MENA Region

As water scarcity intensifies across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), governments and experts are looking for sustainable solutions to close the water gap. Javier Mateo-Sagasta, Senior Researcher and Coordinator for Water Quality at IWMI, discusses in this interview the social perceptions, economic constraints, and policy challenges that hinder water reuse in the region. He also explains how AI and remote sensing can help countries like Egypt optimize wastewater management and move toward a more circular water economy.

When ReWater MENA was launched at Cairo Water Week in Egypt in 2018, it marked the start of an ambitious four-year project to expand the safe reuse of water in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Like many parts of the world, the MENA region does not have enough water to meet rising demand.

IWMI has strong track records on water reuse, including those from the ReWater MENA project. As a recognition to IWMI’s work, Javier Mateo-Sagasta, Senior researcher and project leader of ReWaterMENA, was invited to provide policy recommendations for more and safer water reuse in the Arab Region at the Fourth meeting of the High-Level joint Water-Agriculture Technical Committee of the League of Arab States (LOAS).

Water is part of every step in the food value chain, from food production to processing and consumption. A dependency that is hampering food security in a water scarce region such as the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Water Reuse occupied a prominent place in the 2021 Arab Water Forum and was the topic of focus of two important sessions of this three days event.

The Dialogue convened high-level officials and scientists from all over the MENA region to reach a shared regional diagnosis of the state of water reuse and the key challenges to uncap the water reuse potential.

Water reuse is increasingly recognized as one of the key solutions to address water scarcity in MENA. To transition to a more and safer water reuse practices in the region, countries are increasingly interested in strengthening their capacities in the field. The International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM), through the Mediterranean Agronomic Institutes of Zaragoza (IAMZ) and Bari (IAMB), together with partners, has recently organized an advanced course on "Wastewater Reuse in Agriculture", targeting specialists in water and irrigation management in the Mediterranean area.

With the aim of discussing the way forward for using the untapped potential of wastewater and drainage water in the MENA region, FAO-SNE, IWMI-MENA, WHO, ICBA and IME organized a series of Webinars, in collaboration with many distinguished scientists, leaders and influencers in the field of wastewater reuse (WWR).

Wastewater presents a great potential for bridging the supply-demand gap as it is the only water source that increases as the population grows.

Throughout November 2018, ReWater MENA held a series of meetings with its donor and partners to discuss the project’s progress and plan next steps for implementation.