The commission is looking to develop the circular economy in its member states. Non-potable water will be harnessed and treated for farmers to use in agricultural irrigation, in a move which the commission says will not only benefit farmers but the environment as well.

“This proposal will create only winners. Our farmers will have access to a sustainable supply for irrigation water, our consumers will know the products they eat are safe, and our businesses will see new opportunities,” said Karmenu Vella, European Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries.

“The biggest winner of them all will be our environment as the proposal contributes to better management of our most precious resource–water.”

The proposals from the commission include minimum requirements for the reuse of treated wastewater, ensuring its safety in irrigation. Further risk management is proposed to address any other potential water safety risks.

Greater public involvement is also needed. The commission recommends citizens of member states be given access to information on the practice of water reuse, helping to act as an educational tool for European citizens, many of whom could be directly affected by the overuse of freshwater resources.

The commission says that current levels of water reuse are not good enough, and that increasingly unstable weather patterns in the context of climate change have heightened the need to urgently protect water resources.

The proposal completes the existing EU legal framework on water and foodstuffs, forming part of the Commission’s 2018 Work Programme. A key aim of transitioning to a circular economy constitutes a cornerstone of these proposals, and it is hoped this will lead to a reduction of total EU land suffering from water stress–currently standing at one third.

The measures will also assist the EU come closer to completing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal Six, on water and sanitation.

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In the first stage, the Sahara Forest Project aims to produce up to 130 tonnes of organic vegetables per year from just 7 acres of previously deemed ‘unusable’ land. The full scale of the project is set to reach 490 acres in the coming years.

“This is one of the most technically complex and satisfying projects we’ve had the pleasure to work on,” said Tom Bentham, Senior Partner at Max Fordham, an engineering firm collaborating with the Sahara Forest Project. “We’ve collaborated with experts across many countries and disciplines to bring this project to fruition. The salt water and desert environments are both testing on their own; when put together they create one of the harshest environments there is for engineering components.”

Max Fordham carried out research into technical aspects of the project including thermodynamic analysis of the greenhouse (to provide optimum growing conditions for crops with minimum resource input), desalination techniques, and the potential climatic effects of adding moisture to desert air.

The research included building and operating an experimental rig in the Qatari desert, to verify conclusions in the field. This culminated in the development of a mathematical computer model of the entire Sahara Forest Project system, which Max Fordham and SFP then used to investigate resource flows through the system and projected investment costs and returns.

“Jordan has a lot of sunlight, it has a lot of desert, it has sea water, it has CO2,” said Joakim Hauge, SFP Project Director. “That is what we need to produce food, water and renewable energy.”

The second stage of the collaboration was focused on the engineering design of the Sahara Forest Project system, firstly for the Pilot Project in Qatar, which opened in 2012 and operated for a year, then more recently for the larger launch station opened in Jordan. Max Fordham designed the saltwater cooling system for the greenhouse, as well as the services infrastructure, which joins up and enables the different energy and growing technologies, which comprise the SFP system.

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“Today, the EU is a key partner for Jordan in developing green energy sources with more than €150 million, and we are proud to announce that we have exceeded our 2020 green energy targets for Europe,” said Andrea Matteo Fontana, EU Ambassador to Jordan. “We are therefore happy to use our experience to support Jordan in achieving their green energy targets.”

The EU is providing a €30 million grant to help the Water Authority of Jordan construct a photovoltaic system to power three to five water pumping stations across the country. The EBRD will manage the grant funds and supervise the implementation of the project.

Rapid population growth and the climatic conditions of the country have put significant pressure on the country’s limited water resources and created severe shortages. The increased demand for water and wastewater resources also brings higher demand for electricity, which represents up to 60 percent of operating costs for water services.

“The EBRD promotes the adoption of renewable technology for a more sustainable use of scarce resources,” said Heike Harmgart, Head of the EBRD Resident Office in Jordan. “This work can become a model for other projects in the Jordanian municipal sector.”

Through the use of solar power for water and wastewater facilities, the project is expected to set a precedent for the use of sustainable renewable energy technology in the sector. The project also aims to develop market structures to enhance private sector participation by focusing, where feasible, on the introduction of engineering, procurement and construction, and operations and maintenance contracts.

In addition, the EBRD is providing a loan of up to €7.5 million to the Greater Amman Municipality, while the EU Delegation in Jordan is contributing €5 million in grants to help build a waste-to-energy plant in the Al-Shaer solid waste transfer station. The plant is expected to produce up to 9 million cubic metres of biogas per year from food waste, recycling approximately 11 percent of the organic waste collected.

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