Rabat, Morocco was the latest stop for the Horizon 2020 Capacity Building/MEP project where a three-day training course on wastewater treatment and reuse took place last week (11-13 May 2011). With 32 participants from all over the country, the course succeeded in engaging experienced professionals in a wider effort with the overarching objective to promote an integrated approach of drinking water consumption, wastewater management and the related technologies.
Rabat, Morocco was the latest stop for the Horizon 2020 Capacity Building/MEP project where a three-day training course on wastewater treatment and reuse took place last week (11-13 May 2011). With 32 participants from all over the country, the course succeeded in engaging experienced professionals in a wider effort with the overarching objective to promote an integrated approach of drinking water consumption, wastewater management and the related technologies.
The course was launched by Mr. Hassane Belguenani, Head of water and wastewater programmes at the European Union Delegation in Morocco who confirmed the EU’s commitment to the objectives of the Horizon 2020 Initiative. In particular, Mr. Belguenani stated “Within the framework of the cooperation between the EU and Morocco, the de-pollution of the Mediterranean constitutes a priority. The support of the EU in the national sanitation programme of Morocco reaches 90 million Euro”. Ms. El Mahdaoui, Chief of the International Cooperation Division in the Moroccan Ministry for Water and Environment took the floor after Mr. Belguenani to say: “The treatment and reuse of wastewater is an important field of action for Morocco as the National Programme for the Sanitation of Liquids and Wastewater, launched in 2005, confirms. This program includes infrastructure projects in every city and urban center as well as the expansion of wastewater treatment in order to be adequate for reuse. The complexity of the issue of treatment and reuse of wastewater and the multiplicity of actors involved, necessitate capacity building efforts at all levels. To secure the successful outcome of such endeavors, efforts should include the institutional, legal, regulatory, technical and financial aspects of planning and decision-making”.
The course was organized by the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education with the support of the Arab Countries Water Utilities Association (ACWUA). The course involved extensive hands-on training through the use of advanced software aimed to facilitate technology selection in wastewater management. Further to the lectures and presentations, participants were involved in group exercises and discussions aiming for fruitful exchange of experiences. All participants were experienced wastewater managers and decision-makers mainly sourced from the central government and local authorities, water and sewage associations and relevant university staff, thus confirming the advanced level of the course.
More national trainings in wastewater treatment and reuse are talking place this week in Algeria and Tunisia.
