Consultation Workshop on “Egypt Joint Wastewater & Water Reuse Strategy 2030”, for the ReWater Project – 3rd National Learning Alliance Group to Discuss the Proposed Local and National Targets of Egypt’s Wastewater Reuse Strategy 2030, October, 14th 2020
The ReWater MENA project aims to reuse water safely by developing Joint National Water Reuse Strategy 2030. The project, funded by SIDA, led by the International Institute for Water Management (IWMI), is being implemented by the Center for Environment and Development for the Arab Region and Europe (CEDARE) in collaboration with the International Center for Agricultural Research in dry areas (ICARDA) and other national stakeholders in Egypt.
The Centre for Environment and Development for the Arab Region and Europe (CEDARE) in cooperation with Lisode using the video conference technology have organized the 3rd NLA workshop to discuss the local, national and proposed targets for the Joint National Water Reuse Strategy 2030 on October, 14th 2020, prepared by CEDARE under the ReWater project in Egypt, that is funded by the Swedish Agency for International Development (SIDA), and under the leadership of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and other partners in this field.
Dr. Khaled AbuZeid, Regional Director of Water Resources, CEDARE, has inaugurated the workshop by welcoming participants, and he mentioned that in order to prepare a national future strategy for water reuse, we need adequate information on the current situation to prepare the baseline and references through which a vision of future prospects and agreement on setting national and local targets to develop the joint strategy for Egypt 2030. This is a key step in the preparation of Egypt’s Joint National Water Reuse Strategy 2030, which represents the final ReWater Project output.
In addition, Dr. AbuZeid stated that as part of the baseline and the ability to develop the 2030 Water Reuse Strategy, it is important to know the government’s current plans and targets for that future to fit or modify these plans to include reuse plans. There were current plans to increase sewage collection services and treatment capacity for the current population, and future generations expected in the next 10 years, which must be taken into account.
Dr. AbuZeid stressed on the importance of identifying the current agricultural expansion plans and their locations to assess their proximity to potential treated water resources.
Dr. Amgad El-Mahdi, Head of the Middle East and North Africa Office of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), also welcomed participants at the opening of the workshop. He noted the importance of developing the desired strategy under the ReWater project.
Dr. Khaled AbuZeid then presented the local and national targets and the proposed targets of the joint wastewater reuse strategy in Egypt for 2030 and explained all the proposed targets.
Eng. Mona ElAgizy also gave a presentation on the questionnaire that was raised before the workshop on national targets, local targets and the results of this questionnaire, and then the participants were divided into working groups to explain the targets and express their opinions, which contributed a lot to the success of the workshop and get the desired results.
Participants then opened the discussion and expressed the importance of such a questionnaire to prepare the national and local targets of a joint strategy on water reuse for 2030, and the focus should also be on developing key strategic policies and projects that could serve as an experience to ensure economic development, environment and health sustainability, as well as financial sustainability and to be able to draw the opinions of many of the experts participating in the workshop.
In the closure, Dr. Amgad and Dr. Khaled AbuZeid expressed their appreciation for the comments of the participants and agreed to finish the questionnaire in the next few days, and prepare the national and local proposed targets for the joint strategy for 2030, and these targets will be scrutinized in the workshop next December.
