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Businessmen Hope
To Purify Israeli Water
KIMBERLY LIFTON
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ntrepreneur Geoff
Orley of Bloomfield
Hills and engineer
Hadas Levin of Israel think
they have found an in-
novative, environmentally
sound method of purifying
Israel's water.
Mr. Orley and Mr. Levin,
self-professed environmen-
talists committed to Israel,
own the rights in Israel to a
new wastewater treatment
process called Lemna, in
which natural duckweed
(Lemna) transforms waste to
clean water by absorbing
pollutants from sewage.
Through this process, they
are convinced they can begin
to clean up Israel's waters at
far less cost than traditional
treatment methods.
They hope to use natural
ponds to treat Israel's
municipal sewage, which is
overflowing and con-
taminating underground
drinking water supplies and
Israel's sea water.
If the contaminated water
continues to seep through
canals to the sea, they fear it
could destroy coral reefs, sea
life, fish and other animals.
Meanwhile, Israel's water
commissioner and health
and environmental au-
thorities have been trying to
find ways to reuse con-
taminated water, to prevent
it from further damaging the
environment.
Mr. Levin, a Chicago na-
tive who made aliyah 15
years ago, says Israel uses so
much untreated sewer water
that it could hinder its No. 1
export — fruits and
vegetables. There is a shor-
tage of water, he says, for
consumption and agriculture.
Seventy percent of the coun-
try's water is used for
agriculture.
Mr. Orley, 40, and Mr.
Levin, 37, first started talk-
ing about Israel's water
crisis after each met
separately with American
Israel Chamber of Com-
merce of Michigan Ex-
ecutive Director Shelly
Jackier.
Mr. Orley told her he
wanted to do business in
Israel. Mr. Levin, whose wife
is originally from
metropolitan Detroit, knew
Mrs. Jackier and had been
talking with her about the
Lemna process.
She introduced them.
Today Mr. Orley and Mr.
Levin are partners in a new
business called Lem Tee As-
sociates, formed to advance a
biological wastewater
treatment system designed
by engineer Viet Ngo.
Mr. Ngo developed the
Lemna system, which was
patented in 1985 and ap-
proved by the U.S. Envi-
ronmental Protection Agen-
cy last year. Instead of
building wastewater treat-
ment plants that use
chemicals to purify the
water, Mr. Ngo preferred
water parks that use
duckweed, a floating water
plant the size of a thumbtack
that grows naturally in fresh
waters throughout the
world.
Through his studies, Mr.
Ngo discovered that
duckweed — Lemna in Latin
— filters out and absorbs
pollutants from dissolved
The duckweed
plant (Lemna) could
revolutionize
wastewater
treatment.
sewage. It changes liquified,
diluted waste back to clean
water.
The cost is estimated to be
half that of traditional
wastewater treatment. For
example, the test treatment
pond they hope to develop in
Israel is estimated to cost
$500,000. A standard
wastewater treatment facili-
ty could not be built for less
than $1 million, they say.
"There's a market for it in
Israel," Mr. Orley says.
"Israel needs to expand its
opportunities.
"This is a natural alter-
native to the chemical
wastewater treatment pro-
cess," Mr. Orley says. "And
there is no byproduct called
sludge. When the Lemna
process is completed, you
end up with a dried compost
that can be reused for feed."
The Lemna system has
been installed in several
locations in the United
States, including North
Dakota, Mississippi,
Georgia, Wisconsin,
Nebraska, Louisiana,
Florida and Virginia. It is
also being tested in Italy.
Meanwhile, Kibbutz Yod-
fat in Carmiel has offered
Lem Tec Associates a
7.5-acre parcel of land to
pilot the process in Israel.