Congress sessions will take stock of current water and sanitation operators’ issues, showcase good approaches, and offer recommendations for how operators can tackle challenges through peer-to-peer partnerships.
Each theme will be addressed through a combination of roundtables, dialogues, and sessions based on offer and demand received through the call.
Wednesday 27 October — 10.00-12.00 (CEST)
Languages: French, English and Arabic
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is the most water-scarce region in the world. It is home to less than 2% of the world’s renewable water supply. According to the World Bank, more than half of current water withdrawals exceed what is naturally available; 82% of wastewater is not recycled; while parts of the region have some of the highest per capita water consumption rates in the world.
Utilities from the region and international and regional partners will showcase their experiences and lessons learned in responding to water scarcity. Moreover, as part of the Congress’ overarching goal to accelerate the scaling-up of effective WOPs, GWOPA will present the pipeline of seven identified “ready-to-go” WOPs and explore opportunities to fund them. These were identified after a regional consultation with utilities in the region, conducted with the support of the Abu Dhabi DoE, which revealed that well-constructed and effective WOPs can help improve the operational performance of the region’s utilities and advance much-need water security for those currently living with water stresses and low quality, or inexistent, services.
