Kfar Saba Biofilter

ID

  • Area-

    center
  • Municipality-

    Kfar Saba Municipal Council
  • Schedule-

    The project started in 2010 and concluded in 2011
  • Accessibility-

    The biofilter is located in a park where all trails are accessible
  • Donors-

    The project was realized with the help of KKL-JNF Friends in Australia

Israel's first biofilter was installed in the northern edge of Kfar Saba, in an area provided by the city's municipal council, near a new neighborhood located alongside the historical orchards that are mostly gone today.

At the edge of the area is the drainage pipe for rainwater collected from a third of Kfar Saba's urban area. This pipe supplies the biofilter with water – between 4,000 and 7,000 squared meters. These water are checked upon their entrance to the system for their structure and the amount of waste they contain before they are brought to a water collection pool of a few dozens of squared meters, where they flow through patches of growth, "waste eating" bacteria and sand to a network of punctured pipes.

Another monitoring system checks the quality of the purified water, and allows their return to the ground water, using a few inactive wells in the area. Unused water are sent to the Ra'anana River, north of the facility.
The biofilter system is only active when rainwater are collected from the streets. When it is inactive, it is used for dialysis of the inactive wells. A pressure pipe transfers water straight from the wells to the biofilter, where they are cleaned and purified before they are returned.

The Kfar Biofilter. Photograph: Yoav Sfahi