Innovative Means to Protect Water Resources in the Mediterranean Coastal Areas through Re-injection of Treated Water (IMPROWARE)

The project kick-off meeting took place on 21 February 2013 in Rome, Italy, with the active participation of all project’s partners.

Despite the late official start of SWIM-IMPROWARE, due to modifications in the contract both at the level of the composition of Consortium’s partners and of the activities to be implemented in Egypt, including their location, the project is now advancing with the site investigations, and the exchange of experiences between the European side and the two beneficiary countries, Egypt and Tunisia. Moreover, two missions have been carried out to progress with the Pilot project in the two Waste Water Treatment plants of Nubariya – Wadi Al Nutrun in Egypt, and of Korba, in Tunisia.

The detailed assessment of both sites will be concluded in summer 2013. The construction (and demolition) works - including engineering and design - for the Waste Water Treatment Plant in Nubariya – Wadi Al Nutrun, will be ready for the late springtime. In Tunisia, if political conditions allow it, activities are expected to advance faster than originally planned.

Following the re-adaptation of activities in Egypt and instead of realising the physical recharge of an aquifer, the project will now proceed with a modeling and simulation component related to the recharge of an aquifer in the area of Wadi Al Nutrun.

Moreover, activities for promoting capacity building and dissemination of the project’s results have been strengthened based on the specific request of partners. Among them are the implementation of e-Learning modules and an international Symposium to be held in Tunis at the end of the implementation’s time, with the purpose of spreading the knowledge gathered during the project activities to other Mediterranean countries and facilitate its integration in Policy and Technical Recommendations issued by these countries.