ReWater+

This project will develop a tool that will generate spatially explicit, high-resolution data, for present and future scenarios, on wastewater availability for new use and water sectoral demands including agriculture, industries and the natural environment.

The tool will also analyze the potential to recover wastewater that is lost unproductively and reuse it for different sectors, based on the economic distance to treatment plants, quantity and quality of the effluents generated, and the specific water requirements from the sectors. The results will be summarized into a water reuse dashboard that will provide indicators tailored to support the decisions of investors, entrepreneurs, and policymakers.

This tool builds on existing early-stage developments for the regional assessment of wastewater generation and fate in MENA and for the assessment of the water reuse potential in Lebanon. These recent developments used traditional methods for input data collection – surveys and literature reviews – and new approaches based on remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems for data analysis. The enhanced tool will overcome the limited availability, accessibility and comparability of input data from traditional sources, for example filling the knowledge gaps on existing wastewater treatment plants, through the use of AI and machine learning and will thus be more effective.