71745 WATER REUSE IN THE ARAB WORLD F R O M P R IN CIP L E T O P R ACT ICE Voices from the Field A Summary of Proceedings Expert Consultation Wastewater Management in the Arab World 22–24 May 2011 Dubai-UAE WATER REUSE IN THE ARAB WORLD F R O M P R IN CIP L E T O P R ACT ICE Voices from the Field A Summary of Proceedings Expert Consultation Wastewater Management in the Arab World 22–24 May 2011 Dubai-UAE ii  W AT E R R E U S E I N T H E A R A B W O R L D : F R O M P R I N C I P L E T O P R A C T I C E ACRONYMS AWC Arab Water Council BCM Billion cubic meters BOOT Build-Own-Operate Transfer BOT Build-Operate-Transfer CA Concession agreement CEDARE Center for Environment and Development for the Arab Region and Europe CSP Concentrated solar power EPC Engineering, procurement and construction FAO Food and Agriculture Organization GCC Gulf Cooperation Council GDP Gross Domestic Product GIS Geographic Information Systems ICBA International Center for Biosaline Agriculture ICT Information and Communication technology INRGREF National Institute of Research for Rural Engineering, Water and Forestry IWRM Integrated Water Resource Management Km Kilometer LAS League of Arab States MBR Membrane bioreactor MCM Million cubic meters MDGs Millennium Development Goals MENA Middle East and North Africa NRW Non-revenue Water PPP Public private partnerships SBR Sequencing bioreactor SPV Special purpose vehicle TSE Treated sewage effluent UAE United Arab Emirates UF Ultra filter UN United Nations UNCCD United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification UNDP United Nations Development Program UNEP United Nations Environment Program UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization WHO World Health Organization WWTP Wastewater Treatment Plant Voices from the Field iii iv  W AT E R R E U S E I N T H E A R A B W O R L D : F R O M P R I N C I P L E T O P R A C T I C E Contents Foreword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi Current status of water in the Arab world.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Water issues in Arab countries.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Key Messages from Arab Experts—Moving Forward with Sustainable Reuse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 High cost of wastewater treatment and conveyance infrastructure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Basic economic considerations of water reuse.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Insufficiency of economic analysis on wastewater treatment infrastructure projects. . . . . . . . . . . 8 Technical and social issues affecting the demand for reclaimed water. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Low pricing of irrigation water that does not adequately reflect its cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Difficulty in creating financial incentives allowing safe and efficient reuse.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Infrastructure investments enabling sustainable reuse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Case Study 1: Tunisia: Expansion of Pipe Infrastructure and Storage Capacity.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Case Study 2: Jordan: As Samra Wastewater Treatment Plant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Case Study 3: Oman: Implementing High-Tech Solutions for Water reuse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Partnerships with Civil Society and the Private Sector. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Researching the Possibilities of Water reuse for Agriculture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Key Messages from Arab Experts.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Benefits of reuse in agriculture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Case Study 1: Egypt: Reuse of Wastewater for Agriculture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Case Study 2: Tunisia: Water reuse for Agriculture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Case Study 3: Jordan: Water reuse in the Jordan Valley. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Case Study 4: Algeria: Health Regulations and Monitoring of Water reuse for Irrigation. . . . . 20 Case Study 5: Egypt: Wastewater Irrigation to Combat Desertification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Case Study 6: Tunisia: Wastewater Irrigation of Tourism Infrastructure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Case Study 7: United Arab Emirates: Abu Dhabi Municipal Water reuse for Agriculture.. . . . . 23 Key Messages from Arab Experts.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Sustainable cost recovery models to sustain water reuse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Case Study 1: Oman: Muscat and Haya Water. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Case Study 2: Saudi Arabia: Engaging the Private Sector to Implement the Treated Sewage Effluent Initiative. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Case Study 3: Jordan: Micro-Private Sector Participation in Water reuse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Voices from the Field v Select MENA Country Experiences with Forming a Concession. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Case Study 1: Oman and Haya Water. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Case Study 2: Algeria: Differential Pricing for Sanitation Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Case Study 3: Morocco: Joint Public-Private Financing of Water reuse Infrastructure. . . . . . . . 29 Key Messages from Arab Experts.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Elements of a successful national water reuse strategy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Case Study 1: Morocco. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Case Study 2: Saudi Arabia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Case Study 3: Jordan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Key Messages from Arab Experts.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Moving from Principle to Practice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 vi  W AT E R R E U S E I N T H E A R A B W O R L D : F R O M P R I N C I P L E T O P R A C T I C E Sidebars Box 1: The Potential of Renewable Energy Desalination to Close the MENA Region’s Water Gap. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Box 2: Water Reuse Terminology.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Box 3: WHO Guidelines for the Safe Use of Wastewater, Excreta and Greywater. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Box 4: Industrial Wastewater Management in Tunisia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Box 5: Major Urban Sanitation Improvement in Post-Conflict Iraq. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Box 6: Centralized or Decentralized? The Benefits of Decentralized Wastewater Management in Rural and Peri-Urban Environments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Box 7: Experience from Outside the Region: Singapore’s Success in Water reuse Regulation. . . . . . . 23 Box 8: Infrastructural Improvements to Make Water reuse a National Priority: Experience from Kuwait. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Box 9: The United Nations Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation (UNSGAB). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Box 10: Natural Wastewater Treatment in Aqaba. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Disclaimer: The figures and information in this report are provided by the client countries, and the World Bank neither expresses any opinion nor assumes any responsibility for the content of the report. Voices from the Field vii viii  W AT E R R E U S E I N T H E A R A B W O R L D : F R O M P R I N C I P L E T O P R A C T I C E Foreword A rab nations have historically played a lead role in the development of innovative water solutions with noteworthy achievements including in Arab countries, the Consultation provided a platform for dialogue among Arab water experts on priorities and synergies for advancing water global leadership in desalination, dam infrastruc- reuse management in the Arab region. ture and drip irrigation. Nonetheless, the chal- This report thus: (i) summarizes principal lenge of optimizing water management remains messages and priorities on water reuse as com- an important priority across the Arab world. municated by Arab water experts in papers and Until recently, planned wastewater manage- presentations prepared for the Consultation (pro- ment in the Arab region focused on the con- vided in the CD attached) and (ii) provides an ventional objectives of protecting public health overview of the current status and future potential and the environment. Pervasive water scarcity, of water reuse across the Arab region, as described urbanization and the increasingly obvious impacts by local experts and institutions. of climate change however led to a shift in local Far from being an exhaustive treaty of the perceptions of the importance of properly captur- complex subject of water reuse, this short report ing and using reclaimed water. was compiled—in partnership with the World Today, water reuse is regarded by most Arab Bank—in an effort to distill, summarize and nations to have great potential in significantly convey the Arab experience with water reuse increasing available water resources. Arab states to date, as described by local practitioners. The currently produce an estimated 10.8 km3/year report is thus structured around the following of wastewater, of which approximately 55% six common topics and will hopefully inform the and 15% are reported to be respectively treated many active discussions across the Arab world and reused in agriculture, landscape irrigation, on how to move from principle to practice in industrial cooling and environmental protection. water reuse: In some countries, water reuse in groundwater • Current status of water in the Arab world; recharge is further used to protect freshwater. In May 2011, the Arab Water Council, Interna- • Basic economic considerations of water reuse; tional Center for Biosaline Agriculture and Islamic • Infrastructure investments to enable Development Bank convened the “Expert Con- sustainable reuse; sultation Meeting on Wastewater Management • Benefits of reuse in agriculture; in the Arab World�. The objective of the meeting was to better quantify the status and lessons • Sustainable cost recovery models and learned on water reuse in the Arab world. Guided • Elements of a successful national water reuse by the mission to maximize the economic, social strategy. and environmental benefits from water reuse Dr. Safwat Abdel-Dayem Dr. Faisal Taha Secretary General Director of Technical Programs Arab Water Council, Egypt International Center for Biosaline Agriculture, UAE Dr. Redouane Choukr-Allah Head of Salinity and Plant Nutrition Lab IAV Hassan II, Morocco Voices from the Field ix x  W AT E R R E U S E I N T H E A R A B W O R L D : F R O M P R I N C I P L E T O P R A C T I C E Acknowledgments T his report was prepared by a team comprising Dr. Safwat Abdel-Dayem (Secretary General, Arab Water Council), Dr. Faisal Taha (Director Officer, Oman Wastewater Services Company— Haya Water); from Saudi Arabia, Nasser Ben Hussein El-Aamry (Senior Manager of Business of Technical Programs, International Center for Development, National Water Company) and Biosaline Agriculture), Dr. Redouane Choukr- Majed Ben Ahmed El-Roweli (Engineer, Ministry Allah (Head of Salinity and Plant Nutrition Lab of Water and Electricity); from Tunisia, Monia at IAV Hassan II in Morocco), Ms. Claire A. Trad Rais (Water Expert, Ministry of Agriculture Kfouri (Senior Water and Sanitation Specialist at and Environment); and from the United Arab the World Bank), Mr. Christophe Chung (Water Emirates, Mohammed Al-Mulla (Director of and Sanitation Consultant at the World Bank), Water Resources Department, Ministry of Envi- and Ms. Dalia Al Saiid (Arab Water Council). ronment and Water), Mohamed Abdel-Aziz El- The team wishes to thank the following indi- Awadi (Director of Wastewater Treatment Plant, viduals who participated in the Expert Consul- Dubai), Khaled Maeein El-Hosni (Director of tation Meeting and further contributed to the Public Health and Environment, Ajman) and content of this report: From Algeria, Hassina Yasser Omar Kayed (Research and Environmental Hammouche (Chief of Office and Chief Engineer, Planning Expert, Ajman). Ministry of Water Resources); from Egypt, Rifaat Content of this report was further enriched Abdel Wahaab (General Director, Research and by contributions from Jamie Bartram and Joe Development Department of the Holding Com- Lobuglio (The Water Institute at the University of pany for Water and Wastewater) and Mohy El-Din North Carolina), Bekele Debele Negewo (Senior Mohamed Omar (Irrigation Engineer, Ministry Water and Sanitation Specialist, The World Bank); of Water Resources and Irrigation); from Iraq, Marc Jeuland (Assistant Professor of Public Abdel-Gabar Khalaf Fansh (Water Expert, National Policy, Duke University), Yordan Uzunov (Board Centre for Water Resources Management of the Member, United Nations Secretary General’s Ministry of Water Resources); from Jordan, Salah Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation); and Al-Momani (Wastewater Network Maintenance Wah Yuen Long (Director, Public Utility Bureau, Engineer, Jordan Water Company—Mihayuna); Singapore). from Kuwait, Adel Hashem Mahmoud Al-Safaar Finally, this report would not have been pos- (Section Head, Sulaibiya Wastewater Treatment sible without peer reviews from World Bank Plant) and Abdel-Allah Youssef Abdel-Allah Al specialists, who include Francis Ato Brown Anzi (Electrical Engineer, Sulaibiya Wastewater (Sector Manager, Water, MENA), Julian A. Lampi- Treatment Plant); from Morocco, Mahgouba etti (Lead Program Coordinator, Agriculture and Borzeza (Head of Planning, Department of Envi- Rural Development, MENA), Parameswaran ronment of the National Office of Drinking Water) Iyer (Senior Water and Sanitation Specialist), and Mohamed Makhoakh (Head of Water Quality Susanne M. Scheierling (Senior Irrigation Water Section, Secretariat for Water and Environment); Economist) and Tracy Hart (Senior Environmental from Oman, Omar Al Wahaibi (Chief Executive Specialist). Voices from the Field xi xii  W AT E R R E U S E I N T H E A R A B W O R L D : F R O M P R I N C I P L E T O P R A C T I C E Current status of water in the Arab world Arab countries, which cover about 10% of the tural output (Arab Fund for Economic and Social area of the world, receive only 2% of the world’s Development, 2010). Irrigation efficiency is very average annual precipitation and contain as low however, at about 30% compared to a world little as 0.3% of the global annual renewable average of about 45% (El-Ashry et al, 2010). It water resources. Although the average annual is further widely recognized that the agricultural rainfall in the Arab region is about 250 mm, large sector only makes marginal contributions to areas of the region are very dry, with an annual national GDP’s2 across the region. rate of precipitation that does not exceed 5 mm. Demographic growth and economic and Consequently, by 2015, almost all Arab coun- social development across Arab countries have tries are predicted to be below the level of severe contributed considerably to significant increases water scarcity defined as less than 500 m3 per in water demand. (World Bank, 2007) producing capita per year; with nine countries below 200 around 10.85 billion m3/year of domestic waste- m3, and six below 100 m3 (El-Ashry et al, 2010). water (Table 1). Rapid urbanization3 across most By 2025, only Lebanon and Iraq are expected to Arab countries further challenges efforts to meet remain above the water scarcity level. Mauritania, increasing domestic water demands, especially Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan, Iraq, for those countries with scarce public funds. Lebanon and Syria further rely on river flows Approximately 83 million people in the supplemented by limited groundwater sources, Arab region do not currently have access to while many others depend mainly on shallow safe drinking water and about 96 million people and deep groundwater sources supplemented need access to sanitation services. Most of these by surface run off during floods (UNDP, 2009). people live in lower income countries or are Surface water resources in Arab countries riddled by war and conflict. It is estimated that are estimated to be about 224 billion m3/year the total financial cost of providing the water sup- of which 77% comes from outside the region. ply and sanitation services required to halve the Groundwater sources in the Arab region are quite proportion of the population without sustainable limited, not exceeding a total of 50 billion m3/year access to safe drinking water and sanitation by (ESCWA, 2007). Desalinated seawater is further the year 2015, would be about USD 100 billion the main source of drinking water across GCC and USD 62 billion, respectively (CEDARE and countries, due to limited groundwater availability AWC 2006). with the overall capacity of new and existing Average per capita domestic water consump- desalination facilities is more than 3.4 billion m3 tion in the Arab region is about 200 liters/day on average1 (World Bank, 2005). (compared to a reported 525 liters/day in the Agriculture is considered to be the top United States4), but varies significantly among consumer of water resources, with a share of the countries of the region. Domestic water about 85% of available water resources in Arab consumption in the Arab region escalated from countries. The major agricultural Arab countries, namely Egypt, Sudan Algeria, Morocco and Syria, 2 In Jordan the agricultural sector accounts for 75% of all water consumption and produces only 2% of the GDP contribute as much as 71% of total Arab agricul- 3 According to UN estimates, the total population of Arab countries is further expected to reach about 420 million by 2020 as opposed to 1 GCC countries are the main producer and consumer of desali- the 2008 Arab population, estimated at 343.8 million (AOADA 2009) nated water, with78% of overall capacity of desalination in the Arab with 55% located in urban areas. countries, with Saudi Arabia alone having about one-third of the 4 UNDP Human Development Report 2006: Beyond Scarcity: Power, world’s water desalination capacity. Poverty and the Global Water Crisis. Voices from the Field 1 Table 1  Total water withdrawal , raw wastewater and treated waster in the different Arab countries in 109 m3/year Total water Total wastewater Volume of Treated Volume of Treated withdrawal produced Wastewater Water reused Countries (109 m3/ year) (109 m3 year ) (109 m3/year) (109 m3/year Algeria 6,07 0,82 0.7** 0.051 Saudi Arabia 23,67 0,73 0,652* 0.166 Bahrain 0,3574 0,0449 0,076* 0.0163 Comores 0,3574 — — Djibouti 0,019 — 0 Egypt 68,3 3,76 2,971** 0.700 United Arab Emirates 3,998 0,5 0,454* 0.248 Iraq 66 0.575 0.098** 0.0055 Lybia 4,326 0,546 0,04*** 0.04 Jordan 0,941 0,117 0,111** 0.102 Kuweit 0,913 0,25 0,239* 0.078 Lebanon 1,31 0,31 0,004*** 0.002 Morocco 12,6 0,700 0,177** 0.080 Mauritania 1,7 — 0,0007*** 0.00035 Oman 1,321 0,098 0,037* 0.0023 Qatar 0,55 0,444 0,066* 0.043 Syria 16,7 1,37 0,550*** 0.550 Somalia 3,298 — 0 Sudan 37,32 — — West Bank & Gaza 0,418 0.05 0.03*** 0.00544 Tunisia 2,85 0,461 0,240** 0.068 Yemen 3,4 0,074 0,046*** 0.006 TOTAL 256,303 10,85 6,492 2.164 *GCC water statistics book, 2010, ** Dubai Expert meeting, ***FAO-AQUASTAT 2009 about 12,000 million m3 in 1995 (CEDARE and region is 10.85 km3/year; of which 6.49 km3 AWC 2004), to about 16,000 million m3 in 2002 are reported to undergo treatment. The annual (FAOSTAT 2008). This represents more than a volume of wastewater discharged in an untreated 30% increase in water consumption in less than form in the Arab countries is 4.36 km3, equivalent a decade, a trend expected to persist in the Arab to 40% of the total reported wastewater produced region in the future. Currently, domestic water in the region. consumption represents about 7% of the total water used in Arab countries. Domestic water Water issues in Arab countries consumption in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries however ranges from 300–750 In most Arab countries, the chronic imbalance liters/capita/day, some of the highest in the world. between available water supply and demand The total volume of wastewater generated is expected to increase in the future, unless by the domestic and industrial sectors in Arab major positive steps are taken to rationalize and 2  W AT E R R E U S E I N T H E A R A B W O R L D : F R O M P R I N C I P L E T O P R A C T I C E manage water demand, augment water supply, USD 28 billion in 2009 of which USD 16.3 and impose realistic controls on water use. The billion for grains6. supply-driven approach to water management has demonstrated its inability to deliver substantial Due to growing water stress, many govern- degree of water sustainability or security to the ments have been prompted to look for more water-stressed Arab countries to date. efficient uses of water resources, and to develop A major review and shift in water policies of interventions to narrow the gap between supply Arab countries, emphasizing conservation and and demand. Extended reuse of reclaimed waste- demand management is thus urgently needed, water is thus perceived to hold great potential with the overall objective of securing long-term to considerably reduce water scarcity especially water supplies while meeting strict criteria for when designed to be a part of an integrated water socio-economic, financial and environmental resources management approach. sustainability and public health requirements. Climate change induced water scarcity and Water issues in the Arab region can thus be environmental sustainability are some of the summarized in five major points, further dis- main drivers for augmenting supply through cussed below: treated water reuse. A number of Arab countries have recently enacted drought decrees and plans • More than half of surface water in Arab that foresee water use restrictions and alloca- countries originates from outside the region. tion of scarce water resources to drinking water These resources could be significantly affected supply, the most prioritized use. This opens the by prevailing and future political tensions and door for more effective implementation of water conflicts, which can threaten water security. reuse schemes. • A large proportion of groundwater in Arab The successful and efficient reuse of treated countries is non-renewable, and often used wastewater, particularly in agriculture will in an unplanned manner. depend on a multitude of strategies, which • Weak baseline water quality regulations and include increasing the reliability of reclaimed overall low capacity to regulate and enforce water as an alternative source to groundwater those regulations further exacerbates the in irrigation, improving public awareness and issue. Excessive use of chemical products in attitudes towards reclaimed water, setting national the agricultural sector5 and uncontrolled dis- public health and environmental standards for posal of domestic and industrial wastewater reuse, and implementing effective utilization plans pose a serious water resources management in terms of increasing crop value and groundwater challenge in Arab countries. conservation (Al-Zubari, 2001). Total reuse is estimated at 2.17 km3 per year. • Climate change serious threatens water secu- Egypt, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and rity in the Arab region. Saudi Arabia are the largest users, accounting • Food security is a serious issue: Arab for 75% of the Arab region in term of the total States import about half of food demand domestic water reuse. Irrigation for landscaping and are the main world importers of cereals. and golf courses is also increasing in the GCC In the Middle East and North Africa, Algeria, and North African countries. However, several Egypt, and Morocco are among the top 10 constraints including economic, institutional, countries importing grains although they are health and environmental problems restrict the among the main grain producers. Net cost of sustainable and safe reuse of wastewater. This will food commodities imported by Arab States require concerted efforts, supported by regional increased from USD 10.2 billion in 1980 to and international organizations, to make a real 6 The percent of imported commodity for cereals is 50%, for sugar 5 The rate of consumption of fertilizers and pesticides per hectare is 72%, for vegetable oil is 68%, for dairy products is 31% and for meat in Arab countries is one of the highest in the world (Brooks, 2007) is 14%. Voices from the Field 3 change and increase the low volume of treated Setting appropriate tariffs for treated wastewater water reused, which currently represents 20% of thus provides an important incentive mechanism the total generated wastewater in the Arab region. to encourage its reuse. “From a planning viewpoint, Arab govern- Key Messages from Arab Experts— ments should concentrate on demand-driven Moving Forward with Sustainable planning of reuse projects�. A good example Reuse for this is the Moroccan partnership developed between the golf courses of Agadir and Marrakech “Most treated water reuse activities are driven and the water agencies in those cities who sup- by water scarcity and in turn strive for efficiency ply them with continuous reclaimed water. This in terms of both allocation and more rational demand for treated effluent is driven by water use of water.� Marginal cost pricing can reduce scarcity across Marrakech, and high salinity of excessive water use and pollution and can ensure the groundwater in Agadir. the sustainability of wastewater treatment projects. Box 1 T he P otential of R enewable E nergy D esalination to C lose the M E N A R egion ’ s W ater G ap As water scarcity becomes a more pressing con- ates knowledge in this field while providing potential cern throughout the Arab region, water managers policy recommendations for Arab countries seeking are afforded two options to ensure greater water to harness renewable energies for desalination. security: demand management and supply aug- The environmental implications associated with mentation. Efforts to manage demand have been desalination—and the discharge of residual gener- underway throughout the region by reducing waste ated from production—is of grave concern and the in irrigation, addressing leakage in water supply ways in which such environmentally-adverse impacts networks while introducing incentives and adopting can be managed and reduced are also addressed. schemes to promote water savings. But for many countries, supply augmentation is still a necessary Desalination technology is fast evolving making step—with the two most common approaches desalinated water progressively cheaper. The energy being water reuse and desalination. intensity of desalination is of concern for all Arab countries—whether due to competing demands In a recent study commissioned by the World on energy from various sectors in rapidly-growing Bank titled Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and industrializing economies or general efforts to Regional Water Outlook—Desalination and Renew- reduce fossil fuel consumption in countries seeking able Energy Nexus, water stress in the region is to export energy resources. Understanding current assessed (including the associated marginal cost trends in the renewable energy sector—and its of water supply to meet water supply needs) while potential application to the desalination sector the prospect of desalination to close MENA’s water in MENA—is therefore of particular importance. gap is explored. Importantly, this report goes a Concentrated solar power (CSP) is beginning to step further by assessing the potential application demonstrate great promise; but the economic, of renewable energy to desalination processes. As financial, technical and environmental feasibility solar energy is widely abundant in the MENA region, of its application in the MENA region is yet to be finding ways to harness its potential—particularly determined and is therefore explored within this through utilization of concentrated solar power report as well. (CSP)—can be especially useful. The report gener- Refer to Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Regional Water Outlook—Desalination and Renewable Energy Nexus, The World Bank, 2012 for a full copy of the report. 4  W AT E R R E U S E I N T H E A R A B W O R L D : F R O M P R I N C I P L E T O P R A C T I C E “Knowing how much different users are thus nomic and climatic conditions of the region.� willing to pay for reclaimed water is critical.� The selection of reuse technologies should be Rates for treated wastewater would be based on determined by cost-effectiveness, relative ease of what the market could uphold, without taking replicability and the capacity of local community into account the costs required. The willingness to operate and maintain the infrastructure. A to pay for different customers varies depending comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of various on the expected economic return. Moreover an water reuse technologies can also have a major increased public awareness of the benefits of impact in selecting and investing in appropriate water reuse can lead to increased demand and wastewater treatment technology. also induce consumers to state a higher willing- “One of the most important lessons learned ness to use and pay for reclaimed water. is that, to enable local end-users to feel con- “Reclaimed water is a valuable but limited fident with reclaimed water for irrigation, it water resource and investment costs should is imperative to establish trusted institutions be proportional to the value of the resource.� to ensure the highest standards of health and The selection of technologies should be envi- safety�. Institutional strengthening of the water ronmentally sustainable, appropriate to the local sector is required to instill and enforce standards, conditions, acceptable to the users, and affordable regulatory oversight and monitoring. It is impor- to those who have to pay for them. Anaerobic tant to note that those countries which have treatment technologies are very useful to reduce made most significant strides with water reuse operation and maintenance costs. (including Tunisia, Jordan, Gulf countries), fully “The reuse of treated wastewater in the fledged local or state regulations are supported by Arab region needs clear political support and national guidelines and set the basic conditions promotion within local water resources strate- for wastewater treatment and safe reuse. gies.� Commitment to water reuse should be part “Arab countries should also develop a plat- of the proclaimed water policy and strategy in all form of dissemination of lessons learned from countries of the Arab region. existing facilities in the Arab region� leading “Arab countries should allocate funds to sup- to improved information on the economic and port applied research on sustainable wastewater financial benefits of reuse. treatment processes adaptable to the socioeco- Voices from the Field 5 6  W AT E R R E U S E I N T H E A R A B W O R L D : F R O M P R I N C I P L E T O P R A C T I C E Basic economic considerations of water reuse Water reuse combines the benefits of fresh- In general, the development and implemen- water conservation, surface and groundwater tation of water reuse strategies across the Arab resource protection, and total water supply world is challenged by a complex set of factors, augmentation. Indeed, water reuse allows the described in more detail in the sections below: preservation of freshwater resources for higher • High cost of wastewater treatment and con- quality uses (such as potable water supply) and veyance infrastructure; postpones potentially more costly water supply • Insufficiency of economic analysis on waste- approaches (e.g., storage, transfer or desalination water treatment infrastructure projects; schemes). As such, water reuse is emerging as an established water management practice in several • Technical and social issues affecting the water-stressed regions of the world. demand for reclaimed water The spread of water reuse has been sur- • Low pricing of irrigation water that does not prisingly uneven and slow across the Middle adequately reflect its cost; East and North Africa (MENA), despite its • Difficulty in creating financial incentives allow- ranking as the most arid and water-scarce in ing safe and efficient reuse; the world. In the region to date, many reuse projects are either (i) pilot scale projects whose sustainability and replicability are uncertain or High cost of wastewater (ii) involve unplanned reuse of wastewater that treatment and conveyance is not treated to meet standards, such as those infrastructure set by the World Health Organization (WHO). Further, even in locations with a policy climate A major prerequisite to the development of favorable to water reuse, many of these projects water reuse schemes is upstream investment in face serious operational, financial and environ- adequate wastewater treatment, rates of which mental obstacles. continue to lag behind those of wastewater col- Box 2 W ater R euse T erminology Reclaimed water is wastewater that has gone Unplanned reuse is the application or discharge through various treatment processes to meet spe- of untreated sewage onto agricultural lands or into cific water quality criteria with the intent of being surface waters. used in a beneficial manner (e.g. irrigation). The term recycled water is used synonymously with Direct reuse implies construction of storage and con- reclaimed water. veyance infrastructures that transport effluents from treatment works straight to the site of application. Planned reuse is the planned use of treated wastewa- ter for a beneficial use, such as agricultural irrigation Indirect reuse refers to the planned incorporation of and industrial cooling. reclaimed water into a raw water supply such as in potable water storage reservoirs or a groundwater aquifer, resulting in mixing and assimilation. Ref: Asano et al, 2007 Voices from the Field 7 lection. Though countries across the Middle East Insufficiency of economic and North Africa have made significant progress in analysis on wastewater treatment extending wastewater collection services to urban infrastructure projects populations in particular, significant gaps remain. Wastewater treatment plants, if they exist at all, Economic analyses of new wastewater infra- are further often overloaded, under-designed and, structure projects typically do not reflect water plagued by poor operation and maintenance, do reuse as an end goal. Though most policymakers not consistently provide water quality that can be in the Arab world seem to be in favor of water safely reused. The cost of transferring reclaimed reuse in principle, it is often included in the water from urban centers (where most of the economic analysis of wastewater collection and wastewater is produced) to agricultural areas treatment projects in hindsight, thus rendering (typically located in more distant, rural settings) economic justification of reuse investments much is a further investment cost that can significantly more challenging. impact the total cost of water reuse planning. Cost-benefit analyses of water reuse policies and investments can be particularly complex given the number of costs and benefits that are not easily quantifiable. While some benefits have measurable market value (increase in crop Box 3 W H O G uidelines for the S afe U se of W astewater , E x creta and G reywater The WHO Guidelines for the Safe Use of Waste- circumstances. The guidelines are evidence-based; water, Excreta and Greywater were published in created in a participatory process to achieve scientific 2006, with supplemental updates in 2008 and consensus and assemble the best available evidence.  2010. They were motivated by the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals in 2000, which  The Guidelines are built around a health component include the eradication of extreme poverty and and an implementation component. The health com- hunger, reducing childhood mortality, and ensur- ponent identifies health hazards and establishes an ing environmental sustainability. Nutrient and acceptable risk level. This risk level is used to define water recycling can contribute to increased food a level of health-based target for each risk which, in security and nutrition and reduce environmental turn, is used to determine the appropriate health concerns related to waste disposal. This is only a protection measures. The implementation compo- credible strategy however if the health of farmers, nent establishes monitoring and assessment activi- their families, local communities and consumers is ties, defines responsible institutions, and determines simultaneously ensured.  needed documentation and a means of independent confirmation through surveillance. The Guidelines cover a range of policy, regulatory, standard-setting, and monitoring options based on The Guidelines explicitly recognize that making targets a risk assessment and risk management approach too severe results in their not being widely adopted, that balance the benefits and risks of reuse. They leaving unsafe practices in place. By providing the do more than assess the risk and benefits of existing methods, data, and references to allow standards practices; the guidelines provide a framework for tailored to each setting, the guidelines allow for the assessing and reducing risks with consideration of creation of a system that maximizes public health local social, economic, cultural, and environmental benefits and the utilization of scarce resources. Courtesy of: The Water Institute at the University of North Carolina, 2012 8  W AT E R R E U S E I N T H E A R A B W O R L D : F R O M P R I N C I P L E T O P R A C T I C E yield and sales due to additional water supply for the availability of substitutes. In the West Bank example), others are more difficult to measure and Gaza for example, where farmers frequently (avoided cost of environmental degradation). lack water supply, surveys suggest that 80% of Furthermore, many of the costs of planned reuse, farmers accept reuse. Similarly, farmers living on including those of regulation, monitoring, training the northern coast of Tunisia also accept water and awareness-raising etc are often overlooked reuse because they have no alternative water in project planning and excluded entirely from source for irrigation due to groundwater salinity. the cost-benefit analyses. In contrast, farmers who have a choice between reclaimed water and other sources consistently Technical and social issues prefer to use the alternatives in spite of higher affecting the demand for costs, because of social stigma and crop restric- reclaimed water tions associated with reuse. The role of social marketing and awareness- Despite the potential for reducing fertilizer raising is thus critical in reducing opposition costs and promoting higher yields, demand for to water reuse in the Arab world. Though the reclaimed water in the Arab world is gener- involvement of religious authorities in awareness- ally lower than that of alternative sources of raising activities has strongly diminished opposi- freshwater. Consistent with economic theory, the tion to such projects for example, the pervasive relative demand for reclaimed water depends on lack of consumer awareness of water scarcity in general remains a major obstacle in many cases across the Arab world. Low pricing of irrigation water that does not adequately reflect its cost Water prices in the Arab world generally do not reflect the cost or scarcity of water, especially in the agriculture sector. Partly as a result of low water prices and a reluctance to meter usage, most countries in the region utilize often non-renewable surface and groundwater at unsustainable rates. A market-based approach to managing a scarce resource would dictate that this practice would in turn push prices up. However, in the majority of Arab nations, this does not occur. While political pressures to keep prices low are well known, it is critical to implement pricing and sector reforms which better incentivize users (in agriculture and beyond) to conserve and optimize the use of local water resources, both fresh and reclaimed. Difficulty in creating financial incentives allowing safe and efficient reuse The difficulty in creating financing mecha- nisms for an investment in infrastructure and Voices from the Field 9 regulation that provides combined public and importance of this policy option will surely private benefits (many of which are difficult to increase over time. Despite the many challenges capture) is a major constraint to reuse projects. to the sustainable implementation of water reuse This can be seen in the fact that while most Arab described above, evolving conditions across the countries have tackled the problem of wastewa- Arab world will encourage a more systematic ter collection and conveyance away from urban consideration and implementation of water reuse. zones, (with substantial private benefits to con- Urbanization and its associated increased demand nected households), the investment, operation for domestic water and production of wastewater, and maintenance costs of wastewater treatment along with continued reduction in available fresh- are often limited by financing constraints despite water, increasing tourism and the preferences of the significant environmental and public health a more educated urban population will all play benefits that ensue. Water reuse, which requires a critical role in affecting plans for wastewater both collection and treatment upstream, thus treatment, increasing demand for locally produced presents further challenges. safe and high-value agricultural products, and Moving forward, constraints in the water in encouraging ecological and recreational uses sector make it unlikely that there will be a of water. reuse revolution in the Arab world, but the 10  W AT E R R E U S E I N T H E A R A B W O R L D : F R O M P R I N C I P L E T O P R A C T I C E Infrastructure investments enabling sustainable reuse Expanding wastewater collection, treatment and of Oman (Case Study 3) further demonstrates that storage capacity has been a national priority utilization of high-tech solutions such as mem- of a number of Arab countries. Such infrastruc- brane bioreactors can overcome space constraints ture investments have been particularly useful commonly faced in densely populated urban in overcoming challenges that inhibit realization environments, while the case of Morocco and of water reuse’s full potential. Tunisia demonstrate the value of pilot projects In the case of Tunisia (Case Study 1), for to determine proper infrastructure solutions for example, locations where the bulk of wastewa- wastewater treatment and reuse. ter is generated (the urban north) tend to be far Successful upgrades of infrastructure have from where it is most needed (the rural center also demonstrated the value of partnerships— and south). Tunisia has thus invested in piped between the state and civil society, the private infrastructure and storage capacity. Examples such sector and research community. A number of as the As Samra wastewater treatment plant in examples from the region, highlighted below, Jordan (Case Study 2) further show that methane showcase the importance of brokering research collection at wastewater treatment plants can and pilot projects in determining ideal wastewater significantly offset energy requirements. The case treatment and reuse solutions. Case Study 1 Tunisia: Expansion of Pipe Infrastructure and Storage Capacity In Tunisia, all large and medium sized cities (up reused for agricultural irrigation, golf courses to 30,000 inhabitants) maintain sewage treatment irrigation, landscape irrigation in urban areas and facilities, with 109 plants currently in operation. for artificial groundwater recharge. The total area Treatment plants are being initialized for small equipped for irrigation with treated wastewater urban and rural localities (less than 5,000 inhabit- is 8065 hectares. While this area is spread over ants). By the end of 2010, the volume of treated the entire country, 53% (4300 ha) are located wastewater reached 240 million m3, which repre- near Tunis. The Cap Bon region in particular sents 5% of available water resources; the volume is a major consumer of treated wastewater for is expected to grow to 500 million m3 by 2021.7 irrigated agriculture. For the period 2000–2009, Most treatment plants are located along the the area effectively irrigated represents on aver- urban coast to prevent marine pollution and pro- age 47% of the total area equipped for irrigation tect coastal resorts. Tunis and its four wastewater with treated wastewater which is relatively low. treatment plants (total capacity of 97 million m3 As most of the treated wastewater is pro- per year) produce most of the country’s treated duced in greater Tunis, a study of its transfer to wastewater (42%), while the North, the Center other zones of high water demand was under- and the South produces 20%, 22% and 16% taken.8 This study identified potential zones for respectively. Treated wastewater is primarily agricultural reuse and evaluated the technical, 7 Municipal wastewater is mainly domestic (80%). The proportions 8 Tunisia’s freshwater resources are primarily concentrated in the of wastewater from industries and from tourism are of 15% and 5% country’s North (roughly 60%) while the Center and the South main- respectively. A small portion (20–30%) of the treated volume is reused tain 18% and 22% of freshwater resources respectively. In terms of while the majority is released into natural water bodies (i.e. rivers, surface water, the distribution is more heavily skewed 81% of surface the Mediterranean Sea). water resources concentrated in the North. Voices from the Field 11 economical and environmental feasibility of the agricultural demand which varies by season. transfer. From 2009–2014, a national agricultural As irrigation is practices for only limited reuse initiative aims to develop 18 new irrigated months of the year, such facilities enable projects on 7010 hectares as well as extend and regulation of supply and reduce effluent rehabilitate existing irrigated projects by 1480 discharges to the environment when supply and 5000 hectares respectively. A major project exceeds demand. for transfer of treated wastewater from Tunis to 3. When irrigation is being expanded to new the country’s arid interior is also planned for domains, farmers should be provided with the period 2016–2021 and will include irrigation a single choice of treated water reuse alone. of 25,000 ha as well as aquifer recharge of 30 Experience from Tunisia would come to show million m3. that when farmers are given a choice between Successful expansion of future water reuse freshwater and treated wastewater, farmers infrastructure (particularly for irrigation purposes) tend to opt for the latter. is contingent on a number of conditions, which include the following: Under the National Rural Sanitation program, 1. If treated wastewater is to be reused for the country aims to increase water reuse capacity agricultural irrigation, the quality is abso- in rural areas as well. New construction of piped lutely imperative. Treatment facilities should sewerage infrastructure and wastewater treat- therefore include disinfection treatment of ment plants is included in housing developments secondary effluents to increase the quality accommodating 210,000 inhabitants in 47 different and mitigate farmer reticence. rural sites. Projects are currently underway and 2. Storage facilities are necessary to balance a expected to be completed by 2017. constant supply of treated wastewater with Box 4 I ndustrial W astewater M anagement in T unisia In Tunisia, industrial wastewater is closely man- missioned in 2001, the facility treats highly toxic aged and monitored with the concerted aim of effluents, which cannot by treated by conven- (a) meeting the needs of industrial development, tional wastewater plants. As the industrial activity (b) avoiding the discharge of raw industrial effluents is diverse and include leather tanning, printing, into the environment, (c) preventing the contamina- metal working, battery manufacture, textiles and tion of potable water resources and (d) eliminating food processing, effluent is treated in two separate adverse agents found in industrial effluents and its plants: one dedicated for the chemical treatment of by-products. the industrial wastewater containing heavy metals and another dedicated for biological treatment of To achieve such aims, Tunisia identifies industries industrial wastewater primarily of an organic nature. with high pollutants loads and either requires The treatment capacity is 520 m3/day for chemical pre-treatment of effluent prior to discharge into treatment and 5000 m3/day for biological treatment. the sewerage network or connection to a special- The plant is designed for an organic load of 3000 ized treatment facility. Industrial units producing Kg/day and is also equipped for treatment of odors. effluent with pollutant loads similar to domestic users are allowed to discharge effluents into the The Tunisian government expects to conduct a num- conventional sewerage network. ber of technical and financial feasibility studies to expand the country’s industrial wastewater treatment An example of an industrial wastewater treatment capacity. Treatment plants are planned for industrial facility includes Ben Arous, located in the Medina sites at Utique, Moknine, Sfax, Bassin d’Oued Bey, Jadida zone (a southern suburb of Tunis). Com- Enfidha and Fejja. 12  W AT E R R E U S E I N T H E A R A B W O R L D : F R O M P R I N C I P L E T O P R A C T I C E Case Study 2 Jordan: As Samra Wastewater Treatment Plant With rapid urban population growth in Amman, in Jordan and the high cost of energy, the ability Zarqa and Russeifa, the Jordan Ministry of Water of the plant to generate energy from sewage is and Irrigation rehabilitated the existing As-Samra particularly significant as it offsets the energy Stabilization Pond-Wastewater Treatment Plant required for treatment. and expanded treatment capacity from 68,000 Operational since 2007, As Samra is consid- m3/day to 268,000 m3/day. Such an expansion ered a national milestone in urban sanitation. would accommodate flows estimated at 186,000 However, while current capacity is expected m3 while leaving room for expected population to accommodate the sanitation needs of up to growth.9 2.5 million Jordanians, additional expansion As-Samra’s expansion included construction of capacity is anticipated. USAID has therefore of a new mechanical treatment plant equipped financed the design of a Master Plan covering the with state-of-the-art technology able to treat period between 2000 and 2028. Recommendations effluent for agricultural reuse, produce fertilizer include provision of conveyance lines (connect- from sludge as well as generate clean energy. ing the Zarqa River, most towns in the Zarqa Treated effluent is sold to the Ministry of Water Governorate and Greater Amman Municipality) and Irrigation, to be used by farmers in the Wadi as well as a two-phase solution for As-Samra. Dhleil, the Jordan Valley and the King Talal Res- With Phase 1 already accomplished with con- ervoir areas. And given the scarcity of fossil fuels struction of 267,000 m3/day capacity, Phase 2 is to include construction of a second plant meant 9 The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was the primary financier of the As Samra rehabilitation and expansion. to accommodate increased loads from Zarqa, While the project was financed under a Build—Operate—Transfer Russeifa and select areas of Amman. Based on (BOT) scheme, USAID issued a grant to cover 47% of total construc- current projections, the new As-Samra plant will tion cost. The As Samra project is considered the first BOT scheme to be implemented in Jordan. require expansion by 2015. Case Study 3 Oman: Implementing High-Tech Solutions for Water reuse Haya Water, the water authority of Oman’s capital, Technologies for sewage treatment processes Muscat, has implemented a number of high-tech are selected such that they shall be capable of solutions to increase energy and space efficien- consistently producing a treated effluent with cies of wastewater treatment, while complying constituent concentrations less than the allowable with quality standards to ensure treated effluent concentrations as per the Agreement. is reused for irrigation and eventually aquifer An example of innovative technologies recharge. In addition to water quality compliance, includes membrane bioreactors (MBRs) used at Haya is also required to meet the compliance with the Al Ansab and Darsait wastewater treatment respect to sludge quality and odor emission norms. plants. Utilization of MBR significantly reduces The Standard for wastewater treatment as the required geographic footprint of the facil- enforced in the Concession Agreement for the ity. This is especially useful in situations where New Sewage Treatment Plant and by the Minis- wastewater treatment is carried out in urban try of Regional Municipalities, Environment and environments and land is limited. In the case Water Resources is one of the major criteria for of Al Ansab, the treatment plant’s capacity was adoption of appropriate technology. expanded to become currently the world’s largest Voices from the Field 13 MBR plant in terms of capacity without requiring Such a technology has demonstrated particular further land acquisition. energy efficiency in separating suspended solids Sequencing batch reactor (SBR) process and from sewage. ultra filter (UF) memebrane systems are other In the near future, a number of upgrades noteworthy technologies utilized at the A’Seeb are foreseen with plans to invest an estimated wastewater treatment plant. SBR is particularly USD 4.3 billion to expand wastewater collection, effective in nutrient removal for irrigation pur- transmission and treatment in Muscat. USD 634 poses and producing sludge for fertilizers. UF million is earmarked towards the construction of is effective in producing treated effluent of a new wastewater treatment plants alone. Planned particularly high quality. activities include expansion of the A’Seeb plant, Along with increasing energy efficiency of construction of an additional wastewater treatment the wastewater sector by maximizing the use of plant at Darsait as well as new constructions at gravity-flow, the Quriyat wastewater treatment Amerat and Qurayat. plant utilizes screw press dewatering technology. Partnerships with Civil Society and the Private Sector Experience from the region demonstrates that Similarly, the private sector can play a the development and success of water reuse significant role in ensuring the long-term suc- infrastructure partially rely on a participatory cess of infrastructure. Tunisia for example has approach to planning. In Tunisia, for example, built partnerships with the private sector in the inclusion of farmers associations in the planning operations and maintenance of infrastructure. In of wastewater infrastructure made such civil recent years, plants have been made to increase society groups more willing to offer support in the number of delegated treatment plants from activities related to operations, maintenance and 10 to 47, with many sub-contracting agreements supervision of infrastructure. evolving into concessions. Such a move increases Box 5 M ajor U rban S anitation I mpro v ement in P ost - C onflict I raq After several decades of conflict and economic To address such challenges, the Baghdad Sew- sanctions, Iraq faces a major sanitation challenge. age Directorate has embarked on several projects Only 17% of wastewater currently undergoes treat- including: ment, a major setback from 1990 when sanitation ■■ Construction of 2 wastewater treatment plants services covered nearly 75% of the urban population under the Karkh Sewage Project with a com- (25% through sewage systems and 50% through bined capacity of 200,000 m 3/day. on-site septic tanks) and close to 40% of the rural ■■ Construction of 13 new wastewater treatment population. (UNESCO, 2010; the World Bank, 2006). plants in areas far from main carrier lines and Inadequate funding and maintenance, poor plan- existing treatment facilities. ning and design as well as an ageing infrastructure have led to a significant reduction in rates of waste- ■■ Construction of several pumping stations and water collection and treatment (Bakir, 2001; Fund sewer mainlines along Al Quds Street, within 0.2006 ). In Baghdad, wastewater infrastructure is the Karkh district, from Al Rabie district to particularly overloaded. While the capital’s three Tunisia district and from Al Habibiya station to wastewater treatment plants have a total design Rustumiya wastewater treatment plant. capacity of 680,000 m3 per day, actual capacity is nearly double at 1,325,000 m3 per day. 14  W AT E R R E U S E I N T H E A R A B W O R L D : F R O M P R I N C I P L E T O P R A C T I C E the likelihood of private sector participation in and economic feasibility of a commercially viable the financing, expansion and construction of new water reuse scheme in Agadir as well as the fea- infrastructure. By June 2009, the private sector sibility of using sand beds to treat wastewater. In operated 2206 km of sewers and 17 wastewater the latter locale, a pilot project was carried out treatment plants. Pursuant to the new regulations, to determine potential water reuse application the Tunisia’s National Sanitation Utility, ONAS, for industrial activity—a first in Morocco. As has entrusted a specialized consultancy firm to the city’s main economic activity—phosphates design concession contract model specifications processing—requires considerable amounts of (ONAS, 2009b). water, treated wastewater was seen as a viable alternative to drawing from scarce freshwater Researching the Possibilities of resources. Commissioned in 2010, this pilot con- Water reuse for Agriculture tinues operations today and produced 18,000 m3 of treated wastewater per day. Since the 1990s, Morocco has pursued a num- In Tunisia, a research program co-financed ber of pilot projects to determine and design by UNDP (OPE/RAB/80/011) was undertaken appropriate infrastructure for water reuse. between 1981 and 1987 by a multi-disciplinary Some noteworthy pilots include projects carried team from the National Institute of Research out in Agadir and Khouribga. In the former, les- for Rural Engineering Water and Forestry. The sons learned from the Ben Sargao pilot project10 objective was to determine the conditions to use were expanded upon to determine the technical reclaimed wastewater and sewage sludge in agri- culture taking into account their composition, soil 10 The town of Ben Sargo located near the city of Agadir produces types, different crops and sanitary aspects. The about 750 m3/day of sewage. The WWTP has a pre-treatment unit, experiments led to the set up of specific meth- primary treatment by anaerobic settling ponds, and then further treat- ment on infiltration sand beds. The investment cost of this method odologies, especially for the physical, chemical, of treatment were found to be 3 to 4 times lower than that of an and biological analyses and tests carried out in activated sludge treatment and cost of operation and maintenance almost $ 0.8 Dh/m3 treated water with water quality meeting WHO the field. The results of work were published in standards. a final report and helped clarify the chemical and Voices from the Field 15 biological composition of Tunisian wastewater Key Messages from Arab Experts before and after treatment. The impacts of treated wastewater and sewage sludge applications on While a number of successes can be noted in to the water-soil-plant system were also estab- the water reuse sector of the Arab region, vari- lished. Recommendations were formulated for ous challenges nevertheless exist which have safe agricultural reuse of reclaimed wastewater prevented a high proportion of water reuse and were further used in the preparation of sec- from being implemented throughout the region. tor regulations. The experiences of Jordan, Morocco, Oman and Research continued within the framework Tunisia nevertheless demonstrate some general of different programs carried out with national lessons learned which include the following: or international funds including (a) the optimi- • The importance of considering a wide vari- zation of chemical fertilization of crops irrigated ety of technologies for infrastructure invest- with reclaimed wastewater, (b) seasonal storage ments and upgrades to include aerobic and and its effects on wastewater futures,11 and (c) the anaerobic processes, advanced and simple role of micro-irrigation techniques in mitigating technologies. Sludge management should the health risks associated to water reuse for crop irrigation. also not be overlooked. • The importance of civil society partner- 11 The work confirmed that storing reclaimed water in basins is of ships: Alongside the development of concrete particular interest for water resources management. It constitutes infrastructure is the significance of engaging further treatment which reduces the microbial contamination of water to a level where it can be used for the irrigation of all crops, without civil society. A participatory approach to plan- restriction. ning infrastructure can result in long-term 16  W AT E R R E U S E I N T H E A R A B W O R L D : F R O M P R I N C I P L E T O P R A C T I C E payoffs especially when considering shared • The value of brokering research: Examples responsibilities in operating and maintaining such as Morocco and Tunisia exhibit the infrastructure. Cultivating a local buy-in is importance of brokering research and piloting key in this regard and can have wide ranging projects to determine geographically, socially, implications for the long-term sustainability and economically appropriate infrastructure. of water reuse. It is important to note that even within the • The promise of public private partnerships: MENA region, a prototype or technology Examples such as Oman and Tunisia demon- successfully implemented in one geographic strate the potential of private sector engage- context does not necessarily translate into ment in terms of financing as well as build- success in another. Partnerships with research ing, operating and maintaining infrastructure. institutes and the academic community—both Concession agreements with the private sector in-country and regionally—can prove particu- therefore should be considered as a potential larly useful. Partnerships with international option when upgrading infrastructure. development agencies as well as international research institutes can be leveraged to carry out research. Voices from the Field 17 18  W AT E R R E U S E I N T H E A R A B W O R L D : F R O M P R I N C I P L E T O P R A C T I C E Benefits of reuse in agriculture Planned water reuse for agriculture and irri- Nevertheless, a number of risks are associ- gation is emerging as an established water ated with water reuse and warrant specific atten- management practice in several water-stressed tion in agriculture. Such potential risks include: countries of the Arab region. Use of reclaimed • Health risks to agricultural workers result- water is an attractive option and entails a number ing from fields irrigated with untreated or of benefits for several reasons, including: inadequately treated wastewater. • Reduction of surface water pollution com- • Health risks to consumers of agricultural monly resulting when wastewater is dis- goods produced from untreated or inade- charged into the environment; quately treated wastewater. • Postponement of potentially more costly • Contamination of soils and plants through water supply augmentation projects (i.e. introduction of chemicals found in inade- storage, transfer and/or desalination schemes); quately treated wastewater. • Nutrients in treated wastewater can reduce • Ground and surface water pollution from the need for applying chemical fertilizers, infiltration of contaminated irrigation water. thereby reducing costs and potentially adverse Though concerns over the environmental effects associated with fertilizers; and health implications of reuse are constant, • Savings of high quality freshwater since Arab countries have demonstrated success in reclaimed water can be further used in indus- irrigating marginal desert lands, man-made trial cooling; landscape irrigation; fire protec- forest plantations, golf courses and urban tion; and toilet flushing beyond irrigation. landscapes with reclaimed water. A number • Greater water security given the stability of of success stories, are highlighted in the case wastewater supply. studies below. Case Study 1 Egypt: Reuse of Wastewater for Agriculture Agriculture is the largest water consumer in non-renewable groundwater is unsustainable. Egypt with its share exceeding 80–85% of the Ensuring positive, long-term water outlooks for total demand for water. By 2017, the National Egypt therefore depends on finding solutions for Water Resource Plan estimates that total water reducing freshwater extractions of its agriculture requirements will exceed 90 billion cubic meters sector. Non-conventional water resources can (BCM). Therefore, Egypt is faced with a strategic therefore play a larger role in fulfilling Egypt’s challenge as its renewable water supplies cannot growing water demands. Potential non-conven- be expanded. Increased levels of compromised tional water resources for Egypt’s agriculture water quality may further diminish available sector include the following: water suitable for some purposes. • Agricultural drainage water reuse could be To cover the growing shortfall, the National increased from 4.7 to 9.0 BCM/year by 2017 Water Resources Plan calls for increased use of fossil desert aquifers—rising from 0.9 BCM • Reuse of treated wastewater could be increased in 1997 to 4 BCM in 2017. However, exploiting from 0.70 to 2.97 BCM/year by 2017. Voices from the Field 19 Use of treated wastewater has become increas- ing drainage water with fresh water, regulations ingly important in water resources management for sewage and industrial effluents, water reuse, for both environmental and economic reasons. cropping patterns, and health protection measures Since 1980, interest in the use of treated waste- and standards specifications. With relation to water as a substitute for fresh water in irrigation institutional and financial aspects, the Holding has accelerated. The capacity of wastewater Company for Water and Wastewater—along with treatment plants has increased by more than six 23 subsidiary companies—was established in 2004 times in the last two decades with current capac- by presidential decree to expand service delivery, ity estimated at 12 million m3/day. At present, introduce modern wastewater treatment and reuse 323 wastewater treatment plants exist across technology, as well as increase the role of private the country. The length of wastewater collection sector actors in the operations and maintenance networks increased from 28,000 km in 2005 to of wastewater infrastructure. 34,000 km in 2010.12 By 2017, the coverage rate is While still limited in its relative scope, Egypt expected to increase significantly in areas outside has nevertheless embarked on a number of large- large urban centers. scale, planned and regulated water reuse appli- Significantly, alongside instituting a policy cations in agriculture. Large scale pilot projects to officially include water reuse in the national include sites in East Cairo, Abu Rawash, Sadat water portfolio,13 the Government of Egypt has also City, Luxor, and Ismailia totaling 167,000 feddan. implemented a number of institutional reforms, In 14 governorates and 2 districts, 80,000 feddan which include newly issued guidelines for mix- of marginal desert land have been allocated for 63 tree plantations irrigated with treated wastewater. 12 While the Government of Egypt has made significant progress in Actual cultivated area totals roughly 12,000 fed- providing sanitation services for its citizens, domestic and municipal wastewater collection systems and treatment facilities remain largely dan while fallow area is roughly 68,000 feddan. concentrated in major urban centers (i.e. Cairo, Giza, Alexandria and cities along the Suez Canal). The low coverage rate and sub-optimal treatment has therefore resulted in serious water quality problems in rural areas in particular. 13 Water reuse is an old practice in Egypt. Treated wastewater (after primary treatment) has been in the Gabal Al Asfar farm (3,000 fedans) since 1911, while sandy soils in Al Gabal Al Asfar and Abou Rawash near Cairo have been irrigated since the 1930s. Box 6 C entrali z ed or D ecentrali z ed ? T he B enefits of D ecentrali z ed W astewater M anagement in R ural and P eri - U rban E n v ironments Recent studies in Egypt have indicated that for Unbundling sanitation projects into smaller-scale economic reasons, it may not be possible to pro- projects can bring benefits at an affordable cost to vide sewerage facilities for all residents of rural and those in greatest need. In the case of rural Egypt, peri-urban areas—either now or in the near future. decentralization enables the division of investments As a result, the Government of Egypt has begun into more realistic and manageable components. considering refocusing its wastewater management From a technical perspective, decentralized sewer- strategy from the construction and management age is also appropriate in areas with flat terrain and of regional sewerage systems to that of decentral- a high groundwater table such as the Nile Delta ized wastewater treatment facilities. Given the fact region. Dividing such areas into self-contained that in the near future, increasing demands are zones eliminates the need for expensive pumping being made on freshwater supplies, it is clear that stations and interceptor sewers required to serve decentralized systems will increase opportunities the whole area with a regional sewerage system. for localized reclamation/reuse. 20  W AT E R R E U S E I N T H E A R A B W O R L D : F R O M P R I N C I P L E T O P R A C T I C E Case Study 2 Tunisia: Water reuse for Agriculture In Tunisia, the total area equipped for irrigation Figure 1  Evolution of treated wastewater with treated wastewater has increased steadily, irrigable and irrigated area while the actual area irrigated with wastewater has varied significantly from year to year (Figure 1). 9000 The disconnect in trends can largely be explained 8000 by the variability in rainfall over the years with 7000 increases and decreases in areas corresponding with increases and decreases in surface water 6000 availability. 5000 ha From 2000–2009, the area effectively irrigated 4000 with treated wastewater represents on average 3000 47% of the total area equipped for irrigation—a relatively low figure. Currently, the best levels 2000 of reclaimed water reuse are recorded on fruit 1000 orchards and in the arid zones of the centre and 0 the south of the country. Among 8065 ha that 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 may be irrigated with reclaimed wastewater, area equipped for irrigation area currently irrigated 4646 ha (representing 59% of the total area) are equipped with saving water techniques.14 The rest is irrigated following the traditional practice of furrows and flooding. Significantly, efforts are underway for the transfer Future programs for agricultural reuse for the of treated wastewater from Tunis to the country’s period (2009–2014) include the development of arid interior—with a long-term goal of irrigating 18 new irrigated schemes on 7010 ha and the over 25,000 ha and recharging aquifers with 30 extension (1480 ha) and rehabilitation (5000 ha) million m3. In a recent study on the transfer of of select irrigated schemes currently in operation. Tunis’ wastewater to other zones of high water demand, potential zones for agricultural reuse 14 The main saving water techniques used on reclaimed wastewa- were identified while the technical, economical ter irrigated areas are: (1) improved surface irrigation, (2) sprinkler irrigation and (3) drip irrigation. These three techniques are used on and environmental feasibilities of wastewater 66, 32 and 2% of the equipped area respectively. transfer were evaluated. Case Study 3 Jordan: Water reuse in the Jordan Valley The Jordan Valley Authority (JVA) has been an The Jordan Valley serves as one of the Hash- integral part of water reuse activities in Jordan. emite Kingdom’s primary agricultural regions and Established in 1977, the Authority is responsible comprises of 33,000 hectares of irrigated land. for socio-economic development in areas that Yet large tracts of arable land (particularly sur- surround the Jordan River and extend into the rounding the Dead Sea (roughly 10,000 hectares) Yarmouk and Zarqa basins, northern reaches of remain to be irrigated. To expand irrigated lands the Dead Sea and down to the northern border and safeguard existing groundwater resources, of Aqaba. treated wastewater effluent has increasingly been Voices from the Field 21 tapped for agricultural purposes. It is expected utilizing treated wastewater with the support of that treated wastewater effluent will comprise a international organization (i.e. Aqaba and Wadi significant portion of irrigation water in the future. Musa projects). The overarching objective is to However, the JVA maintains an outlook to demonstrate that water reuse can be reliable, ensure treated wastewater is used towards the commercially viable, socially acceptable, environ- highest value purposes. Along with instituting a mentally sustainable and safe. In this particular number of irrigation efficiency measures, the JVA project, fodder crops (namely alfalfa) and fruit looks to allocate water towards activities demon- trees were irrigated. The boosted productivity of strating the highest financial and social returns. the treated wastewater irrigated lands is significant Such a stipulation helps promote greater water with the direct beneficiaries being farmers whose efficiency, productivity and competitiveness of income, standards of living and economic status the Jordanian agriculture sector. were elevated—thereby reducing unemployment Since 2002, the Government of Jordan has been and poverty. implementing several agricultural pilot projects Case Study 4 Algeria: Health Regulations and Monitoring of Water reuse for Irrigation The Algerian Ministry of Water Resources is lation of water reuse—both from the technical entrusted with the task of elaborating regulations and administrative management and monitoring of the water sector. Amongst the 5 technical and of water reuse. 4 administrative departments included within Law No. 05-12 (August 2005) allowed for the the ministry, the Department of Purification and use of treated wastewater effluent for irrigation Environmental Protection and the Department of purposes. In May 2007, procedures and specifi- Regulation and Litigation help ensure safe regu- cations detailing under what conditions waste- water could be reused for irrigation purposes were detailed. In December 2008, the Ministry of Water Resources conducted a study on reuse (at the national level) with four concerted objec- tives: (1) recognition and collection of all data for the development of the study, (2) study of a master plan for reuse of treated wastewater, (3) development of a pilot study for the reuse of treated wastewater for agricultural purposes while defining the types of crops and industrial purposes water reuse would be appropriate. Attention was also paid towards other items such as groundwater recharge, and (4) development of draft standards for reuse. Significantly, an inter-departmental decree was established to (i) detail exact crops which can be irrigated with treated wastewater, (ii) establish a list of laboratories responsible for carrying out quality monitoring of treated wastewater for irri- 22  W AT E R R E U S E I N T H E A R A B W O R L D : F R O M P R I N C I P L E T O P R A C T I C E gation and (iii) set the specifications of treated health of laborers involved in the agricultural wastewater used for irrigation.15 plots involved in irrigation. Monitoring is carried out at the local level. Currently, 15,770 hectares are being irrigated Hydraulic services of the wilaya are required to with treated wastewater, with plans to grow this monitor and control (i) the quality of treated number to 40,000 hectares during the period from wastewater for irrigation, (ii) changes in water 2010 to 2014. And as climate change has proven quality of groundwater, and (iii) conditions of to have increasingly adverse impacts on regularity storage facilities and distribution. With relation of freshwater supply, demand for treated waste- to agriculture, wilayas are also responsible for water has increased. It is because of this demand monitoring the development of crops irrigated that nearly 100 wastewater treatment plants have by treated wastewater as well as the soil quality been constructed. The demand for wastewater of plots irrigated by treated wastewater. Wilayas has therefore helped propel Algeria in meeting are also made responsible for monitoring the in Millennium Development Goal for Sanitation. 15 Crop varieties which have been allowed to be irrigated by treated wastewater are (1) fruit trees, (2) citrus, (3) fodder crops and shrubs, (4) industrial crops (i.e. cotton, tobacco, flax), (5) cereal crops, (6) seed and tuber crops (i.e. potatoes, beans, peas), and (7) herbs to be dried or industrially processed. Box 7 E x perience from O utside the R egion : S ingapore ’ s S uccess in W ater reuse R egulation Singapore has long-suffered from water scarcity, of reclaimed water produced was consistently tested with a history of relying on Malaysia to make up while the capability and reliability of membranes was for its water supply-demand gap since 1961. Water consistently monitored. reuse has therefore increasingly become a viable option in closing this gap. Under this scheme, the Under the Sampling and Monitoring Program (SAMP), Government of Singapore has embarked on treat- a total of 205,000 analysis tests have been conducted ing wastewater to produce high-quality NEWater. to date. Treated effluent is tested for 296 param- eters—with 96 parameters stipulated by United States By utilizing a combination of microfiltration/ultrafil- Environmental Protection Agency and 113 specified tration, reverse osmosis, and ultraviolet disinfection, by the World Health Organization. The Health Effect Singapore has been able to convert wastewater into Testing Program (HETP) compliments SAMP by assess- high quality NEWater. Currently Singapore has 5 ing the quality of NEWater against reservoir water water reclamation plants: Kranji, Seletar, Jurong, Ulu while monitoring the short and long term health Pandan and Changi. However, reaching such success effects NEWater may have on animal species—with has required many years of experimentation and possible carcinogenicity, toxicology, and estrogenic monitoring to ensure safe results. potential monitored. While the use of water reuse technologies has been Assessments carried out by international expert panels tested since 1974, the lack of reliability of membranes have noted in their audit that (a) NEWater quality is and their associated high cost made it implausible to well within international drinking water standards, utilize until the 1990s. Initiated in 1998, a two-year (b) NEWater is as suitable as raw reservoir water, and NEWater study was launched to ascertain the suit- (c) NEWater bears no adverse health concerns which ability of using high-quality reclaimed wastewater can be noted. Such endorsement has lent substantial as a source of raw water. The first demonstration credibility to the safety of NEWater. plant had a capacity of 10,000 m3/day. The quality Voices from the Field 23 Case Study 5 Egypt: Wastewater Irrigation to Combat Desertification As an active participant in the formulation of irrigated with wastewater. While producing high- the UN Convention to Combat Desertification quality timber, such projects expand the green (UNCCD) adopted in Paris in 1994, Egypt has stretch into deserts and stabilize sand dunes. Also placed great emphasis on the (a) prevention and significant is that such plantations find uses of reduction of land degradation, (b) rehabilita- wastewater, while limiting unregulated discharges tion of partly degraded land, (c) reclamations of into the environment. desertified land. As part of its commitment to the An innovative afforestation scheme includes UNCCD, Egypt has prepared a National Action the Jatropha Curcas plantation in the Luxor Des- Plan (NAP), which identifies factors contribut- ert, which is irrigated by treated wastewater from ing to desertification and prescribes practical Luxor city and produces crops used for biofuel. measures to combat it. Priority actions under The yearly yield per hectare is up to 5 tons of the NAP include the following: seed, which can produce up to 1.85 tons of oil. • Transform 400,000 feddans desert lands into Given the success of such a project, the Central ecologically rich areas. Administration for Afforestation at the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation (MOALR) has • Reduce the climate in arid and semi-arid areas begun efforts to expand cultivation of Jatropha adjacent to desert boundaries and protect cit- curcas to other sites in the country, especially in ies from sand and dust storms. the South. Importantly, such a scheme has not • Increase air quality and absorption capacity only had positive environmental benefits but has of carbon dioxide. also generated jobs for unemployed rural youth. To achieve such objectives Egypt established a number of forest plantations and roadside forests Case Study 6 Tunisia: Wastewater Irrigation of Tourism Infrastructure In Tunisia, water reuse has bolstered the coun- Tabarka, Sousse, Monastir, Djerba, Zarzis) and try’s high-value agricultural production and green areas (i.e. hotel grounds) comprise 4%. contributed to the country’s overall economic Other associated benefits of water reuse development. Treated wastewater is primarily include cost savings and increased reliability. used to irrigate fruit orchards (citrus, grapes, With relation to the former, quantities of chemical olives, peaches, apples and pears), fodder crops fertilizers required for production are significantly (sorghum, alfalfa, maize), cereals, and indus- reduced with substation of nutrients draws from trial crops such as tobacco. However, Tunisia treated wastewater while with relation to the has also found other high-value applications of latter, treated wastewater supply is significantly reclaimed wastewater—particularly towards irriga- more consistent than the rain. Such benefits have tion of golf courses and urban landscapes. Of the been particularly useful for Tunisia in its efforts 8065 hectares irrigated with treated wastewater, to develop its tourism industry. golf courses comprise 11% (Tunis, Hammamet, 24  W AT E R R E U S E I N T H E A R A B W O R L D : F R O M P R I N C I P L E T O P R A C T I C E Case Study 7 United Arab Emirates: Abu Dhabi Municipal Water reuse for Agriculture In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), water demand Water and Electricity Authority, four large-scale is expected to double (from 4.5 BCM to 9 BCM) plants were built in joint ventures with the private between 2010 and 2030. Much of this demand sector under build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) is primarily attributed to agriculture irrigation arrangements. Successful construction and opera- needs. Such a reality has proven difficult for the tion of facilities at Al Wathba, Allahamah and Al UAE, where groundwater resources are limited Saad are testament to successful public private and urban population is increasing. As urban partnerships in providing irrigation water from populations increase however, so do the volumes treated urban wastewater. of wastewater; and, there lies great potential in With further urban growth in Abu Dhabi city, the UAE for reusing urban wastewater for agri- there is a very large increase in urban waste- cultural purposes. water expected. The Abu Dhabi government In Abu Dhabi, urban areas generate roughly has therefore embarked on the Strategic Tunnel 550,000 m3 of wastewater daily and are treated Enhancement Program which will construct a in 20 wastewater treatment plants. All facilities new 40-kilometer long wastewater tunnel meant are equipped to treat effluent for reuse in irriga- to accommodate increased wastewater flows. The tion. While most wastewater treatment plants are opportunities for reuse in agriculture are therefore publicly owned and operated by the Abu Dhabi expected to increase. Key Messages from Arab Experts The use of treated wastewater should be con- –– Standards and regulations, which are in sidered an integral component in a country’s some cases too strict to be achievable and agriculture and irrigation strategy. However, in enforceable and, in other cases, not ade- order to bolster water reuse, regional experience quate to deal with certain existing, reuse offers a number of factors which are important practices. to consider and include the following: –– Absence of monitoring and evaluation • Despite the many benefits of water reuse for capacity in both treatment and reuse sys- agriculture and irrigation purposes, regional tems, often related to lack of qualified per- experience also demonstrates a number of sonnel, lack of monitoring equipment or constraints namely: high cost required for monitoring processes. –– Financial constraints (i.e. high construction –– Technical constraints, including insufficient costs of treatment systems and sewerage net- infrastructure for collecting and treating works, high operational costs especially for wastewater, inappropriate set up of exist- electricity, low prices of freshwater relative ing infrastructure (not designed for reuse to treated wastewater, and low user will- purposes), improper functioning of exist- ingness to pay for reclaimed wastewater). ing infrastructure. –– Health impacts and environmental safe- –– Institutional set-up and poor coordination ty especially linked to soil structure dete- of appropriate personnel rioration, increased salinity and excess of –– Lack of political commitment and of nitrogen. national policies/strategies to support treat- ment and reuse of wastewater. Voices from the Field 25 –– Lack of communication and coordina- than for potable water use, it is nevertheless tion among the many authorities work- important to establish a baseline of stan- ing in wastewater treatment and reuse of dards to regulate wastewater. The experience treated effluents. of Algeria demonstrates the importance of –– Lack of public acceptance and awareness, implementing official statutes and monitor- related to low involvement and limited ing treated wastewater quality to insure the awareness of both farmers and consumers continued health of agricultural workers as of crops grown with reclaimed wastewater well as the safety of the agricultural products (and/or sludge). themselves. Throughout the region, weak regu- latory compliance and enforcement remains • “It is imperative that treated wastewater a major challenge. be allocated to areas and contexts of high demand� The experience from Jordan shows • “Regulations should be harmonized and that allocating treated effluent towards activi- streamlined�: In many Arab countries, regula- ties which demonstrate the highest financial tions and standards related to water reuse have and social returns helps ensure that the ben- been implemented in a piece-meal fashion. It efits derived from water reuse are maximized. is therefore worth considering an overhaul of Such a measure can help ensure greater pro- regulations and standards to be harmonized ductivity of the agriculture sector. Similarly, in and simplified. Such an effort helps ensure Tunisia, piped infrastructure of treated effluent ease of following and enforcement. was connected to locales demonstrating high • “Regulations and Standards are only demand for water and freshwater alternatives enforced with regular monitoring� A regu- are unavailable. lation only bears weight when effectively and • “Determining specific crop varieties is criti- consistently enforced. Further to this point, cal� When wastewater is reused for irrigation political commitment to enforce such stan- of food crops, Egypt’s example demonstrates dards is also important. that differentiating which types are appro- • “Pilot projects are highly valuable� While priate for treated effluent irrigation is use- useful in determining appropriate prototypes ful. Particularly when crops are expected to and technologies to implement, pilot projects undergo an additional step of processing (i.e. also have the added benefit of showcasing re- cooking) or are not edible, less stringent stan- sults to direct beneficiaries which helps over- dards can be applied to the quality of treated come stigmas and reservations associated with effluent used for irrigation. using treated effluent for irrigation purposes. • “The importance of health regulations and • “Communication is key�. Communicating monitoring cannot be overemphasized� between authorities as well as those engag- While water reuse for agriculture and irriga- ing in water reuse is important to success of tion purposes requires less stringent standards enforcing such regulations. 26  W AT E R R E U S E I N T H E A R A B W O R L D : F R O M P R I N C I P L E T O P R A C T I C E Sustainable cost recovery models to sustain water reuse A number of the Arab region’s public water sectors. While PPPs initially began in the potable supply and sanitation utilities suffer from weak water sector, such partnerships are expanding performance, insufficient funds, a lack of quali- into the wastewater treatment and reuse sectors. fied personnel and deteriorating infrastructure. While PPPs are not necessarily an all-encom- Often, such challenges originate in poor gover- passing solution to cure all challenges faced nance, ineffective and misdirected policies as by public utilities, select experiences from the well as a lack of competition amongst service region have demonstrated the great promise of providers. Increasingly, governments throughout the private sector in improving service delivery, the region have come to consider the private increasing efficiency and achieving financial sector as a possible partner in improving public solvency. Examples include Oman (Case Study service delivery. 1) where a 30 year concession established in 2003 Public private partnerships in the Arab is already demonstrating positive outcomes for region’s water and sanitation sector are a rela- Muscat. In Saudi Arabia (Case Study 2), special tively recent phenomenon—primarily imple- purpose vehicles are proving to be a useful form mented over the past two decades. Various of PPP, while in Jordan (Case Study 3), micro- country experiences with public private partner- private sector partnerships in water reuse are ships (PPP) are diverse and an overarching verdict delivering results. Issues of financing and pricing on the region’s experience with PPP is yet to be are also important as demonstrated in Algeria and determined. Nevertheless, PPPs in a variety of Morocco. Together, these experiences offer some forms have been implemented—with a variety snapshots on experiences within the Arab region of options identified amongst the finance, opera- with PPPs and offer some lessons learned for tions and maintenance and capital investment other governments seeking to pursue coordination agreements forged between the public and private with the private sector in water reuse delivery. Voices from the Field 27 Case Study 1 Oman: Muscat and Haya Water As part of the Sultanate of Oman’s Vision 2020 standalone systems with limited networks, con- Development Plan,16 the Government formed a veyance provided by tanker services and smaller number of limited liability companies with a treatment plants. Haya Water current Master Plan mandate to takeover wastewater services for aims to provide more comprehensive coverage by major cities. For the capital city Muscat, the Oman increasing connectivity and wastewater treatment Wastewater Services Company—also known as capacity. Figure # shows the five wastewater Haya Water—was formed in 2003 and made catchments of Muscat as of 2010. responsible for daily operations, maintenance While the current level of connectivity in and management of the city’s wastewater man- Muscat Governorate is roughly 20%, Haya Water agement system. However, as the city required aims to achieve 80% connectivity by 2018 and expanded wastewater services, Haya Water was 93% connectivity by 2035. Such aims are to be also responsible for planning, designing and achieved under the Capital Works Programs for implementing state-of-the-art wastewater col- Treatment Plants and Networks (CAPEX). By 2025, lection, treatment and disposal systems. Heavy Haya Water will operate 6 major wastewater treat- emphasis was placed on inclusion of water reuse ment plants in Muscat Governorate, 23 smaller in such infrastructure investments. treatment facilities in surrounding villages as In the past, the Governorate of Muscat’s five well as 2200 km of sewer and 320 km of treated wastewater catchments (Bawsher, As Seeb, Al effluent networks. The Haya Water Preliminary Amerat, Darsait and Quriyart) were served by Master Plan (2004) was developed on histori- cal census data and the Master Plan Study for 16 Initiated by His Majesty, Sultan Qaboos, the Vision 2020 Develop- Drinking Water (June, 2000). The revised Master ment Plan aims to modernize, improve the quality of life and institute Plan (2010) was altered to account for projected environmentally sustainability throughout the Sultanate of Oman. The Vision 2020 Plan is a continuation of a long-term national develop- population growth and expected waster demand ment strategy pursued since 1975. increase through 2035. Case Study 2 Saudi Arabia: Engaging the Private Sector to Implement the Treated Sewage Effluent Initiative To support the future success of public pri- network. The contracts, generally for terms of vate partnerships in wastewater treatment and up to 25 years, are fully bankable sales agree- reuse, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s National ments which will provide an early revenue Water Company (NWC) pursues a three-pronged stream for the anticipated special purpose approach. vehicles (SPVs). To date, it is believed that NWC has signed agreements for TSE worth • To ensure financial sustainability, NWC works in excess of SAR 5 billion. to establish revenue streams prior to priva- • To ensure infrastructural sustainability, NWC tizing a utility. awards engineering, procurement and con- • To ensure guaranteed revenue streams, NWC struction (EPC) contracts to either re-furbish signs long-term agreements with major water or enhance capacities of existing wastewater customers—particularly when a new site seeks treatment plants. to connect a site to the treated wastewater 28  W AT E R R E U S E I N T H E A R A B W O R L D : F R O M P R I N C I P L E T O P R A C T I C E Currently, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s embrace global best practice. NWC holds firm National Water Company (NWC) is develop- to the belief that a market-led approach, with ing a clear business plan for privatization of suitable protections that reflect NWC’s goals and wastewater treatment and reuse infrastructure objectives, will allow the market to maximize re- through the special purpose vehicle (SPV) model, use and optimize arrangements for the benefit of which is relatively new to Saudi Arabia. SPVs all. Nevertheless, the process is still ongoing to offer great potential in isolating and managing quantify and structure the precise arrangements potential financial risk, allowing access to new to ensure effective cost recovery, while staying revenue streams and wider markets, enabling true to NWC’s principles of improving KSA’s mac- the encashment of assets and contracts via trans- roeconomic environment, promoting sustainable fer to the SPVs, and increasing opportunity to development, and promoting citizens’ welfare. Case Study 3 Jordan: Micro-Private Sector Participation in Water reuse In Jordan, the Ministry of Water & Irrigation GIS applications backstopping & development (MWI) and the Water Authority of Jordan (WAJ) of further business tools, ICT infrastructure have developed a concept of Micro Private Sector and applications) Participation (PSP), which engages the Jordanian • Implementation of GIS based tools in customer private sector to take on specific activities. General management, management of redesign CIS responsibilities include functions such as billing and sewerage data base. and revenue collection, water loss reduction, leak repair, geographic information systems (GIS) and In the Madaba Governorate, a relatively small- information and communication technology (ICT) scale model of public private partnership (PPP) management and development, amongst other has been pursued since 2006. The Micro PSP activities. With this approach, local expertise is involved outsourcing customer service operations utilized and built, dependence on foreign assis- to Engicon Company. Aims of the partnership tance is reduced and preparatory work for more were to improve water and wastewater revenue, macro PSP contracts models is achieved. to increase the billing rate and to develop the cus- The commercialization and participation tomer management organization thereby improv- of Jordanian private sector companies in the ing efficiency. To achieve this, staff training and operations and management of water supply customer surveys and maps were implemented and wastewater disposal systems has been an to facilitate metering. important element of the Ministry of Water and By downscaling the geographic reach of the Irrigation (MWI), Water Authority of Jordan utility, the Madaba Water Administration was (WAJ) and the whole water sector strategies. able to issue its own bills instead of having to rely Responsibilities taken on by the private sector on government channels. The accuracy of meter include the following: reading improved and net billed water increased by 75%. Net collections increased from (0.9) mil- • All customer service operations (i.e. new lion in 2005 to (1.9) million in 2008. The levels water/wastewater customer connection, meter of nonrevenue water (NRW) initially dropped reading, reading assessment, billing, field from an average of 45% to 34%, but in 2009 they inspection, bill distribution, collection and were back at 40% due to an increase in water debt management) pumping pressure. Advantages of the Micro-PSP • GIS & ICT Units (management & updating of all model include the fact that the Water Authority water and wastewater mapping information, of Jordan maintained asset ownership and that Voices from the Field 29 all revenue collected went to the Authority, so based contract further set strong incentives for that investment costs could be fully recovered the private operator to deliver concrete results. within 13 months of operation. A performance- Select MENA Country Experiences with Forming a Concession Case Study 1 Oman and Haya Water of entering into a contract with a company In Oman, the wastewater sector operates within or a separate specialized company to do the an intricate statutory, regulatory, environmental work in part or in full. and political landscape. Working under a 30-year concession, Haya Water has begun to prove itself • Design and development of programs to ensure as an innovative example of the government part- the highest level of services for project benefi- nering with private finance to develop wastewater ciaries as well as operation and maintenance. infrastructure. Established in accordance to the Haya Water is further granted the ability to Commercial Companies Law in the Sultanate of subcontract operation and maintenance to Oman, Haya Water tariffs and service charges specialized subcontractors. are defined in the Concession Agreement and • Implementation of awareness-raising and can only be adjusted using the specifications and health education programs. procedures stated in the Concession Agreement. • Collection of tariffs and development of appro- Company objectives as defined under the priate mechanism for coordination with the Concession Agreement are as follows: competent authorities in the collection of • Development of organizational structures and revenues. the appointment of appropriate staff to man- • Control of the quality of treated wastewater. age and operate the system with the possibility Case Study 2 Algeria: Differential Pricing for Sanitation Services In Algeria, the National Office of Sanitation (ONA) which is set by the state according to the cost is entrusted with issuing concessions of public ser- of providing such wastewater services. These vice sanitation by the Ministry of Water Resources costs take into account geographic concerns (ADE). Under such concessions, either part or all and therefore employ differential pricing based of the management of a sanitation system can upon geographic zone (Algiers, Oran and Con- be delegated to public or private parties on the stantine, Chlef, and Ouargla). Differential pricing basis of a convention. An August 2005 law has also takes into account different categories of defined the procedures for granting and delega- water consumers (i.e. Category 1: Households, tion activity of sanitation. Currently, five wilayat Category 2: Government, Artisans and Services (Algiers, Oran, Constantine, Annaba and Tarf) Sector and Category 3: Industrial and Tourism are governed by a management contract estab- entities). Significantly, sanitation pricing also lished between ONA / ADE and foreign private corresponds to the volume of water supplied to operators. Important to this scheme is pricing, users of drinking water. 30  W AT E R R E U S E I N T H E A R A B W O R L D : F R O M P R I N C I P L E T O P R A C T I C E Case Study 3 Morocco: Joint Public-Private Financing of Water reuse Infrastructure In Marrakech, a partnership between the Govern- by the State and RADEEMA (70%) through its ment of Morocco, the State Board of Marrakech own financing and a loan from the Communal (RADEEMA) and tourism / golf course developers Equipment Fund (FEC). The remaining invest- launched a joint wastewater treatment and reuse ments (30%) were borne by the private sector. project. Under this scheme, treated wastewater Operating expenses related to tertiary treatment, (approximately 90,720 m3/day) will be routed to pumping and transportation of treated wastewater irrigate golf courses and the palm groove as well to golf courses will subsequently be subject to an as urban green spaces. The project will allow the agreement between RADEEMA and the private city to triple its area dedicated to golf courses, promoters.17 with long-term plans to irrigate golf courses 17 A similar partnership between the government and private sector exclusively with treated wastewater. The proj- is demonstrated in a pilot project carried out in the 1990s related to ect’s treatment process utilizes activated sludge water reuse for golf courses. As part of a public-private partnership followed by tertiary treatment by rapid filtration between the municipality of Benslimane, ONEP and a private operator managing a golf club in the city, a wastewater treatment facility pro- and UV disinfection. cesses a flow of 5600 m3/d (aerated lagoons and operational ponds). Investment costs as well as those of the com- Treated wastewater meets WHO standards and is transported to irrigate the golf courses. The private operator, owner of a golf club, plementary treatment of the STEP were insured pays all operating expenses of the wastewater treatment plant. Key Messages from Arab Experts Among the diverse experiences with PPPs successful PPPs can be noted from down- across the MENA region, a number of general scaled, decentralized and more localized ser- conclusions can be drawn including: vice provision provided by the private sector. • The importance of strong political support: • Differential pricing offers potential prom- Examples such as Oman and Saudi Arabia ise: The case of Algeria demonstrates that demonstrate how important it is to create an differential pricing of sanitation services can environment which enables the private sector help ensure cost-recovery while allowing for to achieve success in wastewater treatment individuals and organizations of diverse eco- and reuse. An enabling environment entails nomic means to pay at different rates. legislative change, regulation and political • End users can also be potential investors in commitment (sometimes in the form of an WWR infrastructure: The example of Morocco initiative or master plan). Responsibilities can- and Saudi Arabia comes to show that the end not simply be handed over from the public to user can also be tapped in certain instances to private sector with the expectation that posi- finance infrastructure expansions. If demand tive outcomes will inevitably result. for treated effluent is high enough, the end user should also be considered as a potential • PPP do not need to be large-scale: Experience investor in infrastructure expansions as well from Jordan comes to show that PPPs need as operations and maintenance not be carried out on a broad scale. Many Voices from the Field 31 32  W AT E R R E U S E I N T H E A R A B W O R L D : F R O M P R I N C I P L E T O P R A C T I C E Elements of a successful national water reuse strategy Conflicting demands on increasingly scarce nomic development throughout the Arab region water resources have warranted a number of adds greater urgency to properly allocating water Arab countries to establish a national water resources and considering inclusion of treated strategy to manage existing water resources. wastewater to grow a national water portfolio. The intrinsic connection between water and eco- Case Study 1 Morocco In Morocco, to consolidate past successes and • Protection of the quality of water resources to overcome a number of emerging challeng- and prevent pollution: This action is based es, the National Water Strategy was drafted. on knowledge of current quality of water Included within this Strategy are the following resources and an overarching goal of pre- three points: venting pollution. Specifically, it consists in Box 8 I nfrastructural I mpro v ements to M ake W ater reuse a N ational P riority : E x perience from K uwait As one of the only countries in the world without relieve stress on the Riqqa WWTP and expan- natural lakes or perennial rivers, Kuwait has long sion of the Sulaibiya WWTP (which already is the sought alternative water resources. A combination world’s largest RO WWTP) from 425,000 m3/day of a harsh climate and rapid growth of demand to 600,000 m3/day. Such activities run in line with on freshwater resources due to increasing urban- the Kuwait Sanitary Master Plan, which lays out a ization and agricultural expansion have further strategy for the development of Kuwait’s sanitary added to this grave need. The Ministry of Public system until 2045. The Plan will incorporate strategy Works—through its sanitary engineering sector—has related to the development of sewers, pumping therefore prepared a number of technical studies stations and sewage treatment plants, as well as and provided technical assistance to develop and the interaction with final effluent distribution and renew wastewater infrastructure for water reuse. sludge management. Current work includes renovation of old networks Significantly, as demand for treated wastewater (i.e. replacement of damaged pipes and manholes) has been so high, Kuwait has found it necessary as well as improvements to the sewerage distribu- to also construct an extensive treated sewage tion networks. Also in plans are efforts to expand effluent distribution network which consists of a the capacity of existing wastewater treatment plants data monitoring center, holding tanks of various (WWTP) while also building new ones. Activities sizes, pumping station as well as extensive pipe include expansion of the Umm Al Hayman WWTP infrastructure. from 20,000 m3/day to 650,000 m3/day to help Voices from the Field 33 accelerating the pace at which national goals • Supply management and development : for sanitation coverage and wastewater treat- Morocco has invested extensively in water ment rates are met. resource mobilization, and these efforts are • Further regulatory and institutional reforms: to be expanded to a larger scale by the mobi- Since the early 1990s, Morocco has been lization of non-conventional water resources equipped with a modern legislative arsenal which include desalinated sea water, demin- through the enactment of significant laws, eralized brackish waters, and the reuse of especially Law 10-95 on water and the envi- treated wastewater. 300 Mm3/year of treated ronment. However, enactment of such a law wastewater is planned to be reused in the must also be complemented with completing watering of golf courses and green space, in the legal framework necessary for the imple- addition to reuse in crop irrigation. mentation of all provisions of Law 10-95, par- ticularly the polluter pays principle. Case Study 2 Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia’s Treated Sewage Effluent Initiative TSEI benefits include: (i) addressing the water (TSEI) provides large volumes of treated wastewa- shortage challenges in KSA and conserving scarce ter to customers for uses including agricultural, water resources, (ii) developing new infrastruc- industrial, commercial, and district cooling uses ture and operating it efficiently and (iii) provid- among other non-potable purposes and has cre- ing environmental benefits such as net carbon ated an environmentally friendly and financially reductions, by indirectly contributing to lesser sustainable long-term market for treated sewage capital requirements for power and water genera- effluent. tion. To maximize the potential of water reuse Box 9 T he U nited N ations S ecretary G eneral’ s A d v isory B oard on W ater and S anitation ( U N S G A B ) The objectives of the UNSGAB are to (a) help drinking water targets, it is well behind meeting its mobilize resources for water and sanitation towards sanitation targets. For this reason, the Sustainable achievement of the Millennium Development Goals Sanitation Half Decade—The 5 Years Drive to 2015 (MDGs), (b) publicly mobilize support while advo- initiative has been launched. In a high-level plenary cating for actions and ensuring political visibility, meeting on the MDGs, it is noted that concerted (c) assessing progress made towards the water and efforts will be made in “redoubling effort to close sanitation goals and (d) advocating for improving the sanitation gap through scaled-up ground-level the capacity of governments and the international action, supported by strong political will and increased system. HRH Prince Willem-Alexander of the Neth- community participation, in accordance with national erlands is Chair of the Board while HIH The Crown development strategies, the mobilization and provision Prince of Japan serves as the Honorary President of adequate financial and technological resources, of the Board. technical know-how and capacity building for devel- oping countries, to increase the coverage of basic In 2010, the United Nations lent significant support sanitation, noting the global efforts to realize ‘Sustain- towards expanding sanitation services in developing able Sanitation Half-Decade—5 Years Drive to 2015. countries. While the world is on track to meeting its 34  W AT E R R E U S E I N T H E A R A B W O R L D : F R O M P R I N C I P L E T O P R A C T I C E and bolster TSEI activities, the National Water ous chapter in more detail, it is important to Company (NWC) further created TSE Business note that Business Development Department has Development Unit which better pave the way been successful in improving the sale of treated for special purpose vehicles (SPVs) formation. wastewater and creating private sector investment Experience from Saudi Arabia and TSEI comes opportunities for the private sector in the field of to show that public private partnerships (PPPs) water reuse in developing and constructing new offer great promise in delivering a national strategy treatment plants with the purpose of increasing the for water reuse. While discussed in the previ- overall capacities of treating domestic wastewater. Case Study 3 Jordan In Jordan, the inclusion of water reuse in its As national efforts to develop the agriculture National Water Strategy in 1998 was a signal of sector in the Jordan Valley requires availability placing high priority on the value of reclaimed of water resources, inclusion of treated waste- water. Wastewater represents 10% of Jordan’s water in irrigation portfolios has added greater total water supply (WaDImena, 2008) and up to pressure to pursue a national strategy for water 95% of its treated wastewater is currently reused reuse. Three government agencies are therefore (MED WWR WG, 2007). While the Government tasked with the responsibility of incorporating of Jordan has carried out significant and compre- water reuse within a country’s water strategy: hensive plans to expand wastewater treatment (1) the Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MWI), throughout the country, the Ministry of Water the Water Authority of Jordan and the Jordan and Irrigation prioritization of expanding water Valley Authority (JVA). A brief description of reuse capacity and inclusion of treated effluent each agency is as follows: in its overall water strategy is deeply significant. • Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MWI): Established in 1988, the Ministry of Water and Irrigation is the official body respon- sible for the overall monitoring of the water sector, water supply and wastewater system and the related projects, planning and man- agement, the formulation of national water strategies and policies, research and develop- ment, information systems and procurement of financial resources. Its role also includes the provision of centralized water-related data, standardization and consolidation of data. Establishment of MWI was in response to Jordan’s recognition of the need for a more integrated approach to national water manage- ment. MWI has developed applicable strategies and programs for the implementation of water policy. More specifically the Ministry seeks to address critical issues facing Jordan’s water sector which include the imbalance between growing demand and diminishing supply as Voices from the Field 35 well as to properly allocate water resources planning boundaries of the municipalities, which account for the development of the (c) preservation of Jordan rights in trans- domestic, industrial, agriculture and tourism boundary waters through joint regional water sectors conjunctively. committees with neighboring countries, and (d) bulk water supplier for different uses, • Water Authority of Jordan (WAJ): Established according to priorities and adopted water in 1983 as an autonomous corporate body, policies for domestic, industry and irrigation with financial and administrative indepen- purposes. JVA also develops water resourc- dence, WAJ is directly linked with the Prime es for irrigated agriculture, which include Minister. The Water Authority was responsible treated wastewater. JVA also conducts stud- for the public water supply and wastewa- ies to assess water resources, settles disputes ter services, as well as for the overall water amongst water users. resources planning and monitoring. In 1988, the Water Authority linked with the Minister of Also significant are a number of limited lia- Water and Irrigation. WAJ carries full respon- bility companies which operate and maintain sibility for the public water supply, waste- infrastructure while carrying out the actual water water services and related projects as well reuse goals set out by the three Jordanian agen- as for the overall water resources planning cies entrusted with guiding the country’s national and monitoring, construction, operations and strategy on water reuse. These companies include maintenance. the Jordan Water Company—Miyahuna, the Aqaba • Jordan Valley Authority (JVA): Established Water Company and the Yarmouk Water Company. in 1977, JVA carries out integrate socio-eco- Currently, Jordan has more than 20 wastewater nomic development of the Jordan Valley area. treatment plants which are equipped with reuse Main responsibilities include: (a) the study, capability and include As Samra, Wadi As-Sir, design, implement, operate and maintain irri- Abu Nuseir, Aljiza and Talbiya, Mechanical and gation projects, dams and water harvesting Natural Wastewater Treatment Plants in Aqaba, in Kingdom, (b) survey, classify and iden- Wadi Mousa, Ma’an, Baqa’a, Salt, Fuhais and tify lands in addition to reclaim and divide Mahis, Madaba, Tafileh, Karak, Jarash, Kufranja, these lands into agricultural and residential Irbid, Wadi Arab, Ramtha, Mafraq, and Wadi units and set up the organizational, structural Hassan. All treated effluent is used towards safe and detailed layout for lands located off the irrigation. Box 10 N atural W astewater T reatment in A qaba In Aqaba, a natural wastewater treatment plant Significantly, this wastewater treatment plant answers was established in 1986 according to a designed environmental needs as well. Wild life flourishes next capacity of (9000) cubic meters per day, and receives to the settlement tanks around the natural treatment nearly 40% of the wastewater produced by the city. plant where migrating birds of various species have In this station wastewater is purified by oxidizing found an oasis along avian migratory paths. The Jor- organic matter naturally. danian Society for Sustainable Development (JSSD) has a location in this area to monitor the migrating Currently, work is underway to upgrade the existing and domestic birds which also many researchers and plant to accommodate a daily flow of (24,000 m3) in investigators visit for the same reason.. 2020. Half the effluent water will be reused for irriga- tion. The remaining effluent is mechanically treated for industrial use (2.5 MCM/year). 36  W AT E R R E U S E I N T H E A R A B W O R L D : F R O M P R I N C I P L E T O P R A C T I C E Key Messages from Arab Experts The region’s experience with creating a national • “Anticipate a need to spend much time coor- strategy for water reuse is diverse. Neverthe- dinating amongst institutions�. Implementing less a number of items are identified as factors a National Strategy is likely to involve a large to consider for creating a national strategy which number of institutional actors. It is advised that include: when implementing such a strategy that proper • “A National Strategy requires a complimen- time be allocated and anticipated for coordi- tary investment planning and budgeting nating between various actors. Consensus strategy� The experience of Algeria demon- building approaches to decision-making can strates that in order for a National Strategy to be useful in this regard. be successful, a parallel investment planning • “Partnerships with the Private Sector can be and budgeting scheme needs to be devised useful and should not be overlooked�. The to ensure success. example of Saudi Arabia demonstrates that the private sector can be considered a possible partner in implementing a national strategy Voices from the Field 37 38  W AT E R R E U S E I N T H E A R A B W O R L D : F R O M P R I N C I P L E T O P R A C T I C E Moving from Principle to Practice T his short report provides a snapshot of the reality of water reuse in Arab countries and communicates key messages and priorities from the Arab region’s challenges of weak institutions, shortage of trained personnel, lack of monitoring equipment and the relatively high cost required water sector experts in the region. for monitoring processes. Two types of monitoring The emerging recommendation of the Expert are recommended: first, process control monitor- Consultation Meeting recommend a holistic risk- ing to provide data to support the operation and analysis to set up guidelines adapted to each optimization of the system in order to achieve suc- country’s social, economic, and environmental cessful project performance; the second, compli- circumstances. The various country case stud- ance monitoring to meet regulatory requirements ies further demonstrate the wide range of water and not to be performed by the same agency in reuse practices around the Arab region, and charge of process control monitoring. illustrate the futility of prescribing a single, rigid management approach. These recommendations Strengthen the legal and regulatory summarize the lessons learned in different Arab environment regarding water reuse countries, and point to future steps to be taken for safe and sustainable water use under the local The establishment of clear policies with regard and regional diverse conditions. to wastewater management and water reuse across Arab countries is required in order to Explore, adapt and adopt efficient and guide programs, projects and investments relating environmentally appropriate technologies to wastewater collection, treatment, re-use and disposal in a sustainable manner. These policies Technology selection should focus on the type of should be compatible with other local policies reuse anticipated, proximity to source of effluent, including those on national water management environmental sustainability, local conditions, and irrigation, health, sanitation, agriculture and and affordability. Simple solutions that are eas- the environment. Policies of water reuse and ily replicated, that allow further up-grading with strategies for its implementation should be part subsequent development and that can be operated of water resources planning at the national level. and maintained by the local community are often At the local level, individual reuse projects should considered the most appropriate and cost effective. be part of the overall river basin planning effort. Apply realistic standards and regulations Improve coordination and networking among and promote appropriate monitoring and Arab institutions involved in the water sector evaluation mechanisms to minimize its risks to public health and the environment The responsibilities of the various organizations involved in wastewater collection, treatment An important element in sustainable water reuse and reuse must be considered and reconciled by is the formulation of a framework of realistic, improving coordination among stakeholders and achievable and enforceable standards for treated the donor community. Improved participatory wastewater quality and applications. Monitoring approaches (especially with farmers) are further and evaluation of water reuse programs and proj- needed including raising the awareness of the ects are fundamental and thus must overcome general public on the benefits of water reuse. Voices from the Field 39 Enhance public awareness, participation and of system implementation, particularly when the dissemination of best practices associated costs are very large. To achieve general acceptance of re-use schemes, Identify a center of excellence for regional it is of fundamental importance to have active programs on wastewater treatment and reuse public involvement from the planning phase for the Arab region including training and through the full implementation process. capacity building. Encourage demand-driven planning of water Arab countries should designate a center of Excel- reuse. lency, specialized in wastewater treatment and reuses technologies with the aim of (i) organizing Demand management and water conservation regional training courses for exchange of experi- strategies remain the most cost effective approach- ence (ii) establishing a joint regional data base es to reduce withdrawals. Water reuse should thus for water reuse projects and (iii) establishing a be oriented to demand-driven planning of reuse website for communications and dissemination projects, and commitment to the reuse. of information. Mobilize financial resources for wastewater Support research and innovation in treatment and reuse and encourage public- wastewater treatment and reuse. private partnerships in wastewater treatment and reuse. Arab countries should allocate the required funds to support applied research to find sustainable Adopting an adequate policy for the pricing of wastewater treatment processes adaptable to water is of fundamental importance in the sustain- the socioeconomic and climatic conditions of ability of water reuse systems even if subsidizing the Region. reuse system may be necessary at the early stages 40  W AT E R R E U S E I N T H E A R A B W O R L D : F R O M P R I N C I P L E T O P R A C T I C E