Presented by Javier Mateo Sagasta as part of lecture at an online advanced course on wastewater reuse for agriculture on 24 May 2021.

1. Water Reuse in
MENA:
status, prospects and
challenges
Javier Mateo-Sagasta

2. Municipal wastewater

3. Direct Reuse
Types of reuse

4. Indirect Reuse
Types of reuse

5. 18 MENA countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan,
Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi
Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
MENA Region

6. Climate change Population growth and urbanization
Migration Pollution
Direct Water Reuse is a response to WATER SCARCITY, aggravated by:

7. 99% Water
Valuable resources:
• Organic carbon
• Nitrogen
• Phosphorus
Hazards:
• Pathogens
• Dangerous
Chemicals

8. Agriculture
•Water all year round
•Nutrients and organic matter
•Higher yields
•More crops/year
•Closer to cities
•Higher incomes
Cities
•Food security
•Additional wastewater treatment
•Water exchanges with agriculture
Environment
•Lower pollution
•Freshwater conservation
Benefits from water reuse

9. Wastewater production in MENA
Municipal wastewater produced: 18.9 km3
Sources: AQUASTAT, GWI and AWC 2019. Map with data from Jones et al 2021

10. Per capita wastewater generation in MENA
Source: Velpuri and Mateo-Sagasta 2021 forthcoming

11. 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015
Trends in municipal wastewater generation (km3)
Egypt
Saudi Arabia
UAE
Morocco
Israel
Bahrain
Source: AQUASTAT, GWI and AWC 2019

12. Wastewater production, treatment
and direct reuse in MENA
Municipal wastewater produced
18.9 km3
Actual treatment
< 25%?
Treatment capacity
~45%
Planned and
direct use of
treated ww
Source: AQUASTAT, GWI and AWC 2019

13. Wastedwater
Missed
opportunities

14. Production
Collection
Collected Not
collected
Treatment
Discharge
and/or Use
Direct
use
Indirect
use
Indirect
use
Direct
use
Loss
(sea, land, river)
Municipal
wastewater
Treated Not treated

15. Wastewater production and fate in
MENA
Municipal wastewater 18.9 km3
Indirect
reuse
10-15%
Loss
(Sea outfall, on land,
rivers…)
65-85%
Sources: AQUASTAT, GWI 2020, AWC 2019, Velpuri and Mateo-Sagasta 2021 forthcoming
Direct
reuse
(treated)
5-10%
Direct
reuse
(untreated)
??

16. Key objectives for reuse policies:
Recover and resue loss wastewater when feasible
Understand health risks, particularly in indirect reuse
Make reuse safer (WHO 2016, Multiple barriers)

17. High costs and lack of
cost recovery
mechanisms
• Who will pay for the costs of
a reuse project?
Challenges
Cultural barriers
and distrust
• Yuck factor
• Religious concerns

18. Challenges
Over-stringent
regulations
• Prohibitive costs for
treatment
• Some times ignored and
therefore ineffective
Institutional
fragmentation
• Are responsibilities and
jurisdictions among national
and local authorities and
stakeholders clear?

19. Conclusions
Status:
18.9 Km3 of municipal wastewater produced in MENA
>65% wastewater is lost with no productive use
Productive reuse is often not safe
Missed opportunities for resource recovery and to improve healh
Objectives:
Recover loss wastewater when feasible
Better risk assessments at national and local level
Implementation of feasible risk mitigation option from farm to fork
Challenges:
High costs and lack of cost recovery, cultural barriers and distrust, institutional fragmentation, improper
regulations…
Bright examples:
with potential for replication and with opportunities for cross-learning in the region

20. Thanks!
For more information contact Javier Mateo-Sagasta
Senior researcher and coordinator -Water Quality
Project Leader- ReWater MENA
at:
J.mateo-sagasta@cgiar.org
For more information on the ReWaterMENA project visit:
https://rewater-mena.iwmi.org/