MEDWAYCAP: Palestine celebrates the World Water Days launching a video message
World Water Day is on 22 March every year. It is an annual United Nations Observance, started in 1993, that celebrates water and raises awareness of the 2 billion people currently living without access to safe water. A core focus of World Water Day is to inspire action towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030.
The topic of this year is “GROUNDWATER – MAKING THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE”
Groundwater is invisible, but its impact is visible everywhere. Out of sight, under our feet, groundwater is a hidden treasure that enriches our lives. In the driest parts of the world, it may be the only water people have.
According to the main message highlighted by the UN-Water, the Palestinian Wastewater Engineers Group (PWEG) partner of MEDWAYCAP made a reflection on the complex situation of Palestine and involved stakeholders to highlight the opportunities supplied by the two ENI CBC MED projects managed by PWEG, MEDISS and MEDWAYCAP.
Palestinians depend on groundwater resources for all water uses, since years ground water recharge is declining due to climate change. The need for water is increasing year by year. Major water consumption is in agriculture.
Almost all of the liquid freshwater in the world is groundwater, supporting drinking water supplies, sanitation systems, farming, industry and ecosystems. In many places, human activities over-use and pollute groundwater. In other places, we simply do not know how much water is down there.
In order to better organize the use of water in irrigation, Palestinian Water Authority (PWA), has created Water Users Associations (WUA). Jericho WUA for date irrigation is supported by PWEG through MEDWAYCAP and MEDISS projects. Support to date farming association and WUA consists in institutional support and in recovering brackish water resources and using it in agriculture, where treated municipal wastewater is blended with saline and wadi water and reused in irrigation of Medjoul Date, by this pressure on ground water resources is alleviated providing extra quantity of good quality water, this contributes to better date quality and help improving soil water characteristics.
Efforts through MEDISS and MEDWAYCAP projects are coordinated with PWEG partners and associated in the Jordan Valley and with national Authorities such as the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture and PWA.
Groundwater will play a critical role in adapting to climate change. We need to work together to sustainably manage this precious resource.
According to this call to action launched by the UN-Water, the partnership of MEDWAYCAP aims to contribute to mitigating local water crisis, a common challenge in the Mediterranean, through facilitating general access and promotion of best practices including the improvement of treated wastewater reuse as a non-conventional water resource (NCWR).
Watch the video message recorded by PWEG here