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The Network | Motivation / Precedents / Justification
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 Motivation
Precedents
Justification |
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Motivation
In terms of water resources, the Mediterranean basin is characterised by an uneven distribution in space and time, higher demand during summer season, a strong relationship between irrigation and economic development and, finally, an important part of the demand has to be met by non-conventional resources, such as reclaimed wastewater.
Additionally, the whole basin or parts of it are experiencing drought episodes in a more or less regular pattern (i.e. once every 3 to 10 years in all locations). As a consequence, several problems are common to all areas:
 Salination and deterioration of fertile land, including desertification;
Increasing water pollution;
Non-sustainable land and water use;
Intensive disputes concerning the best uses of water and wastewater.
It could be stated that economic development depends partially on increased availability or better distribution of water resources. The redistribution of existing water resources implies huge economic, productive, ecological and social changes in community life. For this reason, environmentally sound designs and solutions must be devoted to improving the use of existing water resources, the use of non-conventional water resources, and especially, to reclamation and reuse of wastewater.
Precedents
Water consumption in the Mediterranean area has increased by 60% in the last decades and continues to rise. In addition, available water resources are becoming increasingly scarce, threatened and fragile. Water has become a priority issue for Mediterranean countries and will gain in importance as water scarcity becomes more pressing.
In this context, the Barcelona Convention pointed out the need to identify ways of reinforcing regional co-operation. Similarly, the recommendations made by the Mediterranean Commission for Sustainable Development (MCSD), and later, the Declaration of Turin, recognise that effective co-ordination and synergy among the existing organisations and activities in this field is indispensable for sustainable water management.
The Barcelona Convention considered that one of the purposes of co-operation was to contribute towards the creation of new sources of water and the Declaration of Turin states that water scarcity could be alleviated through the mobilisation of non-conventional water resources.
Wastewater reclamation and reuse is quite well developed in terms of the identified reuse possibilities, but further research is required in several areas; mainly in biological risk identification and evaluation; rules and regulations; disinfection and other advanced treatment phases suitable for a broad range of applications in a series of safety barriers; long-term effects on natural media; socio-economic characteristics of reclamation and reuse facilities, and control systems and monitoring programs for establishing highest reliability.
Justification
In order to compensate for the lack of sufficient resources and preserve existing resources for future generations in the Mediterranean basin countries, new water management practices are needed.
The first step towards improvement of this situation is recognition by local officials that water is a limited resource which must be managed according to specific regional needs. The main aim is, thus, to minimise water pollution and emphasise water saving strategies. Water conservation strategies in arid and semi-arid regions, such as the Mediterranean basin, have proven successful when technical management and economic measures are employed simultaneously. Hence, the objective is to approach the water cycle in its entirety and encompass a wide range of actions including economic, social, and technical aspects.
The driving force for the development of water reuse in the Mediterranean today is the need for alternative resources together with increasingly stringent water quality discharge rules.
Wastewater reclamation and reuse is paramount for long-term sustainable development of the Mediterranean basin and is one of the keys for promoting collaboration among all the affected countries. In this context, the present project aims to generate strategies, technologies and management practices for local, safe, publicly acceptable, economically feasible and sustainable reuse of treated wastewater for urban, peri-urban and agricultural use, with the involvement of European, Mediterranean and world experts.
The network has been prepared and conceived as a Euro-Mediterranean co-operative project with the participation of organisations and Institutions from the Mediterranean Partner Countries and the European Union Member States. The aim of the network is to cover the widest spectrum of Mediterranean countries and to encompass the most representative Mediterranean and European experts in wastewater.
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