This activity supports Egypt and Palestine in their efforts to apply Managed Artificial Recharge (MAR) in a more consistent and regulated manner, so as to reap the full benefits of this application.
In fact, although MAR is widely used in most South Mediterranean countries on an ad hoc unregulated basis to enhance water supplies, uptake has been constrained by lack of a policy and a clear, consistent regulatory framework that allows the advantages of MAR to be materialized.

National reports will be prepared for each of the three countries including the following:

1- A general assessment of water, wastewater, and environment policies, legislation and regulations relevant to wastewater management and disposal.
2- Identification of gaps and constraints in the existing water, wastewater and environment legislations and regulations that hinder the control of artificial recharge practices.
3- A brief technical analysis of the adequacy of wastewater treatment, effluent water quality, nature of aquifers targeted for recharge, water quality of aquifer, current water uses from the aquifer, etc.
4- Identification of main techno-economic gaps and challenges that might hinder artificial recharge.
5- Listing of appropriate mitigation and precautionary measures to realize groundwater recharge without polluting the recharged aquifers.
6- Listing of physical, chemical and biological standards of adequately treated wastewater intended for MAR.
7- Identification and analysis of the risk factors that might affect the formulation and implementation (in terms of compliance and enforcement) of the proposed MAR regulations.
8- Draft guidelines for national MAR regulations that are suited to the national environmental conditions, socio-economic specificities and groundwater hydrology.
9- Proposed institutional reforms at the appropriate levels of government – national, local, users’ level - to administer the suggested artificial recharge regulatory package.
10- Organization of a 5 days study tour in 2 European countries recognized for their advancement in MAR
11- An National consultation forum involving all relevant stakeholders in each focus country to validate and finalise the guidelines.
12- National reports (30 – 40 pages each) with a specific regulatory text for potential adoption and implementation.

This activity follows up the development of guidelines for MAR based on global experience and best practices in recharging aquifers that was carried out by SWIM-SM to serve as inspiration for potential adoption and application by South Mediterranean countries.

In this sense it represents a field testing of the developed guidelines in country-specific situations and shall increase the usefulness of the guidelines and their adaptability to national specifications.

This activity aims to improve compliance with water and aquatic environment regulations in the two countries by:
• Strengthening the coordination among water relevant sectors for defining the water activities classification, the permitting system and the related administrative sanctions.
• Proposing amendments to the penal sanction classification and definitions to fit a large number and most common violations experienced in each of the two countries.
• Developing an action oriented plan for creating and/or enhancing a corps of specialized engineers having sufficient inspectorate capacity force at relevant administrative level.
• Designing a national capacity building training program including study tours for prosecutors and magistrates to enable them prosecute water and aquatic environment violations in courts of law.

It is a further step in the series of activities carried out by SWIM-SM towards improving compliance and enhancing national enforcement capacities and including:

• Regional Guidelines on measures for improving compliance with water legislations and assessing the available enforcement capacity and mechanisms currently practiced in the South Mediterranean Region with focus on Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Morocco
• A Capacity development program for water & environment prosecutors and Investigators, including a 3-day Workshop followed by a 12-days study tour in 3 European countries (June 2013)
• An assessment of current legislative capacity and legal procedures for the prosecution of violators of water legislation and guidelines with focus on Algeria, Jordan and Lebanon.

Effective water governance and rule of law in particular, were identified as some of the main constraints to sustainable and integrated Water Resources Management during the regional dialogue organized by SWIM-SM in 2012. Rule of law was found to be often hampered by insufficient policies, inadequate legislative and regulatory frameworks, ill prepared judiciary systems, limited technical and institutional capacities and lack of appropriate modalities and operating systems to ensure compliance through enforcement.
Hence the importance for supporting South Mediterranean countries in their efforts to improve relevant National policies, legislations and practices through the above mentioned interventions and this activity with focus on Lebanon and Palestine.

The meeting served to review and take stock of the performance, impact and relevance of the SWIM program during its implementation period in Israel.
It involved representatives from different departments of the Israeli Governmental Authority for Water and Sewage and the Israeli Ministry of Environmental Protection.

The importance of SWIM-SM as a regional platform promoting intra- and inter-sector dialogue and networking was acknowledged by participants who also praised its demand-led nature and the agreed management arrangements, including the Steering Committee as the forum driving the project. Moreover, a set of recommendations were made for improving its impacts including through:

• The set-up of a follow up/monitoring mechanism, particularly regarding the performance of participants in capacity building activities. In that context, the value of study tours as training method for practitioners was emphasised as a tangible contribution to empowering water related institutions and increasing capacities

• further outreach efforts, including through operational synergies and collaborations, to identify and disseminate sustainable water practices and state-of-the-art technologies

• more exercises/practical applications and hands-on demonstrations, ideally in a cross-country composition of expert or working groups

• more presence of European experts and administrators for sharing EU experience and lessons learnt. The missed opportunity of utilising more often Israel as contributor to knowledge sharing events (i.e. speakers, presenters, case studies, etc) was also raised in this context.

Further practical advice was provided on how to make the design and implementation of activities more functional and better adapted to the participant’s conditions.