Skip to Main Content
logo
Wastewater treatment facility with multiple open aeration basins and concrete channels, set in a rural landscape with hills in the background.Wastewater treatment facility with multiple open aeration basins and concrete channels, set in a rural landscape with hills in the background.

Wastewater Management Nablus

CDM Smith designs and oversees the construction of wastewater systems in Nablus and the surrounding area and is launching a pilot project to reuse treated wastewater.

Client

Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW)

Location

Nablus, Palestine

Connect with an expert

Person in a black suit jacket and light blue shirt stands indoors.
Eric Kalmbach
Division Manager

From Drain to Irrigation: Innovative Wastewater Recycling in Nablus

CDM Smith designs and supervises wastewater systems in Nablus and is implementing a pilot project for the reuse of treated wastewater.

Water scarcity and new solutions

Agriculture consumes almost all of Palestine's water. A new project improves wastewater treatment and creates the basis for sustainable reuse.

Wastewater as an opportunity for the region

Treated wastewater increases irrigation areas, strengthens agriculture, creates jobs and improves environmental standards – an important step for Palestine's future.

Palestine has a critical water shortage problem; water shortages are most acute for agricultural irrigation, which consumes 90% of the available water supply.  This is compounded by the fact that most Palestinian wastewater is not treated and therefore cannot be reused. The recently adopted Palestinian National Water Strategy thus considers the reuse of treated wastewater to be of high importance. 

The public development financing organ­i­sa­tion (KfW) has initiated a development project towards improving wastewater treatment to the north of the West Bank. The Nablus city council commis­sioned CDM Smith to join forces with Dahlem Consulting Engineers and two local consulting firms in imple­ment­ing this project. Specif­i­cally, the project entails the tendering and supervision of the construc­tion of wastewater treatment systems, industrial wastewater pretreat­ment facilities, and a second wastewater treatment plant for Nablus and six neigh­bour­ing villages. In addition, we are training local staff and providing technical consulting services for 2 years.

Wastewater is an important resource with enormous improvement opportunities in agricultural production. Our project supports Palestinians by helping them tap into this resource for irrigation. 

Eric Kalmbach, Delivery Leader

A pilot pro­ject to re­cy­cle treated waste­water for ir­ri­ga­tion has yielded es­pe­cially promis­ing re­sults. Waste­water is the only water re­source that does not in­volve po­lit­i­cal con­flict in the Palestinian territories. CDM Smith supports the pro­ject which is the first of its kind and an im­por­tant mile­stone for fu­ture pro­jects in Pales­tine, and is scheduled for completion in 2021. In the future, the orig­i­nally contracted agreed ir­ri­ga­tion area of 20,000 m² will be ex­tended to 2.5 km² on the basis of a feasibility study. 

Re­cy­cling treated waste­water is sig­nif­i­cantly in­creas­ing agri­cul­tural ac­tiv­ity in the re­gion, cre­at­ing jobs and con­tribut­ing to an in­crease in in­come for farm­ers. Moreover, it improves en­vi­ron­men­tal pro­tec­tion because the usage of treated waste­water allows higher clean­li­ness stan­dards.

We are dedicated to improving the quality of life for communities worldwide.  

Eric Kalmbach, Delivery Leader

Project Contact

Have questions about our project or services? Our expert is happy to help.

Person in a black suit jacket and light blue shirt stands indoors.

Eric Kalmbach

Division Manager

Eric Kalmbach brings expertise in environmental, water and transport infrastructure projects in developing countries.

Visual Insights of the Project

Related Projects

Interested in our projects? Explore our projects and the experts behind them.

Waterfront view of historic and modern buildings along a sunny coast, with calm water in the foreground and hills in the background.
Turkey

Improving the Turkish Water Infrastructure

SuedOstLink AC section between the converter station and the grid connection point
Germany, South-East

SuedOstLink: A Future Project for Sustainable Energy Supply