Water Harvesting (WH) and Natural Water Retention Measures (NWRMs) are efficient tools to minimize flood risk and increase the potential for water storage whether on the surface or in the aquifer. In order to entrench these concepts and their approaches in the MENA countries, the WES Team organised an on-line Regional Training on Water Harvesting, on 7, 11, 14, 18 and 21 October 2021.

For a total of 15 hours, 35 participants from Ministries of Water, Irrigation Authorities, River Basin Authorities, Land Management, Geological Survey Agencies, Water Utilities, Municipalities and NGOs of 9 countries, were introduced to “water harvesting including through retention & aquifer recharge with storm water” as part of the regional training on the subject.

The training addressed amongst other things, management of irrigation demand through the use of nonconventional water as a mean to mitigate climate change and increased demands for food production. Integrating rainwater and floodwater harvesting in irrigation schemes, as a cheap and reliable source of water in arid environments to improve crop production reliability, along with a wide range of available techniques, storage options and practical examples of the application of NWRM were also presented.

The EU funded “Water and Environment Support (WES) in the ENI Southern Neighbourhood Region” is a regional project that aims at protecting the environment and improving the management of scarce water resources in the Mediterranean region. Among the key objectives of WES is to tackle problems related to pollution prevention and water use efficiency.

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WES