Regional Conference on Advancing Non Conventional Water Resources Management in the Mediterranean, 14-15 September 2011, Athens, Greece

1. Athens 14-15 09 2011
Pr. Redouane Choukr-Allah

2. • Expert Consultation Wastewater
Management in the Arab World
22-24 May 2011- Dubai-UAE
• Second Arab Forum Cairo Egypt
November 2011 Session on
Non-Conventional water resources

3. • Expert Consultation Wastewater
Management in the Arab World
22-24 May 2011- Dubai-UAE
• Second Arab Forum Cairo Egypt
November 2011 Session on
Non-Conventional water resources

4. (109 mm3 /year
9 3
10 /year)
• 300
256,30
250
200
150
100
9,95 5,74 1,89
50
0
Total water total Volume of Treated
withdrawal wastewater treated Wastewater
produced wastewater Reused

5. • The annual volume of wastewater discharged in
untreated form in Arab region is 7.5 km3, which is
43% of the total wastewater produced in the region.
• 57% of the wastewater generated in Arab region is
treated, which is higher than Asia (35%), Latin
American/Caribbean (14%) and Africa (1%)
• 83% of treated wastewater used in agriculture,
• most of the partly treated, diluted or untreated
wastewater is used by urban and peri-urban farmers
to grow a range of crops.

6. Financial
•
Institutiona Policy &
l set-up & political
personnel commitmen
capacity t
Health &
Awareness environment -
& Enforcement
acceptance of standards -
Monitoring
Technical

7. High construction costs of treatment systems
(esp. for small and medium size communities)
High O&M costs, e.g. for electricity, equipment
maintenance, investments in trained personnel –
often not recovered by user fees
Costs (and lack of funds) to build sewage
collection systems
High price of reclaimed WW vs. lower
freshwater prices
Price that farmers are willing to pay for reclaimed
WW hardly covers O&M costs for WW
conveyance and distribution <--> Crop
restrictions

8. Reduce treatment operation costs, e.g. check
research on alternative operating conditions to save
electricity; broader use of solar energy
Focus on making reuse more profitable to
farmers (to ultimately recover more costs for reuse of
treated WW via user fees):
Research ways to extend list of crops irrigated with
WW, e.g. upgrade treatment or apply drip irrigation to
avoid contact of crop with WW

9. Reclamation and reuse of Marrakech
wastewater
•
Project cost : 15 Million Euros
Capacity: 100 000 m3/day
Production (electricity) 16 MWh/day
33 Million m3/year are reused to irrigate 17 golfe
courses
60 km of Pipes and 4 Pumping Stations

10. Methane gas generated in the anaerobic
basins is recovered and converted to
energy
Treated wastewater is sold to farmers
for irrigation purposes
Reeds from reeds beds are harvested and
sold
Sewage sludge is dried and composted
with other organic solid wastes in order
to produce compost
Charging a wastewater fee for
connection to sewage

11. Economical Aspect
• Concentrate on demand-driven planning
of reuse projects
• Cost benefit and cost recovery should be
integrated for sustainability of any reuse
project
• Diversify the reuse
• Encourage PPP in wastewater treatment
and reuse
•

12. •
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION