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MENA NWC Update
Reflections from Policy, Research and Development
Grants
The Middle East and North Africa
Network of Water Centers of Excellence (MENA NWC) is serving the
region with highest per capita rates of
freshwater extraction in the world
(804 m3/year), in which 75% of renewable water resources are exploited.
It is predicted that by the year 2050,
two-thirds of MENA countries could
have less than 200 m3 per capita per
year of renewable water resources,
which is well below the poverty
threshold. Of thes limited resource, 75
-85% is utilized in irrigation. The
water use efficiency in the MENA
region ranges from 50-60% of that
stated in the Best Irrigation Management Practices (BIMP), where countries with a Mediterranean type climate have over 80%, such as Western
Australia and Southwest USA.
The MENA NWC funded its member
and affiliate member centers to work
collaboratively through the Policy,
Research, and Development (PR&D)
Grants. This category supported research projects related to the Integrated Water Resources Management,
Irrigation Scheduling, Groundwater
Management, Drought Risk Assess-
ment and Mitigation, Food-EnergyWater Nexus, Non-Conventional
Water, and Water Supply and Sanitation Technical Communities.
One of these grants developed a
monitoring system to schedule irrigation practices in different farming
systems (open fields and greenhouses). Near-real time monitoring was
implemented in 15 farms in four
countries (Jordan, Tunisia, Oman and
United Arab Emirates). The potential
water save after implementing the
system was 25,000 cubic meters water
per year at a cost of 2 million dollars
water. The system has a potential use
for the main staple crops and cash
crop-based production systems and
can save about 0.36 billion dollars per
year. The return on investment at the
farm level is expected to be significantly high. The project contributed
to scientific and technical capacity
building related to equipment use,
and offered a platform for postgraduate students to conduct their research.
Other projects targeted the reuse of
treated waste water in the agricultural
production system whilst assuring the
cost efficient treatment technologies
(green nanotechnology, solar systems)
and then developing mitigation
measures for the potential impact of
using treated waste water.
With domestic water use, it is well
known that Non-Revenue Water
(NRW) in all major cities in the
MENA region is between 25% - 60%,
in spite of major recent capital investments in networks improvements.
The NRW project implemented a
research program to diagnose th e
hidden reasons behind fluctuations in
NRW through analyzing utility operations and related NRW parameters in
addition to underlying external and
internal factors that affect these parameters. The research program
developed a comprehensive diagnostic toolkit for assessing NRW management approach in four sample
water utilities in the region. The study
also developed strategies to be adopted by utilities to further improving
NRW levels sustainably, increase
efficiency, and provide a framework
for monitoring and evaluation.
New Location for MENA NWC
Following a Board of Directors
decision, the Middle East and
North Africa Network of Water
Centers of Excellence (MENA
NWC) moved to its new location at
the Arab Countries Water Utilities
Association (ACWUA). As of April
1, 2016, MENA NWC is hosted at
ACWUA, a MENA NWC member
center.
Recently registered in Jordan,
MENA NWC is a regional NonGovernmental Scientific Organiza-
tion affiliated with the Arab Ministerial Water Council of the League of
Arab States.
The Directorate now has three full
time staff members; Executive Director Shawki Barghouti, based in the
U.S. with regular travel to the region,
Deputy Executive Director and Director of Policy, Research, and Development Ghazi Abu Rumman, and Communications and Knowledge Exchange Specialist Suha Qoul, both
based in Amman, Jordan.
MENA NWC’s contact details at the
new location are:
Address: 19 A, Umm Umarah Street,
Alrasheed Area
P.O.Box 962449 Amman 11196 Jordan
Tel: +962 6 5161700
Fax: +962 6 51d61800
Email: [email protected]