1

Why the project matters

Today, two out of three citizens of Mediterranean countries are living in urban areas. The population living in urbanized areas is expected to keep increasing up to 2050, where population of the Mediterranean countries is projected to increase from 529million in 2020 to 611million in 2050, of whom 70% (428 million) are expected to be living in urban agglomerations. (IEMed 2020).
Addressing the concentrated water demand of cities is therefore a common challenge to all Mediterranean countries, where such cities can be considered as water-demand “hotspots”. Urban water resources are generally not sufficient to meet water demand and therefore local water supplies need to be supplemented by non-conventional water resources (such as sea-water desalination) or the transfer of water from inland areas.

2

What it aims to achieve

• To integrate and adapt water management plans and policy formulation promoting water efficiency and water-related climate change adaptation water saving frameworks.
• To use transnational initiative on technology transfer and utilization of research outcomes adapted to local needs to build local and regional capacity related to the application of Non-Conventional Water Resources (NCWR) solutions to increase water efficiency in the urban sector.

3

Expected change

• Establishment of la comprehensive capacity building platform based on:
(i) Local Living Labs
(ii) Regional Community of Practice (to be continued beyond project timeline)
(iii) Regional Training Course
(iv) MOOC (to be continued beyond project timeline)
• Implemented Urban Water Management Plans which increase the resilience of urban water management through the mainstreaming of decentralized non conventional water resources solutions.

4

What the project delivers

• Technical catalogue of decentralized Non-Conventional Water Resources (NCWR) Solutions.
• Capacity building on mainstreaming NCWR in urban water management planning.
• Development of decentralized NCWR demonstration sites and performance monitoring.
• Development of monitoring plan to assess technical and economic (cost) feasibility of different NCWR technologies.
• Formulation of Urban Water Management Plans (UWMPs) which mainstream decentralized greywater treatment technologies.
• Drafting of national and regional policy documents promoting the adoption of decentralized NCWR solutions in urban water management.

5

Who benefits

• 7 policy makers (regional and/or national water policy institutions).
• 20 academia and research institutions.
• 25 municipalities.
• 7 water utilities.
• 500 citizens (water users) who will enjoy security of water supply and avoid potential cuts in water supply.
• Water policy authorities.