The EU-funded “Water and Environment Support (WES) in the ENI Southern Neighbourhood region” project has successfully organised a Regional Activity on Non-Revenue Water (NRW) which consisted of a Regional Training, combined with a one-day Study Tour at the Athens Water and Sewerage Utility S.A. (EYDAP). Both events were held between the 16th to the 20th of January 2023 in Athens, Greece. In parallel, a Peer-to-Peer online process has already begun in October 2022 and will end in September 2023.
The purpose of this Regional Activity was to build the capacity of 40 representatives of related Ministries and Government Agencies from the eight (8) Partner Countries on Non-Revenue Water, including the role of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in facilitating NRW management, and on the tools and measures to reduce physical and commercial losses.
During the Training and Study Tour the participants were introduced to the Standard IWA/AWWA Annual Water Balance and models, relevant Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), IT tools for performance monitoring NRW reduction interventions, NRW Data Management, NRW Asset management. A cross cutting module was also included for the implementation if NRW and capitalisation of lessons learnt, in order to better understand various NRW interventions, and share lessons learned.
Practical examples from Denmark, the Netherlands and Romania were presented, discussed and put into the Mediterranean context. Case studies from the South-Mediterranean region were also analysed. In addition, partners from the countries where WES is implementing activities gave an overview of the activity’s findings, recommendations.
The training included participation from the two on-going WES demonstration projects:
- “Gaza H2.0’’ Innovation and water efficiency implemented by WeWorld – GVC Onlus (WW-GVC);
- Support of integrated management of water resources in an oasis environment implemented by the “Association of science and biology teachers of Morocco (AESVT)”.
The discussions during the plenary and breakout sessions, on the themes of the day facilitated the exchange of “experiences” amongst the WES demos, the participants and the experts, the exchange of “information” on relevant activities in the partner countries/region and the process of capitalization and cross-fertilisation.
Last but not least, a one-day Study Tour to EYDAP was organized to facilitate the exchange of experiences in NRW interventions between trainers and all the participants.
The team of experts of EYDAP presented practices on NRW reduction management. Later on, the participants visited an ongoing project relating to the use of Pressure Reducing Valve (PRV) and/or the operation of District Metered Areas (DMAs).
