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Recycling Municipal Wastewater Facility for Park Irrigation in an Arid Area
Finding water sources to irrigate a park located in the desert presents unique challenges. The Ramon Air Force Base (IAF), located in the Negev desert, Israel wanted to create a green park to serve its soldiers. The idea was to build a wastewater treatment plant to treat effluent to a tertiary level, recycle it back to the base, and use it to irrigate the ‘Essence of Life’ Park, developed in conjunction with the Jewish National Fund.
The first project was the first of its kind to be conducted at an Air Force base in Israel. Triple-T, a business division of WFI, was selected to provide a turnkey solution including design, construction and operation of the wastewater treatment plant.
The extensive low-energy process included primary wastewater screening, followed by initial sludge settlement and anaerobic treatment in two sequential settling ponds. The wastewater was then transferred into the Triple-T proprietary TAYA biological wastewater treatment system to remove the majority of the contaminants, followed by sand filtration and disinfection for tertiary treatment.
Enabling high treatment efficiency, with up to 90% reduction of BOD, COD and Total-N, TAYA cuts energy consumption by 80-85% compared with traditional technologies without requiring intensive secondary sludge handling.
Until today, the plant has produced 1.44 million cubic meters of high-quality potable water supplied to the park, meeting the stringent standards required by the Ministry of Health (MoH) for public park irrigation. In fact, it’s one of the few Israeli companies granted public garden irrigation approval by the MoH — a clear indication of the company’s high-quality technology and water treatment capabilities.
Completed in a record time of ten months, the plant has been operational for the last 8 years, creating water autonomy by treating raw effluent and utilizing it for park irrigation. It serves as a model for a decentralized, cost-effective wastewater treatment solution, which achieves high effluent quality. The reduced plant footprint and lowered OPEX costs has led to huge savings for the IAF, while providing enhanced quality of life for the soldiers assigned to the base.