Project description

The Mediterranean countries are characterized by a severe water imbalance, mainly in the summer months, especially those located in the North Africa and Middle East region. This imbalance in water demand versus supply is due mainly to the relatively and uneven distribution of precipitation, high temperatures, increased demands for irrigation water and the impacts of tourism. To alleviate water shortages serious consideration must be given to wastewater reclamation and reuse. The sustainable wastewater treatment and reuse is a continuous challenge.

In the Mediterranean countries, wastewater, at different level of treatment (raw, secondary or tertiary) is used alone or mixed with fresh water, mostly on forage and cereals but also sometimes on fruit trees and even vegetables, depending on national legislation and its enforcement. Concern for human health and the environment are the most important constraints in the reuse of wastewater. In several cases the wastewater is not properly treated due to the fact that the construction cost of efficient treatment systems is very high, especially for small and medium size communities.
Of course many alternative solutions have been developed with the scientific and technological progress during the last years. However, the selection of the appropriate treatment technique that is tailored to the needs of each community means in several cases the involvement of qualified specialists.
Moreover, in several cases the outflow of the wastewater treatment systems does not have a standard quality either because standard operating procedures are not followed, or because there is no qualified personnel able to overcome usual problems and to control/monitor the whole treatment procedure. A serious problem that can create significant obstacles in the safe reuse of the treated wastewater in agriculture is the lack of information of all the involved actors.

The transfer of knowledge, experience and know-how in the Mediterranean countries will be mostly valuable if also considering that Greece and Spain are Mediterranean countries and therefore common interests are shared between all partners.

The project lasted 51 months and consisted of 8 tasks.