Basically, what happened was...I bit down into one of my Tunisian Deglet Noor Dates during an Iftar or Suhur for Ramadan and I tasted sewage...or at least it tasted the way sewage smells, because I don't know that I have ever tasted sewage before.
There are many countries that have been experiencing shortages of water and droughts for many years now in the Islamic World. However, the resources in the Islamic World are not paltry. With mega developments taking place in some of our wealthier muslim countries the resources do exist: to create the best Desalinization Facilities that money can buy, which would optimize volume and capacities and minimize to completely remove salt content in Salt Water, that would, otherwise, be very damaging to soils; and to create the best Waste Water Reclamation Facilities that would exceed American and European Standards for waste water treatment intended for consumption.
I think that leaders in Islam that take the helms of leadership for the greater community of Al-Islam have a duty to say and do what is in the best interests of the greater community and followers of Al-Islam. How unrealistic is it for North African countries that are date producers and producers of other edible crops to go to our wealthier Arab countries and say, "Here dear respected brothers we see the need to build 30 to 50 of the best that the world knows of Desalinization and Waste Water Reclamation Facilities along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea so that we can produce Halal, Tayyib and Kosher crops. We desire to employ, for the purpose, the best engineers and scientists from the US or Europe or Japan to assist in our designs of these facilities...the salt can be purified and packaged as table sea salt for exports...etc."
About 2 years ago, I worked bitterly for about 10 months to get our All Natural Botanical USA Muslim Manufactured Soaps into an Organic Grocery Chain in United Arab Emirates. I was met with flurry after flurry of technical, specification, and certification requirements to comply with UAE government standards that had been recently put in place, only to not get the sale.
I must have walked 5 miles, while fasting, to return those Tunisian dates grown w/sewage water only for the man to tell me not to patronize his store again. He tells me there's nothing wrong w/the dates. I said there grown w/sewage. He said their halal & kosher. I quoted ayats of Quran against using sewage water. He said I should have known they were low quality by the price. Went on 15 minutes. The multi-million $ effort in Texas to convert waste water to drinking water will supposedly get the water just below distilled water in quality. I hope that North African Muslim Countries are able to get the quality of their reclaimed water as high or higher. May Allah accept it.
[25:48]
And He it is Who sends the winds as heralds of glad tidings, going before His mercy, and We send down pure water from the sky,-
[25:49]
That with it We may give life to a dead land, and slake the thirst of things We have created,- cattle and men in great numbers.
[25:50]
And We have distributed the (water) amongst them, in order that they may celebrate (our) praises, but most men are averse (to aught) but (rank) ingratitude.
I think it is needless to say that I would contact the US Government about Dates that taste like sewage and ask them not to allow food like that to enter our country.
[Sample letter of Disagreement]
I would like to report a problem to the FDA about food products coming into America from North Africa, particularly Tunisia.
I recently purchased Tunisian Deglet Noor Dates by the label Golden, Imported and Distributed by International Golden Foods, Inc. Bensenville, IL 60106 phone 1-800-343-7423. The product was certified as Halal and Kosher. A related website is at www.tunisiandate.com. I purchased the product to be used in observance of our Holy month of Ramadan, which we are still observing, and I noticed that when I bit into one of the dates (I hadn't noticed with the 1st 7 dates that I sampled) that it tasted like sewage. I did a little research because I recalled that some of the countries in North Africa like Egypt and a few others will use sewage water of human waste to fertilize their crops. Of course, I smacked my forehead in an aww man, that I had this lapse of memory after I made the purchase, but, I thought the real issue was that it got here in the first place. I think that perhaps North African standards on waste water treatment may be far below that of American standards...for example the waste water treatment that will be taking place in Texas, due to the drought, a multi-million dollar further treatment system of the already highly treated waste water will be built to turn that once waste water into drinkable water. What I am saying is that I believe that the standards in North Africa, particularly Tunisia may be far below the standards set here in America for acceptable for consumption...I mean literally when I can taste it...and say to myself these dates seem as though they have been grown with waste water then they are not up to par. I have included a pdf on Tunisian "reclamation" of water reporting some stats on what they have been doing and, in fact, they are using waste water using the terminology "reclaimed water" for growing crops, as my taste buds informed me. I don't think that these products should enter our country. I have had dates from Algeria and I do not recall this problem, however, they may or may not be reclaiming waters in Algeria and they may or may not have sub-standard waster water treatment...but, what I can say is that the dates coming out of Tunisia need not be either on our Islamic Grocery shelves. I think maybe we need a watch for crops under these practices coming out of North Africa. I think that the Islamic Grocers would be better informed to go with the California Dates Growers Association of Bard Valley and the high quality organic dates that are produced on American standards.
In addition, the Tunisian dates were certified Halal and Kosher, and does this violate our certifying standards for Halal and Kosher that crops grown with human waste as fertilizer should claim to be Halal or Kosher? That seems conceptually contradictory.
Thank you for the few moments of your time,
Muhakeem Abdullah
Below is an excerpt from a report by
AkissaBahri.pdf on Tunisia and their efforts to reclaim sewage water for use in edible crop cultivations.
[pg 1] Serge Marlet et Pierre Ruelle (éditeurs scientifiques), 2002. Vers une maîtrise des impacts environnementaux de l’irrigation. Actes de l’atelier du PCSI, 28-29 mai 2002, Montpellier, France. CEMAGREF, CIRAD, IRD, Cédérom du CIRAD.
Water reuse in Tunisia: stakes and prospects
Akissa BAHRI*
* National Institute for Research on Agricultural Engineering, Water and Forestry, BP 10, Ariana 2080, Tunisia
Abstract
Water reuse in Tunisia: Stakes and prospects. In the arid and semi-arid region, countries like Tunisia are facing increasingly serious water shortage problems. According to forecasts, increased domestic and industrial water consumption by the year 2020 may cause a decrease in the volume of fresh water available for Tunisian agriculture. It is therefore important to develop additional water resources as well as protect the existing ones. One way to cope with these problems is to reuse wastewater in agriculture. Therefore and before launching the water reuse policy, a research program was undertaken at the beginning of the 1980s. The objectives of the work were to characterize wastewater chemical and biological composition, to establish impacts of wastewater application on the water-soil-plant system, and to evaluate the long-term changes in soil properties connected to irrigation practices. The results showed the feasibility of water reuse provided that some precautions are taken. A national reuse policy has thus been elaborated and implemented, and water reuse was made an essential component of the Tunisian national water resources strategy. Reuse is up to now mainly practiced for crop irrigation and irrigation of recreational facilities, such as golf courses. Other reuse opportunities such as groundwater recharge are screened. In this paper, the water reuse achievements are presented. This is done by reviewing the last decades' research results and the overall reuse framework. Stakes and prospects are also presented.
[pg 2] Introduction
In the arid and semi-arid region, countries such as Tunisia are facing increasingly more serious water shortage problems. Problems of water scarcity will intensify because of population growth, rise in living standards, and accelerated urbanization which threaten the water supply in general and agriculture in particular and lead to both an increase in water consumption and pollution of water resources. Continuing increase in demand by the urban sector has led to increased utilization of fresh water for domestic purposes, on the one hand, and production of greater volumes of wastewater, on the other. Agriculture in competition with other sectors will face increasing problems of water quantity and quality considering increasingly limited conventional water resources and growing future requirements and a decrease in the volume of fresh water available for agriculture. Around the cities of the region, competition with other sectors often makes water the main factor that limits agricultural development. Policy makers have then been compelled to develop additional water resources as well as to preserve the existing ones. Reclaiming water is among various measures designed to encourage integrated and efficient management and water use was therefore made an important component of the national water resources strategy. To strengthen the development and utilization of reclaimed water, research work was carried out. The main research results related to the agricultural use of reclaimed water are presented in this paper as well as the overall water reuse framework.
Water resources and wastewater characteristics
General
Tunisia extends from the Mediterranean coast in the North to the Sahara desert in the South and its total surface area is 164 150 km2. The Tunisian coastline extends over 1300 km. Average annual rainfall is around 594 mm in the North, 289 mm in the Centre, and 156 mm in the South. The annual precipitation in Tunisia is on average equal to 37 billion m3. The annual evaporation varies between 1300 mm in the north to about 2500 mm in the south. The water resources are about 4.7 billion m3 of which 2.7 billion m3 are from surface water and 2 billion m3 from groundwater. The volume of water brought on-line during the terms of the Eighth Economic, Social, and Development Plan (1997) was about 3100 million m3 (Mm3), i.e., 66% of the potential water resources, from large dams, hillside-dams, open shallow wells, deep tubewells, and springs. The country's five-year development plans emphasize water reuse and water harvesting. Reclaimed water is now a part of Tunisia's overall water resources balance (Table I) (Bahri, 1998b). It is actually considered as an additional water resource and as a potential source of fertilizing elements (UNDP, 1987a). Water reuse has been made an integral part of overall environmental pollution control and water management strategy. It is also considered as a complementary treatment stage and consequently, as a way of protecting coastal areas, water resources, and sensitive receiving bodies.
2 Vers une maîtrise des impacts environnementaux de l’irrigation
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The fact is that Allah (swt) says at Holy Quran 16:10-11, "It is He who sends down rain from the sky: from it ye drink, and out of it (grows) the vegetation on which ye feed your cattle.
With it He produces for you corn, olives, date-palms, grapes and every kind of fruit: verily in this is a sign for those who give thought."
At Surah 17:35, "Give full measure when ye measure, and weigh with a balance that is straight: that is the most fitting and the most advantageous in the final determination."
At Surah 7:85, "To the Madyan people We sent Shu’aib, one of their own brethren: he said: "O my people! worship God; Ye have no other god but Him. Now hath come unto you a clear (Sign) from your Lord! Give just measure and weight, nor withhold from the people the things that are their due; and do no mischief on the earth after it has been set in order: that will be best for you, if ye have Faith."
Other factors are considered like what is the optimum land yield for a particular country and are they trying to exceed it by cultivating with sewage. In addition, there are many countries that will conduct large scale cultivation of organic cocoa, sugar, etc., in places, with rich soil and a plentiful supply of fresh waters, like Africa, Brazil (and other tropical countries) for import back into their own countries. So what they are doing is countries are growing crops in Brazil by leasing out land and then exporting it back to their own countries. Not to mention, trade with muslim countries that have arable tropical lands with a plentiful supply of fresh waters with which to water their crops. Also, the diligent amongst the Judaic communities, in terms of Kosher certifications, would consider Sabbath Days and Sabbath Years in their cultivation practices. People who factor in Sabbath Days and Sabbath Years enjoy a unique relationship with Allah (swt) because of allowing the land to rest.
Important Excerpts from the book:
The Reliance of the Traveller of Ahmad Ibn Naqib Al Misri and translated by Noah Ha Mim Keller
e1.0 Water
e1.1 Water is of various types:
- Purifying
- Pure
- and Impure
e1.2 Purifying means it is pure in itself and it purifies other things.
(O: Purification (Ar. tahara) in Sacred Law is lifting a state of ritual impurity (hadath, def: e7), removing a filth (najasa, e14), or matters similar to these these, such as purificatory baths (ghusl) that are merely sunna or renewing ablution (wudu) when there has been no intervening ritual impurity.)
e1.3 Pure means it is pure in itself but cannot purify other things (O: such as water that has already been used to lift a state of ritual impurity).
e1.4 Impure means it is neither purifying nor pure. (O: Namely:
- less than 216 liters of water (qullatayn) which is contaminated by filth (najasa), even when none of the water's characteristics (n: i.e. taste, color, or odor) have changed.
- or 216 liters or more of water when one of its characteristics of taste, color, or odor have changed (n: through the effect of the filth. As for the purity of water that has been used to wash away filth, it is discussed below at e14.14).)
e1.5 It is not permissable (O: or valid) to lift a state of ritual impurity or remove filth except with plain water (O: not used water (def: (2) below), or something other than water like vinegar or milk), meaning purifying water as it comes form nature, no matter what quality it may have (O: of taste, such as being fresh or saline (N: including seawater); of color, such as being white, black or red; or of odor, such as having a pleasant smell).
e1.7 Is is not permissible to purify with (def: e1.2(O:)) with:
- water that has been changed so much that it is no longer termed water through admixture with something pure like flour or saffron which could have been avoided:
- less then 216 liters of water that has already been for the obligation (dis:c2.1(A):), end) of lifting a state of ritual impurity, even if only that of a child;
- or less than 216 liters of water that has been used to remove filth, even if this resulted in no change in the water.
Temporarily Stopping Here and Will Be Adding More Excerpts Along the Course of Today and if necessary coming days. That touches on it so far. But there are more considerations in coming excerpts. Wanted to come back to this older blog post and update it.
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