Water Scarce Cities Regional Workshop
Casablanca, Morocco

Date: May 22-23, 2017

This workshop aimed to facilitate knowledge exchange and develop a network of practitioners from water-scarce cities in the Western Mediterranean region by sharing innovative solutions to improve water management in fast-growing urban areas affected by water scarcity, including cities in Morocco.

· Partners and Stakeholders: Government of Morocco, ONEE, 5 + 5 Water Strategy for Western Mediterranean

· Participants: Close to 60 participants from the Western Mediterranean region, including utility representatives, government delegations and other donors involved in the sector, participated in the workshop, as well as international speakers from Las Vegas (USA), Cyprus, Barcelona (Spain) and Malta.

· Key takeaways: Does the role of utilities in MENA have to shift to go beyond service provision and embrace the management of water scarcity? In some ways, it already has, by focusing on improving the efficiency of services, and managing water demand through tariffs and other instruments. Service providers and policy makers from Barcelona, Malta, Cyprus and Nevada emphasized the importance of an integrated and clear governance framework for water resources and water and sanitation services provision. The latter often takes time and goes beyond the traditional role of the utility. Engaging with stakeholders, including youth, is critical to ensuring water scarcity planning and solutions are acceptable to the population.

View the presentation slides:
- Setting the stage – dealing with urban water scarcity
- Barcelona water security experience
- Innovative water conservation and groundwater management approaches in Las Vegas
- Diversifying water resources to address water scarcity in Malta
- Improved sector efficiency, desalination and wastewater reuse to build drought resilience in Cyprus
- Supporting integrated water resources management: best practices for rainwater management and wastewater treatment and reuse

View the full agenda: English | French

Date: February 12-14, 2017

A number of water utilities in the Mediterranean have had substantial success in tackling physical water scarcity by, inter alia, using desalination to diversify water resources and hedge against drought risks, reducing leakages from distribution, and adopting a more integrated approach to managing the water cycle under conditions of scarcity. The focus of the workshop was on approaches that can help better manage supply and demand through desalination, water reuse and Non Revenue Water reduction with the help of the private sector.

· Partners and Stakeholders: The Center for Mediterranean Integration

· Participants: Close to 80 participants from utilities, governments, donors and civil society organizations from the Mediterranean.

· Key takeaways: For the Mediterranean region, water scarcity solutions must embrace a combination of policy, technology and management systems, and most importantly the development of a "made in the Mediterranean" expertise. It is important for service providers and policy-makers to consider desalination, water reuse and Non Revenue Water (NRW) - topics that are often addressed separately - as a whole, by developing and diversifying conventional and non-conventional resources, managing demand by reducing urban water needs, and looking at potential trade-offs by cooperating with other users in or beyond the basin. This workshop also allowed participants to hear recommendations from the private sector on NRW and desalination on how to decrease project risks and enhance sustainability.