The project to clean the bottom of the Kishon River is underway - coverage of a meeting with the residents of Haifa that took place on 15/3/2012
general:
The Kishon has been polluted since the 30s mainly with fuels but also with various types of heavy metals.
The sediment accumulated on the bottom of the stream is a toxic and dangerous black mixture with an average layer of about 250 cm.
This mixture is a dangerous ecological hazard.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection and its partners in the project presented at the conference held today, 15/3/2012, the project of cleaning the bottom of the stream.
Project status summary:
About NIS 220 will be invested in the project
Duration of the project: about three years
Project management: the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Kishon River Authority and the Kishon Drainage Authority
Publication of the tender: April 2012
Prerequisites for winning the tender: a company with experience in sludge treatment (probably international).
So far we have done: detailed planning for the project, a test in a laboratory in England, many environmental impact surveys, a risk assessment survey for the river itself and the planning of the park that will be built on top of the purified mud mountain.
The new park area
The main things said by the speakers at the conference:
Minister of Environmental Protection - Gilad Erdan
"The project is part of a national plan for parks along streams for the well-being of people in Israel"
The purpose of the project: "A lively stream from the Yagor area to the sea and a green park around it.
Miki Sharan - Chairman of the Association of Industrialists in Haifa
Blaming the industrialist for the pollution is unfair, since the main polluter of the river was the state. A factory in Zan that was owned by the state polluted the Kishon all these years. The neighboring factories saw that it was good and also joined the polluters, sponsored by the state. The industrialists today bear a heavy current expense which is the purification of the waste water. The factories will invest NIS 120 in the project. This is a symbolic amount compared to the current investment in wastewater treatment.
On another topic - the electrification of the railway: Miki calls on the Ministry of Environmental Protection to stop the electrification of the railway above the landscape in order to prevent severe and irreversible "landscape pollution" for Haifa.
Mickey calls the rail tunnel through the Carmel.
Yona Yahav, who supports sinking the track and not a tunnel, sat in the audience and did not respond to the call.
Dr. Yeshayahu Bar-Or - Ministry of Environmental Protection
According to the experts, about 1% of the total volume of the bottom of the Kishan is pollution (fuels and heavy metals)
This is a very serious figure.
Today the water flowing in Kishon is of good quality, but the soil causes continuous pollution of the water column.
In the purification project, several alternatives were examined, among them: removal to a waste site, burning, chemical treatment and more.
The chosen alternative is the process of improving biological material at the Kishon site itself.
Sharon Nissim - CEO of the Kishon River Authority
We strive for a restoration that will result in a sustainable ecosystem and return the Kishon to the public for kite, fishing and boating.
Already today we are witnessing a significant progress in the restoration of the river and recognize a gradual return of the public to its banks.
As part of the planned new park plan, wet land areas are planned, similar to the existing style in Agmon Hula. This area will be home to many animals and waterfowl. We strive to create a sequence and an ecological corridor along the entire stream until its outlet to the sea.
Sharon is bothered by the "floating" process created during dredging. This process pollutes the water body and creates significant damage to the habitats during the project - 3 years. The answer to this problem is blocking curtains and an attempt to create minimum floating in the dredging process
Haim Hami - CEO of the Kishon Drainage Authority
The master plan to prevent flooding states that the Kishon channel must be widened in order to prevent flooding in Kiryat (mainly from Nahal Gadora).
The Kishon channel will be deepened. In the area of Zan, a new net will be made for a stream in an area of about 250 dunams of agricultural land that is currently cultivated by Kibbutz Yagor.
The sludge treatment area will be established inside the "stomach" of the naftul. At the end of the treatment, the material will be piled up, fastened, covered with soil and turned into a park.
Simulation: the new Naftul area, next to the refineries and within it the land improvement area that will be converted into a park
Danny Sharvan - CEO of Yodafat Mohandasim - plans the cleaning project
The dredger is a ship that digs at the bottom of the river and flows the material through a pipe to the improvement site that will be located near the Bezan.
As you move further down the stream, the pipeline will be extended up to 3.5 km.
In order to allow flow in the pipe, boosters (flow amplifiers) will be placed at several stations along the bank of the river.
Danny presented this video illustrating the work of the Dredger
Dr. Yael Mason - Head of the Industrial Wastewater and Contaminated Soils Division, Ministry of Environmental Protection
Yael explained that the ministry examines all aspects of sludge improvement - both during the project and at its end.
Values and indicators were determined for the quality of the water after squeezing at the improvement site, as well as indicators for the quality of the air emitted during the biological soil treatment process.
A laboratory pilot was carried out, imitating the planned process. The pilot was carried out in a laboratory in England. In the pilot, 50 kg of material was taken from the Yadin exchange area, which is considered the most polluted area in the river. The materials were biologically treated and mixed with dry material in a ratio of 1 wet material to 3 dry material.
At the end of 10 weeks, it seems that the material reaches approximately the required values. An emission of ammonia was detected during the drying, therefore it was defined in the tender that the contractor would be required to pump the air and gases emitted from the piles of the drying material and purify the air before releasing it.
In order to prevent danger to people working and traveling near the improvement site, the air around the site will be monitored regularly for the entire duration of the project.
At the end of the process, the material will be fastened and covered with one meter of garden soil. The improved material will be placed on plastic sheets, in order to prevent materials from seeping into the groundwater.
Gadi Soknik - the host of the evening and has a rich and sad past of diving in the Kishon mud.
Gadi explained that whoever dived to the bottom of the Kishon found himself covered in black slime at a height of 250 cm
He who is in this slime cannot even see his palm
Informational film about the project produced by the Nahal Kishon Authority
Some atmospheric photos from the conference
Naor Yerushalmi, CEO of "Haim and Environment" and Yron Hanan, member of the City Council - Haifa's Greens
The complete plan of action for cleaning the kishon
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The new Naftul project near the refineries. The Naftul area will be used to clean the mud and then will be turned into a park
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Unfortunately, underneath all the bravado about cleaning the Kishon, we know very well what interests are hiding and are joining together to destroy the remaining chance that the Kishon will be an urban park or a large river that is used by the public.
The refineries and the river line diversion project - and who will take over the area? After all, the goal is to expand the refineries and usurp more agricultural land for the crackers and fuels.
The banks of the river were destroyed with asphalt surfaces for containers and importing vehicles, no trace of the green strip that surrounded the Kishon remains.
The illusory Yaffe Nof company flooded the Kishon with concrete for bridges and interchanges in the style of the unnecessary Carmel entrance interchange, NIS 280 million that went down the drain for nothing.
And the Kishon Authority tries to present everything on its behalf as a great project to clean/purify/treat the Kishon when all the polluting factories continue to pollute the lands around it and with every drop of rain there is a flow of sewage and re-contamination that penetrates the Kishon.
Unfortunately the ports and industry have taken over this stream, it will never be a park. They also want to remove the mooring, like the base of the technical school, which was also stolen from the public, and everything will be closed to the public.
The Haifa public has lost all grip on what is happening in the Kishon, the banks of the Kishon and the hinterland of the Kishon.
The Haifa municipality is a trailer that works to destroy the Kishon for the interests of the shakshuka that finances the mayor.
In Gush Dan they took full control of the Yarkon and the development of the metropolitan parks and they are not surrounded by industry and container storage areas but surrounded by residential neighborhoods.
It is not clear the investment in the "pretend metropolitan park" of this Kishon, which is far from the rest of the city and most of the residents of Haifa cannot enjoy this place at all because it has neither public transportation nor bicycle paths, nor are they organized, nor are there defined routes and activity areas. That is why it is possible for the ants to steal the area, piece by piece.
Sharon Nissim, CEO of the Kishon River Authority: "We are working to restore the ecosystem in the Kishon River, in order to restore it to the public for leisure activities, recreation, boating and fishing.
So far we have achieved many achievements in the restoration of the river and the soil cleaning project is a key pillar in achieving these goals."