Al Nobariya - Egypt

• Advancement of the Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) upgrade in Nobariya (Egypt). During the months April-June the WWTP upgrade has been almost completed. The remaining activities relate to the connection of the water flow to the Constructed Wetland that was already built by the project in 2014. These are expected to be concluded by the end of July 2015. Moreover, the commissioning, start-up of system operations and the monitoring of the water flow are also planned shortly.
• Preparation of the irrigation field in Nobariya (Egypt). The preliminary drawings of the lab-scale field construction have been prepared in June as a preparatory step for the implementation of the water use and irrigation component of the project.
• Finalization of numerical modeling related to artificial aquifer recharge activities through the preparation of a set of simulated artificial aquifer recharge scenarios. The model of the simulation of injection of freshwater from the Constructed Wetland and/or the upgraded WWTP into the confined fine sand aquifer (that was detected by the in situ drilling and geophysical surveys previously carried out by the project) has allowed to perform some preliminary evaluations about the effectiveness of the aquifer recharge to: 1) store freshwater; 2) use the confined fine sand aquifer for improving the quality of the injected treated wastewater; 3) reuse the groundwater for agricultural purposes; 4) use the aquifer recharge to contrast the aquifer salinization. The final evaluation and delivery of the study is expected in fall/winter following discussions and meetings with relevant stakeholders.

Korba - Tunisia

• Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrade. The tender procedures for baffles and sand filters have been unified and after negotiations with the eligible companies that provided an offer the contract has been signed and the works have been initiated on June 1st as informed by the Office National de l’Assainissement (ONAS). It is estimated that they will last until the end of the year (December 2015).