Series of training workshops on reusing treated wastewater launched

AMMAN — IWMI ReWater MENA Project and ACWUA launched a series of training workshops on reuse of treated wastewater. 

The ReWater MENA Project: More and Safer Water Reuse in the Middle East and North Africa, implemented by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), in cooperation with the Arab Countries Water Utilities Association (ACWUA) are organising a training workshop, in the framework of a series of regional training workshops under the title “Safe Use of Wastewater”.

The workshops series will be held from March 14- 21, 2021 at the Marriott Hotel in Amman, according to a statement from organisers.

The objective of this training workshop is to build the capacities of experts and different stakeholders involved in reuse of wastewater from Jordan, building on four training modules.

The modules include: Stakeholders’ acceptance and gender integration in reuse interventions, assessing the Economic Feasibility for Integrated Wastewater Reuse (WWR) Projects: From Formulation to Reporting, Governance and Reuse Safety Plans, and Water Reuse Technologies.

The participants in this training workshop were diversified from representatives from the governmental sector — notably Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Water and Irrigation, Water Authority of Jordan, University of Jordan, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Environment, Jordan Food and Drug Administration, National Agriculture Reseach Centre, Jordan Standards and Metrology Organisation, Jordan Valley Authority),  civil society organisations, UNICEF , Water Users Associations and the project partner in Jordan which is Royal Scientific Society (RSS). 

The training was attended by donor: The Sweden's International Development Agency (SIDA) and the Regional Project Manager from IWMI MENA Office in Cairo, said the statement.

The training started by an opening words by Secretary-General of the ACWUA Khaldon Khashman, who highlighted the importance of the areas covered by the training course, being developed for the first time in the Arab region.

He said that the Arab region lacks wastewater reuse safety plans that deal starting from the water coming out of homes through the water collection and purification system, throughout its safe use till the impact on water users.

This was followed by a presentation given by ReWater MENA Project Manager Nisreen Lahham, where she mentioned the project's regional goals and its main activities, highlighting the importance of this series of training courses and its role in building the stakeholders' capacities, in addition to raising their awareness about applying the safe and sustainable use of wastewater.

It should be noted that the “ReWater MENA Project” is a regional project funded by (SIDA) and implemented by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), in three countries in the region, namely Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon, in cooperation with partners at the regional level: the ACWUA, the Arab Water Council, the Centre for Environment & Development for the Arab Region (CEDARI).

It is also funded and implemented by international partners: The Food and Agriculture OrganiSation (FAO), local partners: the Royal Scientific Society in Jordan, the Agricultural Research Institute in Lebanon, and the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) in Egypt.

ReWater MENA project aims to expand the safe use of wastewater in the MENA region, through defining the obstacles in this field and building on the available opportunities and success stories It targets training 400 trainees in the project implementation countries, namely Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon through face to face and virtual training workshops.