AIR FILTER HOUSING CRACKED

Solar Domestic Water Heating: The Earthscan Expert Handbook for Planning, Design and Installation (Earthscan Expert Series)

Solar Domestic Water Heating is a comprehensive introduction to all aspects of solar domestic water heating systems. As fossil fuel prices continue to rise and awareness of climate change grows, interest in domestic solar water heating is expanding. Solar water heating technology is the most environmentally-friendly way to heat water. This fully-illustrated and easy-to-follow guide shows how domestic solar water heating systems work, the different types of systems, types of collectors, both flat plate and evacuated tube, types of storage tanks and other accessories. It also shows how systems are installed and explains how solar water heating can be integrated into existing water heating systems. Numerous examples from around the world have been included. The ideal guide for plumbers, heating engineers, builders and architects, housing and property developers, home owners and DIY enthusiasts, and anyone who needs a clear introduction to solar water heating technology.

The Colour of Water – Thirst in the Palestinian Territories

By Alice Gray, LifeSource (www.lifesource.ps)

This article was first published in the magazine of the YMCA/YWCA Joint Advocacy Initiative, East Jerusalem.

“Who says water has no colour, flavour or smell? Water does have a colour that reveals itself in the unfolding of thirst........And water has the flavour of water, and a fragrance that is the scent of the afternoon breeze blown from a field with full ears of wheat waving in a luminous expanse strewn like the flickering spots of light left by the wings of a small sparrow fluttering low.”
Mahmoud Darwish, Memory for Forgetfulness, August, Beirut, 1982.

“Water is fundamental for life and health. The human right to water is indispensable for leading a healthy life in human dignity. It is a pre-requisite to the realization of all other human rights.”
United Nations Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

The water crisis has started early this year in the Palestinian Territories. In scores of towns and villages throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip, people listen eagerly for the gurgle of water in pipelines, and turn on their taps with trepidation, watching anxiously for the first drops to appear, waiting to see if they turn into a stream, or splutter and gurgle to nothing after a few seconds. Others watch and wait for the arrival of water tankers, transporting the life-giving liquid to them from distant sources across an obstacle course of road blocks, checkpoints and military closures put in place by the Israeli Authorities, an inherent feature of their ongoing military occupation and colonization of the Palestinian Territories.

This is a particularly hard summer for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Even in normal years, the majority of Palestinians suffer from problems with their water supply. According to the Palestinian Water Authority, over 220,000 West Bank Palestinians are not connected to a piped water network, instead relying on water tankers, harvested rainwater and untreated natural springs for their water supply. All of these sources are susceptible to contamination; according to the Palestinian Medical Relief Committee, health problems associated with poor water quality are common in Palestinian villages that rely on them . In addition, cost is a huge issue for communities that are forced to rely on tankered water which often costs 4 to 7 times as much as water from the network.

Even in villages that are connected to the network, water supply is neither continuous nor reliable. According to the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Monitoring Project only 46% of West Bank communities receive full coverage from the water network. The rest suffer interruptions in supply that can last from a few hours to several weeks or even months.

In the Gaza Strip, while the vast majority of the population are connected to the water network, there is an enormous problem with water quality. A shocking 90% of water supplied to Gazans does not meet World Health Organization drinking water standards. This is due to the degradation of the Gaza Aquifer, the sole source of drinking water for Gaza’s population, which quite simply does not contain sufficient water to satisfy the demands of Gaza’s swollen population, over 70% of whom are registered refugees. The level of the aquifer is dropping, year by year, and salt water from the adjacent Mediterranean Sea is seeping in, threatening to render the entire aquifer unusable if no measures are taken to reverse the situation. Interruptions in water supply for Gaza’s residents come as a result of Israeli military operations and restrictions in the entry of goods into Gaza, that damage water infrastructure, or that interfere with the supply of electricity to power wells and pumping stations.

In normal years, as the furnace-hot Middle Eastern summer wears on, interruptions in water supply for Palestinians become more and more frequent, as natural water reserves run low and pressure in the water network drops. The Israeli authorities, who control a large proportion of key water pipelines in the West Bank, close valves to Palestinian villages in order to ensure that the supply to Israeli settlements, supplied via the same network, remains constant . Military operations in Gaza smash water infrastructure and close down power stations, halting water supply to tens of thousands of people. Rainwater, captured during the winter and stored in cisterns against just such emergencies begins to dwindle, and Palestinians wait, gasping, for the first rain since spring to fall on the parched land, restoring the level of underground aquifers, lakes, rivers and cisterns, turning the austerely barren hillsides green once more.

Palestinians wait, but on the other side of the Wall, in Israel and in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, it is another story. Sprinklers play over green lawns, flowers bloom in well-kept gardens, ch

This picture shows two loops of my solar hot water system. The cost goes into paying a good plumber who knows how it all works to put together. It takes several days including running it up to the roof. The roof run was easy in my case.

The first loop is the circulation loop from the roof through the pump (center) and into a heat exchange coil in the storage tank on the right. This loop returns to the roof through the meter/pump and heads back to the roof collector. This loop contains (non-poisonous) anti-freeze (not Ethylene glycol which is the stuff in car radiator fluid).

The second loop is the domestic water. It comes out of the storage tank (upper right) and goes into (black insulated pipe) going into the domestic hot water tank, (bottom left).

The circulation loop includes a bypass "vacation" loop. You throw the value (center, above the pump/meter), and the water from the roof circulates through 10' or so of baseboard radiator (hidden through the wall and under the stairs). The system keeps working in the best heat of the summer while your on vacation which prevents the coolant from being cooked. Meanwhile, the system keeps trying to get the heat into the storage tank. Since in the spring I've seen the tank get above 120 several sunny days including once to 150 F, I'm sure the system will be able to put plenty of heat in the tank even while losing lots through the radiator. When your not on vacation, the idea is that you use hot water which will keep the system circulating.

Water is essential for all aspects of life. Managing water is a challenging task, particularly in shared water basins that host more than half of the worlds population. This book explores threats and opportunities through the presentation of case studies that analyze the multi-faceted and dynamic nature of the interplay between domestic and international water security. A range of past, on-going and emerging international water disputes from the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe are examined. Well-known cases are revisited from new perspectives while new approaches are suggested as analytical frameworks and practical tools for understanding and coping with emerging security threats.