Egypt

• Start of construction works for the Pilot Plant in Guzyeira, Ismailia Governorate. After the launching of a tender for the pilot plant and a negotiation meeting with the bidder in April the contract will be signed in July. Construction works will start in August 2015 and are expected to be finished by the end of 2015. The treatment plant will have a prefabricated anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR) unit followed with aerobic fixed bed reactor. An 80 – 90 % COD/BOD removal is expected. The tender consists of two lots (one for the construction of the sewage network and one of the treatment technology). For the operation and maintenance of the treatment plant, a technical committee was established at the village level and supported by the local affiliated company of the Holding Company for Water and Wastewater (HCWW) in Ismailia. It is envisaged that the committee will later be in charge of the operation and maintenance of the treatment plant. A presentation about the progress of the demonstration activities in Egypt is available in English
• A final evaluation and impact mission to Egypt was successfully carried out (14-16 April 2015). This included several meetings with the project’s team and coordinator as well as visits in the project site (Al Guzyeira village). The final evaluation report will be available shortly on the project’s website.

Jordan

• Training course on Operation and Maintenance (O&M) of the Jordan Pilot Plant at the Public Security Directorate (PSD). The training course was organized by the contractor of the wastewater treatment plant at its premises and addressed to the PSD staff, in particular the engineers working directly with the plant. The training provided additional information and knowledge about the decentralized wastewater technologies and components of each system, including planning of decentralized wastewater systems and handling of the system. It was conducted in two sessions: the first session was conducted on 15-16 Feb 2015 and the 2nd session on 6-7 April 2015. The first day of the training covered a wide range of topics related to Decentralized Wastewater treatment, including case studies and site selection, technology selection, design, implementation, operation, maintenance and monitoring. The second day included field visits to the demonstration site at PSD head quarters and another demonstration site at Fuhais created in the framework of the “Sustainable Management of Available Water Resources with Innovative Technologies” (German Government-funded research project in Jordan). 11 trainees participated in the course, 40% of whom were females.
• Provision by the contractor of the plant of outlet equipment for uploading the excess treated wastewater produced at the PDS pilot plant by Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) tankers and flood preventing equipment
• Signature of the protocol for handing over the wastewater treatment plant to the PSD in April 2015. An O&M contract between the PSD and the contractor was successively signed while regular monitoring visits will be conducted by Balqa Applied University (BAU).
• Agreement between the Great Amman Municipality (GAM) and PSD in May 2015. The agreement concerns the reuse of excess treated wastewater in different landscaping areas within the Great Amman Municipality. PSD is expected to provide GAM with 30 - 50 M³/day treated wastewater with high quality in compliance with the Jordanian reuse standards. Up-scaling efforts are already supported during the duration of the pilot project. The approval letter from GAM in relation to the agreement is available in Arabic

Tunisia

• Finalisation of the sand filtration unit at Medenine, South Tunisia. The construction of the slow sand filter (the tertiary treatment system of the centrally run wastewater treatment plant of Ouljet el Khodher in Medenine South Tunisia) is finalized and a water quality monitoring program implemented to ensure that the quality of the treated wastewater is in line with the Tunisian irrigation standards. Moreover, an IT-Platform was established to disseminate the monitoring data to all stakeholders representing monitoring agencies from different sectors (environmental, agricultural, water and health). In order to ensure the sustainability of the operation and maintenance of the sand filtration unit, local training courses were conducted for ONAS (Office National de l’Assainissement) staff and other stakeholders in April 2015. The test phase of the operation of the sand filter and the IT Platform at the pilot plant has started and is ongoing.
• Another local training course for ONAS staff in Medenine was conducted in May to support the installation and operation of the laboratory monitoring equipment.
• Environmental analysis study of the Sand Filter in Tunisia. The analysis aims to check and monitor the efficiency of the tertiary treatment of the sand filter based on several indicator parameters like COD, BOD, Nitrate and total Nitrogen. The monitoring program will last until end of September 2015.

Morocco

• Finalization of the construction of the pilot plant at Ait Idir in June 2015. The demonstration project revolves around a comprehensive eco-sanitation concept to treat and reclaim nutrients for further use in agriculture or for biogas production. Treatment technologies (Dry Toilets, Biogas Digesters and flood management equipment) have been constructed and applied in different locations of the village, such as the school, a family house, the market, thereby involving a wide range of stakeholders. The project will conduct a local training on operation and maintenance for the beneficiaries in July.

Regional

• SWIM Sustain Water MED 6th regional meeting (7-11 June, Bologna – Italy). During the meeting involving the Consortium partners, the final evaluation and objective achievements of the whole project since it starts in 2012 were discussed. With the project coming to a close in March 2016, partners were also eagerly to discuss sustainability issues and steps to guarantee post-project outreach. The final report of the meeting will be available shortly at the project’s website. The agenda is available in English