Hamzeh Abu Thabet is 72 years old.  He was a teacher in the village of Beit Dajan (West Bank) and he used to cultivate seasonal olives and field crops as feed for animals especially in summer time, when schools are in holidays. So when he retired 12 years ago he focused his work on lemon farming. He has 7 family members, his older son helps him and does send the produce to the central market in the city of Nablus. Sometimes the price of lemon goes down and the production cost is higher at his farm due to usage of fresh water most time, so this is a main challenge for him.

Like all the members of the Water Users Association, set up on the initiative of the MENAWARA project, he therefore has a great interest in the reuse of treated wastewater. According to the project schedule, the plant in Beit Dajan will be completed in few months, and it will serve 15 farmers, to irrigate their crops of olives, lemon, grapes, and fodder for animals.

During the meeting of the Association last December 23, Abu Thabet spoke about the role and responsibilities of the users and the village council in regard to the quality of the effluent: ‘Hopefully the rehabilitation of the Waste Water Treatment Plant will enable me to reuse treated water for irrigation, and supply enough quantity for the crops, which will reduce the cost of irrigation’, said Abu Thabet.