AQUACYCLE Charter on Wastewater Reuse

The goal of the Charter is to promote the sustainable use of non-conventional water resources and to support the transfer and sharing of AQUACYCLE research results at the operational level. In doing so, the Charter aspires to create a shared vision for the establishment of a transboundary Mediterranean Wastewater Community.
Rather than bringing the voices of the research teams who designed, tested, and validated the project’s low-cost, eco-innovative wastewater treatment system, abbreviated to the APOC system in the Charter. The Charter foremost brings the voices of farmers and local communities from the three geographic locations where a pilot demonstration unit of the APOC system has been installed.
To start with, through this Charter, farmers alert to a dire future to sustain their livelihoods in the face of ever dwindling freshwater supplies. Next, local community representatives share their views on the reuse of treated wastewater and their expectations of the APOC system. The research in AQUACYCLE also provided an opportunity to demonstrate that it is entirely possible for local communities to take an active role in the drawing up of action plans for the reuse of treated wastewater. This is followed by the appraisal of farmers and local communities who participated in Participatory GIS (PGIS) Practice sessions that were organized in Lebanon and in Tunisia for this purpose. Further chapters bring the views of policy- and decision-making authorities in the water, agricultural, sanitation and health-related sectors on the functionality of an online Irrigation Support Tool. The latter guides on the generation of optimal action plans for the reuse of treated wastewater, based on economic, environmental and social criteria of the user’s choice. It also proved opportune to dedicate a chapter to the level of satisfaction expressed by farmers around the Mediterranean with the current measures put in place by public authorities to combat land and water degradation. Last but not least, the Charter brings the viewpoints expressed by experts and trend-setters in Spain on the reuse of treated wastewater and on the prospects for the APOC technology to meet the recently introduced EU Regulation on the Minimum Requirements for Water Reuse.