Natalie A. Brassill, an Assistant in Extension at the University of Arizona, spent Fall 2019 as a Visiting Scholar at the Arava Institute of Environmental Studies in Ketura, Israel, working with collaborator Dr. Clive Lipchin. During her stay, Ms. Brassill worked with Palestinian and Bedouin communities located in areas that lack access to centralized wastewater treatment systems, and therefore, rely on off-grid grey water treatment technologies. These transformative off-grid water treatment systems allow Palestinians and Bedouins to treat their household grey water and reuse it for agricultural irrigation. This practice is helping to expand water security and diversify the water portfolio of community stakeholders in this region.
Ms. Brassill primarily worked with a Bedouin community in Israel, monitoring their off-grid household greywater treatment system for E. coli and physiological parameters, and informing the community about her findings. Since the off-grid household grey water treatment technologies were installed, the Bedouin community has planted over 30 olive trees and is using this water (that was previously wasted) for food crop irrigation. Ms. Brassill also monitored 3 villages in the West Bank, Palestinian Territories that are also using off-grid greywater treatment systems to irrigate date palm trees. By using treated household greywater for irrigation, Palestinians in the West Bank are now able to grow lemon and olive trees with reused water.