The Mediterranean library of knowledge
Explore the ENI CBC Med Programme's library of deliverables: a comprehensive digital repository of diverse resources tailored for the Mediterranean region. Discover in-depth studies, innovative strategies, and practical tools spanning tools addressing key environmental, economic, and social issues. The library is your go-to source to find valuable knowledge to inspire new collaborative projects driving fair, sustainable and inclusive development across the Mediterranean.
AQUACYCLE Pilot Demonstration Units of an Eco-Innovative Wastewater Treatment System
Three pilot demonstration units of AQUACYCLE’s low-cost, eco-innovative wastewater treatment system, abbreviated to APOC system, have been constructed at the following locations: 1) a site owned by the real estate company SANABEL in Deddeh, south of Tripoli in North Lebanon; (2) at the existing anaerobic wastewater treatment facility of Blanca in the Murcia Region of Spain; and (3) at the existing wastewater treatment facility of Bent Saidane in the Zaghouan Governorate of Tunisia. The three sites have in common that they represent small to medium sized communities whose livelihoods depend primarily on agriculture.
The present Output explains the entire construction process from contract award to commissioning, including plant performance. The details of the construction are presented to provide the next developers of other APOC facilities with a visual guide to help them replicate the APOC eco-innovative system for municipal wastewater treatment and reuse in small to medium-size communities.
This activity has been split into three parts, one for each demo site, as there are differences between the designs. It will enrich knowledge even more as it can help to compare the different variants of APOC systems.
AQUACYCLE Local communities take an active part in the drawing up of actions plans for the reuse of treated wastewater
how the bottom-up inputs towards the drawing up of action plans for the reuse of treated domestic effluent was achieved through the successful organization of the second series of stakeholder workshops in Lebanon and Tunisia.
The first chapter reiterates on the scope of the Participatory GIS (PGIS) in AQUACYCLE, the motivation for targeting local communities around the pilot demonstration sites of the project’s eco-innovative domestic wastewater treatment system (APOC) and the logistics that were put in place ahead of the workshops. The second chapter informs on how the PGIS practice was introduced to the participants and its outcomes in both Lebanon and Tunisia. An appraisal on the PGIS practice sessions is provided both on the part of the organizers and on the part of the participants who joined in the event in the third chapter. Concluding remarks and a look ahead at the next steps make up the final, fourth chapter.
For the reasons explained in this report, the venue of the workshop in Spain was moved to a farmer community outside the Murcia Region. In lieu of the PGIS practice session, the participants in Spain were shown the actual reuse action plans in the Murcia Region where the reuse of treated effluent continues to be among the highest in Europe.
AQUACYCLE Local action and Investment plans
The Local Action and Investment Plans report informs about the aims and outcomes of the third and final series of stakeholder workshops which was joined mainly by representatives at the local decision-making level, i.e. councillors of municipalities and representatives of Unions of Municipalities in Lebanon, and by policy- and decision-makers at the national level in Tunisia. Organized as a webinar in Spain, the event was joined mainly by wastewater treatment plant operators and technicians, as well as by entities involved in the planning and design of wastewater treatment projects, and research entities on wastewater treatment systems.
While the first chapter reiterates on the aims and scope of the events, the second chapter informs about the preparatory activity of drawing up actions plans with a target of reusing 300.000 cubic meters of treated wastewater per annum. The third chapter informs, briefly, about the presentations that were made at the respective events, while the fourth chapter brings the succinct outcomes from of the discussions and exchange of views that took place. Finally, chapter 5 takes stock of the significant level of attendance and of the wide media coverage that were achieved on the occasion of the third, and final, series of stakeholder workshops.
AQUACYCLE Portfolio of Outreach Activities
The Portfolio of Outreach Activities brings an overview of the different types of stakeholder engagement activities that were organized over the lifetime of the ENI CBC Med funded AQUACYCLE Project.
A preliminary chapter brings a highly condensed summary overview, informing about the respective audiences that were targeted, as well as the key performance indicators and main outcomes achieved.
This is followed by a detailed description of the different types of outreach activities, which have been spread out over 10 individual chapters:
1. First Series of Stakeholder Workshops
2. Second Series of Stakeholder Workshops
3. Third Series of Stakeholder Workshops
4. Interviews with water stakeholders
5. Final Conference
6. Synergies and clustering events with ENI CBC Med funded projects
7. Synergies with other EU funded projects
8. Participation in brokerage and innovation events
9. AQUACYCLE meets up with junior high school students
10. AQUAYCLE in the media
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.
AQUACYCLE Mediterranean Wastewater Reuse Community
The final output in AQUACYCLE is concerned with the setting up of a Mediterranean Wastewater Reuse Community.
The project’s Final Conference in Lebanon during 23 to 24 June 2023, ran with the theme of inviting everyone to join AQUACYCLE’s Mediterranean Wastewater Reuse Alliance. It was explained to the 200 participants at the event that by endorsing the Final Version of the MedAPOC Charter, they would automatically be joining this Alliance.
Earlier in the project, the Semi-Final Version of the MedAPOC Charter was placed on the project website to mark World Water Day in 20232, which aptly ran with the theme: ‘Accelerating change to solve the water and sanitation crisis’. This created the opportunity to already start inviting water stakeholders from around the Region to read up on the Charter, and to invite them to endorse the Charter by filling their details on a google form, and thus become ‘early members’ of the Alliance. Well over 150 persons from around the Region signed up to this initial initiative. It is particularly noteworthy that the signatories bring a balanced mix of Partners in ongoing ENI CBC Med or other EU funded projects that bring synergies to AQUACYCLE, the Research community, in broader terms as compared to the aforementioned category, Local community representatives, including local decision makers and NGOs, Ministries and entities operating at European/Regional/International level, Public/private entities in charge of water treatment/sanitation and water supply, Water treatment plant operators and technicians. Also noteworthy is that 42% of these signatories are women. There is also a clearly interesting correlation between the date on which new signatories joined and the organization of outreach activities such as the second and third series of stakeholder workshops.
In terms of keeping this initiative ‘alive’ beyond the project duration, it is important to highlight the scope and functionality of the project’s e-learning platform. Indeed, aside from the training material, the platform offers users the possibility to communicate and network with other users, including experts on wastewater treatment plant operators and technicians, from around the world.
In present document focuses on the proceedings of the Final Conference during which the Final Version of the MedAPOC Charter was launched.