The training course was successfully carried out in collaboration with the Middle East Desalination Research Center (MEDRC) and involved a total of 21 representatives from Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Tunisia including managers from relevant water and environment ministries, research centers and water utilities, dealing with the design, implementation and operation and maintenance of desalination projects.
The activity aimed at developing their capacity in understanding the aspects influencing the cost of desalination, among which:
(i) Capital costs drivers including selection of intake & brine discharge, quality of feed water at intake, quality of desalinated water, complying with permitting and regulations, project delivery methods and financing mechanisms, proximity to power supplies, skilled labor and environmental mitigation, etc.
(ii) Capital cost breakdown including annualized cost, amount financed, interest rate, loan period, depreciation, inflation, etc.
(iii) Operation and management cost breakdown including cost of regular and periodic maintenance, cost of complying with environmental monitoring, reporting and renewal of permits, cost of labor, chemicals, supplies, power, etc.
(iv) Cost for enabling community participation in preventing noncompliance with water and environment.
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A capacity development activity directed to water and environment prosecutors and investigators has successfully been organized by SWIM-SM with the aim to enhance the coordinated role of water officials, environment inspectors and monitors and prosecutors in enforcing water and environment legislation towards a more effective and Integrated Management of Water Resources (IWRM) in the countries of the South Mediterranean.
The activity, that involved 29 representatives of water and environmental Ministries, relevant agencies including prosecutors, consisted of a workshop and a study tour to three European destinations (the Netherlands, Spain and France) where participants have been directly exposed to the experiences and best practices applied in these countries.
Participants were trained on the following:
· Methods and criteria for preparingintegrated environmentand water legislations;
· Best institutional and legislative structures and mechanisms to address water and environment violations;
· Appropriate measures and techniques to address violations and noncompliance;
· Measures for enabling community participation in preventing noncompliance;
· Establishment of accredited monitoring, auditing and reporting systems for the provision of legally accredited evidences for indictment in water and environmental violations;
· Establishment of water and environment inspectorates and auditing procedures.
For more information:
Presentations and materials related to:
Press Note relating to the first part (in the Netherlands) of the Study Tour
Press Note relating to the second part (Spain and France) of the Study tour
SWIM-SM has successfully carried out a training and study tour on 13-17 May 2013 to:
(a) strengthen political commitment to Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) and Irrigation Management Transfer (IMT) and promote best practices for the successful establishment and operationalization of Water Users Associations (WUA)s in the Partner Countries (PCs);
(b) provide the officials from the PCs with the tools needed to ensure effective formulation of PIM/IMT programs and the establishment of viable WUAs with special emphasis on the importance of the enabling environment including political commitment and support, the adoption of adequate policies, laws, regulations legislations and the issues that need to be resolved during the different phases of PIM/IMT reform.
(c) promote exchange of experience between countries of the region with a view to expose the participants to best practices and success stories in the implementation process (including factors of success and failure) using case studies from within or outside the region.
The activity consisted of two parts (a) a 2-days pre-study tour training in Ankara, followed by (b) a 3-days study tour to visit the General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works (DSI) responsible for planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance of irrigation and drainage systems in Turkey.
For more general information:
A one day National consultation workshop has been organized in Tunisia (5 March 2013), Morocco (7 March 2013) and Egypt (11 March 2013) to present, discuss and validate with relevant National stakeholders the findings of the assessments conducted by SWIM-SM for each of these countries on the status of development and implementation of their wastewater strategies and/or action plans.
Through the workshops it was also aimed to establish a national dialogue among high level officials from the relevant sectors to advance the strategy/policy/action plan formulation and implementation in the countries.
Information Note and agenda - Egypt
Information Note and agenda - Morocco (only in French)
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