Installation of Irrigation Tubing
Cut Away Showing How Drip Irrigation Works
Fish Farm Facility
Aerators for Fish in Storage Reservoir for Irrigation
Irrigation
The use of desalinated water for irrigation in Israel, Jordan, and Palestine seems the only solution to meeting the needs for expanding agricultural production, especially in the dry areas that adjoin the Jordan Valley south of the Dead Sea. Water for irrigation must be economically priced in order to be used for crop production in the very efficient drip irrigation design that has been developed in Israel. It is estimated that water produced by the desalination enabled by the Dead Sea Power Project can be priced at forty cents per cubic meter, thus enabling a tremendous expansion of crop acreage in the region. This price is justified by the enormous scale of the project, the low operation expense of MVC desalination, and the abundant power supply of the connected hydroelectric project.
The super pure water produced by MVC desalination will eliminate the problem of buildup of salt in the irrigated soil, and will actually reduce the salt content of the irrigated soils by the process of plant use of salts in the soil.
"Israel, with scarce agricultural land and precious little by way of fresh water
supplies, needs to maximize its food output per unit of land while minimizing water
use. As part of its drive to cut down on water use, the government chose to promote
drip irrigation, which is more expensive than most other irrigation methods. However
drip irrigation in terms of water use efficiency is a desirable irrigation method in
a country like Israel, where desalination is used to distill fresh water from sea water."
Source: http://www.worldbank.org/html/fpd/technet/drip_irr.htm
"Israel is a semi-arid country with a low average annual precipitation of 500 mm,
concentrated in 4-5 months of the year. It has no major rivers, lakes or underground
water sources. Yet both irrigated agriculture and aquaculture are highly developed in
spite of the climatic constraints and chronic lack of water. To be successful in both
fields, new methods were developed to conserve water and use it more efficiently. Results
are manifested by the development of Drip irrigation and integrated aquaculture and irrigation
systems."
Source: http://www.aquaculture.co.il/aquaculture_in_Israel.html
"Integrated Fish Farming & Irrigation is achieved by constructing the fish farm facility between the water source and the irrigated field.
Water is used TWICE:
1. for fish production
2. for irrigation
Any water source could be used, including - underground, river, or impounding reservoir, and any water supply system, including - gravitational, pumping, or a combination of both.
The use of water in IFFI is determined by the maximum profitability that can be derived from the combined production of fish and land crops.
Advantages of IFFI over an irrigation project producing only land crops, are:
Increase fish output, without reducing output of irrigated crops
Diversification into high value consumer food items - fish fillets
Exportation of highly demanded products
Overall reduction in production cost by sharing water costs
Increase in rate of return on investments in the water
supply and distribution"
Source: http://www.aquaculture.co.il/aquaculture_in_Israel.html