Water-stressed territories, such as the Tunisian city of Gabès, are characterized by episodes of both water scarcity and heavy floods, which will intensify under the effect of climate change. To face this challenge, the ValEUr-Gabès project proposes methodological, institutional and technical innovations to promote the use and efficient management of non-conventional water resources, concretely through rainwater harvesting and use.

The overall objective of the ValEUr Gabès project is to promote the capacity of Tunisian cities to face the impacts of climate change through planning and innovation for the efficient management of urban water and specifically aims to promote the development of rainwater in urban areas through innovative technical and institutional strategies and actions in the city of Gabès and disseminate them in Tunisia and in other similar contexts in the southern Mediterranean region.

The ValEUr Gabès project is fully in line with the orientations of the Gabès territory since it emanates from the Gabès 2030 City Development Strategy, finalized in September 2018 in technical and methodological cooperation with MedCités, and based on a consultation process of the various actors of the city and the participation of civil society and citizens. The project responds to the needs, challenges and problems identified on the theme of water management: problems related to urban runoff and flooding during heavy rainfall periods; pressure on groundwater and salination of the aquifer; poor management of urban water in the absence of a comprehensive strategy; demand for the enhancement of water resources from rainwater and the maximization of urban uses.

The intervention proposal of the ValEUr Gabès project responds to a logic of progressive implementation, which starts from a participatory identification of needs and opportunities in the context of the municipality, and progresses towards the realization of instruments and pilot projects, including results which will be capitalized in the last phase of the project. Innovative pilot projects will be implemented to collect uncontaminated water from rooftops for domestic and municipal uses, as well as to recover rainwater for groundwater recharge or reuse for municipal uses.

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