The goal is to have 100% water supply for domestic usage from desalination.

Process:

The desalination process goes through several steps to provide drinkable water to residents of Israel. Sorek uses reverse osmosis due to its low power consumption and efficiency in desalination. The desalination process at Sorek can be divided into four processes, from intake from the sea to post-treatment for consumption. Processes are pre-treatment, micronic-filtering, reverse osmosis, and post-treatment.

First, Sorek carries water 1.85km from the Mediterranean Sea to their facility through an intake pipe. The intake pipe has a series of nets to prevent sea animals from flowing in the pipes, although some creatures, like jellyfish and barnacles, are sucked in. There are also brine output pipes that return brine back to the sea.

The intake pipe transferring water to the facility. At the bottom you can see jellyfish and barnacles that were accidently sucked in.

The water is then passed for further micronic-filtering by percolation in coal and gravel layers to remove smaller particles such as microplastics and sand. The sediments, after filtration, are removed from the top of the coal and gravel layer by pressure. The water then goes into the primary desalination process, reverse osmosis.

The flocculation basin separate suspended solids from the water. Here is an image of the suspended solids floating on top. Remaining impurities are removed through dual media gravity filtration.

Dual media filter

In reverse osmosis, high pressure is applied to the salty water and then passed through a semipermeable membrane that only allows water ions to pass through. Because of the mineral deficiency of desalinated water, water is then passed through post-treatment, where minerals such as magnesium and calcium are added to meet consumption needs. Water is then transported in the water carrier pipelines for domestic usage.

An image of the membrane used in the distillation process displayed in front of the Sorek Facility.

One of the challenges desalination plants, including Sorek, face is the high energy required to operate the plant. Desalination takes about 3.4% of energy consumption in Israel. There are plans to increase the number of alternative energy sources such as solar and improve power-saving desalination techniques.

Post-treatment involves re-adding minerals like carbon to the water, cleaned out during the distillation process.

The water from the Mediterranean Sea is now ready to drink!

Reflection:

It is fascinating how Sorek can transform salt water into drinkable water. This is a process we were not familiar with in the United States. It is also a process that seems to amuse many Israelis. When talking to our taxi driver about the GET program, the driver did not know his drinking water came from the sea. The one problematic thing is if distillation is purifying the water too much. Our guide mentioned that not enough magnesium is added to the water, which can lead to health problems. Although water is not a primary source of magnesium, if agriculture is watered with desalinated water, the food might also lack magnesium. We wonder if there will be any problems in the future with drinking desalinated water.

Students walking through the Sorek facility

The Global Engineering Trek (GET) to Israel is jointly organized by the Northwestern Center for Water Research (NCWR) and the Israel Innovation Project (IIP). This program is focused on the topic of water (GET Water-Israel) and is offered to all first- and second-year Northwestern undergraduate students. GET Water-Israel is co-sponsored by McCormick Global Initiatives, the Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern (ISEN), the Crown Family Center for Jewish and Israel Studies, NCWR, and IIP.