A SUCCESS STORY

MED-WET Project is Improving Mediterranean irrigation and Water supply for smallholder farmers by providing Efficient, low-cost, and nature-based technologies and practices. It is currently operational in Egypt, Portugal, Morocco, Germany, and Malta

One of the MED-WET Project’s targets is to develop, upscale, adopt and replicate low-cost constructed wetland treatment technology in rural areas of Egypt. The MED-WET’s wide stakeholders workshop that was held during (24 - 26) of Dec., 2023 in Sekem Farm El-Wahat El-Bahariya, Egypt was attended by a diverse group of stakeholders (more than 70 participants), bringing together smallholder farmers, large investors, end-users, local authority representatives, university students, Sekem community and children from various fields and locations within E-Wahat El-Bahariya, Belbies and Cairo with the MED-WET team of experts from Heliopolis University to collaboratively take steps toward realizing the envisioned sustainable future of safe wastewater treatment in the remote rural areas not only El-Wahat El-Bahariya. Professor Dr. Wael Khairy, the Principal Investigator of the MED-WET project at Heliopolis University and his team, showcased and demonstrated the low-cost wastewater treatment site developed under the MED-WET project at Sekem Farm El-Wahat El-Bahariya. That pilot site serves as a model that can be replicated in various other remote and rural areas. The workshop succeeded in establishing a new channel for collaboration between the diverse stakeholders and Heliopolis University’s technical team and received a serious commitment from the local authorities to dedicate a large piece of land in El-Bawiti (Capital of El-Wahat El-Bahariya) to develop the first replication of that successful low-cost constructed wetland treatment technology model. This action realizes the strong willingness to jointly benefit from the MED-WET Project’s outcomes, face the future challenges of safe disposal of solid and liquid wastes and to develop additional water resources for irrigation native crops. This is a real success story of real improvement of livelihood and water supply for smallholder farmers in the Mediterranean region.