The SUWANU EUROPE Mid-Term Meeting was scheduled to take place in Israel, but due to the international situation caused by COVID-19, it was organized virtually. This circumstance did not reduce the energy and desire of the consortium to face the activities of the 2nd period of the project
The virtual event reviewed all the work carried out during the 18 months that the project has been running. The first day meeting started with a general presentation by the coordinator who introduces the contigency plan prepares to face the coronavirus crisis, and continues with a session aimed at commenting on the external review carried out by external evaluators of the European Commision together with the Project Officer on SUWANU EUROPE.
Furthermore, there was a special session for water reuse policies. This session counted with the participation of Christian Minelli, Official at the Italian Regulatory Authority for Energy, Networks and Environment (ARERA) since 2010 and General Coordinator of WAREG (European Water Regulators), the first European association of national and regional agencies responsible for economic regulation of drinking water and wastewater services. He highlighted the different regulatory frameworks in Europe and the objectives to reach in water services regulation.
The Regional Action Plans were another of the main issues discussed during the virtual Mid-term meeting. A special effort is going to be made to involve the regional working groups in this activity and involve all the key actors. It is important to pay special attention to each regional strategy taking into account aspects like social perception, reclaimed water costs and regulation framework.
The second day meeting was devoted to talk about the planification of the activities related to the workpackage focus on the knowledge exchange, with tasks as the promotion of a curriculum adaptation in training schools and universities (leads by UNITO). The aim of this task is to include the content and results developed during the project into the curricula of university courses, doctoral schools, seminars, etc. to ensure that future young professionals working in agriculture know the benefits of water reuse. Massive Open Online Courses (leads by TTZ) will be one of the activities where the project partners work hard in the coming months. These courses They will include, among others, topics such as the Role of Reclaimed Water in the Green Deal Approach, the Water Reclamation Approaches, the use of Reclaimed Water for Sustainable Agriculture and the EU Framework for Water Reclamation.
The meeting finished with the presentation of the updated dissemination strategy of the project. The objective is to involve the general public, as well as facilitate two-way communication by interacting with the different stakeholders.