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  • Introduzione

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  • Water Reuse in Agriculture in a Living Lab environment

    In a living lab environment, We World - GVC Onlus, supported by all relevant stakeholders, tested improved irrigation systems supplied with treated wastewater (TWW) of better quality thanks to the rehabilitation of its Waste Water Treatment Plant to increase the production of lemon, olives, grapes and fodder.  In Palestine, a governance model has been built that, thanks to the living lab approach, is impacting the perception of reuse to public officials and population.

    The living lab has been implemented by We World-GVC Onlus, strongly supported by the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari (CIHEAM BARI), in Beit Dajan (Nablus), Palestine, in the framework of the Non-conventional WAter Reuse in Agriculture in MEditerranean countries (MENAWARA).

    Beit Dajan has been chosen by the MENAWARA action as its community suffers from sever problems in terms of water availability for agriculture, and lack of technologies and infrastructures that lead to a non-adequate irrigation supply for crop production and other agricultural activities. In addition, the community faced problems with the proper management of irrigation schemes including the absence of schedule irrigation. 

    The following actions have been implemented: 

    - Rehabilitation of the wastewater treatment plant, which was built in 2014 but due to breakdown of several components, effluent quality degraded and became unsafe for reuse and caused environmental harm. 

    - Improvement of water use efficiency in agriculture by designing and implementing innovative irrigation scheme to increase efficiency and productivity. More than 30 km of pipelines have been installed, water allocation to each farmer determined and proper irrigation management practices recommended for grape, lemon, olives and alfalfa respectively. The action targeted 14 farmers and 7.6 hectares.

    Along the project, all stakeholders related to the water field have been engaged to establish a new model of local governance. Each intervention proposal and action has been discussed and agreed, each stakeholder was fully aware of the steps to be taken and its impact. Local stakeholders included: Beit Dajan Village Council, Palestinian Water Authority (PWA), Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Ministry of Local Government - MoLG,  Environmental Quality Authority - EQA, Water User Association of Beit Dajan, Farmers representation, Palestinian Hydrology Group - PHG. 

    A Water User Association (WUA) gathering 14 farmers has been then created to coordinate and manage the TWW irrigation network between them. Monthly meetings have been organized addressed to farmers and the Village council of Beit Dajan to discuss water quantity, water quality and tariffing. Roles and responsability have been discussed and agreed  as well.

    Fields of Application

    Rural and urban area

    Beneficiaries
    Farmers, village council, Farmer and water user associations, local authorities, academia, ngos, civil society.

    References/online resources
    MENAWARA action in Beit Dajan 
    Living Lab Methodology


    Contacts

    Taysir Arbasi

    📧taysir.arbasi@gvc.weworld.it