MENAWARA final event in Sardinia: International Conference on sustainable water management.

MENAWARA International Conference on sustainable water management: the use of non-conventional water in Mediterranean countries.

Research and cooperation towards a more sustainable water management.

Sassari, Italy, 4 – 5 July 2023

4 July: Dept of Agricultural Sciences, University of Sassari, viale Italia 39A 5 July: Arborea

The International conference aims at gathering national and international relevant stakeholders, including public and private authorities to show the effective implementation of projects in the field of non-conventional water reuse taking into account the technical scientific results achieved by projects funded by the ENI CBC “Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme 2014-2020”, a multilateral cross-border cooperation programme co-financed by the European Union under the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI).

The event is organized by the Desertification Research Centre of the University of Sassari (NRD-UNISS), coordinator of the “Non Conventional WAter Re-use in Agriculture in MEditerranean countries” (MENAW ARA) project, and partner of “The MEDiterranean pathWAY for innovation CAPitalisation toward an urban-rural integrated development of non- conventional water resources” (MEDWAYCAP) project, funded by the ENI CBC MED programme.

Considering Mediterranean Countries’ water policies, and the link between water shortage, increasing water demand and poor infrastructure and management practices, the challenges of MENAWARA project, started in 2019, consisted of providing additional water resources by recycling drainage and wastewater (WW), rationalizing water use practices in agriculture and setting up operational governance models in line with national and international plans. Innovative techniques adopting the “fit-to-purpose” approach in water reuse to meet the needs of the intended end-users and stakeholders’ engagement (living labs) have been at the core of the project.

MENAWARA is part of a cluster of projects contributing to environmental protection, climate change adaptation and mitigation, objectives of the “ENI CBC MED programme. MENAWARA, MEDISS, PROSIM, AQUACYCLE and NAWAMED, shared the common challenges “Water Efficiency” and concerns, and could benefit from a consolidated network of organizations that have been collaborating in the same field for years, whose best practices are capitalized by MEDWAYCAP project.

In order to give space to the lessons learned from the projects nearing completion, promote collaborative pathway between research and cooperation and strengthen education system in the field of sustainable water management, the event will be structured in 2 phases: (1) a first session where the MENAWARA project achieved results and recommendations will be presented and will be included within the context of ENI CBC MED standard projects on NCW; (2) a second session where institutions working in research, education and cooperation will discuss to contribute to achieving the 6th Sustainable Development Goal set by the United Nations: “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”.

A field visit to MENAWARA, MEDISS (ENI CBC MED) and RELIVE WASTE (INTERREG MED), pilot sites in Arborea will end the event.