Desalination and water reuse: The EU and Jordan join forces to tackle water scarcity

euronews (in English)

With half of the world's population already facing water scarcity, countries are joining forces to tackle the global crisis. We visited Jordan and Cyprus, two countries facing water challenges, where various solutions are being implemented.

Transcript

00:00Will there be water in our homes, factories and fields if the climate changes?

00:09Water knows no borders, but neither does drought.

00:16So can we learn from our neighbors?

00:18The European Union has made water a priority, both at home and in its diplomacy.

00:24We take you to Jordan, one of the most water-scarce countries in the world.

00:34In Jordan, freshwater reserves are running out, both below and above ground.

00:38Now each person has barely 61 cubic meters of available water per year, compared with

00:42an average of 4,000 in the European Union.

00:50Flooding waves of Palestinian, Iraqi and more recently Syrian refugees in this stable

00:54kingdom have put pressure on the resource.

00:57In the Jordan Valley, this new drinking water plant was built to tackle the crisis facing

01:02the north of the country.

01:04500,000 Syrian refugees come to the north of Jordan, so that's why the project comes

01:11to supply and improve the water quantity in the north of Jordan.

01:17This is one of the many projects co-financed by European cooperation.

01:22Inej works for the German Development Bank, KfW, and Guillaume for its French equivalent,

01:27AFD.

01:28Here, the AFD co-financed the plant together with the European Union and the European Investment

01:32Bank, while KfW is participating in the rehabilitation of its source, the King Abdullah Canal, one

01:38of the country's only watercourses.

01:42You might see there's a lot of cracks in Jordan, over all Jordan.

01:45The water losses are at 50% because of technical losses or because of administrative losses.

01:53They are not being counted, they are not being paid for.

01:56We and other development partners support Jordan in reducing the water losses to a more

02:01moderate level.

02:16Altogether, this is our biggest portfolio globally in the water sector, amounting to

02:231.3 billion euros, partly concessional loans, partly grant financing, with the support of

02:30the German government.

02:32European cooperation is also funding improvements to water transport and storage in the country's

02:49second largest city, and work on six water treatment plants so that they can offer treated

02:54water to farmers.

03:01We head for the capital, where Europe is supporting a mega-project that is vital to

03:04the country's development.

03:10One of the world's largest desalination plants is to be built in Aqaba in the far south.

03:15The water will be pumped 450 kilometres from the Red Sea to Amman.

03:21A lot of energy will be involved in this project, especially we are talking about going from

03:25zero level with the sea level, all the way up to Amman, plus 1,200.

03:31If this project did not work out, the share of water would drop down to 30 metre cube

03:36per capita, meaning only water for drinking, not for agriculture, not for industrial, not

03:42for anything.

03:43From the European community, we got huge support, technical-wise, financial-wise, hopefully

03:49we will do it.

03:53The cost is estimated at over €4 billion.

03:56A French consortium won the tender.

03:58The EU is one of the top donors, with almost €100 million in grants, combined with at

04:02least €300 million in loans from the European Investment Bank.

04:06We see in practice on a daily basis how people can invent, re-invent, make the best possible

04:13use of scarce resources.

04:15And the southern part of our continent, in Europe, is going to be exposed to this challenge

04:20as well in the coming years, and it's a source of inspiration.

04:26This year, the European Commission will be presenting its own water resilience strategy,

04:30aimed at ensuring that everyone has a clean and sufficient water supply.

04:34Less than an hour's flight later, we're now in Cyprus.

04:50Like Jordan, Cyprus has no choice but to filter seawater.

04:53It has five desalination plants and plans to build ten more.

04:59The country is also pioneering a less energy-intensive and more circular practice, wastewater reuse.

05:05This treatment plant is equipped with a technological innovation called membrane reactors.

05:11These type of treatment plants are very compact, very small footprint.

05:18The clean water passes through the membranes, organic sludge stays in the tank, and that

05:24can be used for energy generation.

05:28A European regulation defines the quality requirements for this reclaimed water.

05:32It's water without phosphorus, nitrogen, very low solids, and it's perfect for irrigation.

05:42It's not drinkable, though?

05:44It's not drinkable, but with some additional filtration, you can make it potable water.

05:54This so-called tertiary treatment is set to be installed in all the continent's major

05:58water treatment plants.

06:00This basin will gradually be emptied when the rain will fail, to irrigate neighboring

06:05plots, safeguarding the island's food sovereignty.

06:10Cidari, criptari, citaroboula, very nice boat.

06:15If we didn't have water, we would need to buy or import food for the eagles from Europe.

06:28Water is also vital to Cyprus' hotels, which welcomes some 4 million tourists every year.

06:35We do everything we can, even if it's small water-saving techniques, like changing our

06:39faucets and our taps, having sensors.

06:43All of this green grass is all done with recycled water.

06:46A new European directive aims to maximize these practices and even promote additional

06:53wastewater treatments.

06:56The next step will be to eliminate micropollutants, such as those found in medicines and cosmetics.

07:02Thank you, doctor.

07:05This lab at the University of Cyprus is world-famous in its fields.

07:09The problem of micropollutants is quite complex, because there are so many of them.

07:13And as soon as we learn something about some of them, new ones pop up.

07:19We have to find solutions, because we have to promote wastewater reuse.

07:23The European Union is pioneering now this field.

07:27The implementation of all this new legislation will drive technology.

07:32So, knowledge is driving policy, and policy is driving technological progress.

07:39We finish with a children's book recommendation, signed by the scientists.

07:42The Secret Handbook of the Blue Circle, which is also available in English.

07:53See you soon, on the roads to green.

07:57www.cyprus.eu

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