On the 16th of January 2022, the palestinian and jordanian partners had their second bilateral meeting.

The encounter, meant to be held in person in Palestine, took place virtually due to the border closures. 
Right after the welcoming speech by the representatives of Palestinian Wastewater Engineers Group, Jericho Governorate (Palestine), and the Aqaba Water Company, the partners updated each other project activities progress of the last six months. 

To better illustrate the program, the scope of the work, and the water resources, the partners showed some videos, produced in Arabic and accompanied by English subtitles.

Palestinian Wastewater Engineers Group's activities
The Palestinian Wastewater Engineers Group (PWEG) illustrated how starting their activities with the small localities deepened the perception of the specific territorial needs and made it possible to give concrete help to improve the particular ecological conditions.

Palestine territories need much attention. Rising environmental awareness and providing technical assistance have been key elements that led the PWEG to achieve several projects successfully.
PWEG General Director, Monther Hind, illustrated some examples of the support given to Al-Auja Municipality. They worked on rehabilitating the most damaged part of Al-Auja Spring canal (more than 1.5 km), raised the canal edges with the water level, and provided for its maintenance, saving extra millions of cubic water that would have been wasted.

Another successful project consists of establishing a household water purification plant: a greenhouse and a 40 kW solar photovoltaic plant. Through this project, the farmers and their families can hold up on their land and afford the electricity costs.

About the project
Amal Orabi, the Project Manager, outlined the projects in Palestine, Jordan, Italy, and Tunisia. In addition to these practical projects, MEDISS is very active also in awareness activities and campaigns. 

Water situation

MEDISS project helped the farmers struggling with water scarcity (suffering from lack of water). In Al-Auja, the water stopped flouring years ago, causing an agricultural crisis. Since palm trees don't need much water, they went from large fruit and vegetable cultivations to dates culivation. So the farmers had to deal not only with water scarcity but also with its high salinity.
The sewage treatment plant is a secondary water treatment plant that allows the farmers to get enough water to irrigate trees and soils. 
The process consists of two stages. The first is a mechanical separation process of all solid materials in water so that they don’t get in the process and don’t cause any damage to the pump. Finally, in the biological stage, the water is treated in order to eliminate bacterial cells and pollution from that water. Once all pathogens and disease-causing organisms are terminated, the water is ready to be used in palm cultivation without any ecological damage.

Discover the full video in Arabic with subtitles in English here: https://youtu.be/bhErJjOkMus