Webinar "Building trust in Alternative Water Resources"

With climate change and growing pressure on water resources, AWR (reuse of treated wastewater, rainwater, groundwater recharge, etc.) is increasingly seen as a solution for the future. However, its implementation depends not only on technical aspects, but also on stakeholder buy-in, governance and social acceptability.

This webinar therefore aims to share European case studies, participatory tools and governance approaches that help to promote the integration of these solutions into water planning.

Organised as part of the AWR4Climate cluster, which brings together the European projects AWARD (coordinated by OiEau), RECREATE and MARCLAIMED, it aims to pool the experiences of the three projects around a common challenge: how to strengthen trust in and the acceptability of Alternative Water Resources (AWR).

Introduction : Thelma PELLICER, moderator (OiEau)

Project presentations :

• Sadika BERNARD, AWARD project coordinator
• Digu ARUCHAMY, MARCLAIMED project coordinator
• Sara ESPINOSA, RECREATE coordinator

Co-design processes within the Demo Cases: Noureddine BOUZIDI, MARCLAIMED project

Serious gaming to facilitate stakeholder dialogue and joint AWR strategy development : Klaasjan Raat, RECREATE project

Integrating AWR in the governance process through political dialogue: Sofia PEREZ & Loup DELADERRIERE, AWARD project

Q&A session 

Wrap-up & next steps : Thelma PELLICER, moderator (OiEau)

In the face of worsening water scarcity and climate change, the AWARD project aims to integrate non-conventional water resources, such as rainwater and the reuse of treated wastewater, into strategic water supply planning. To achieve this, the initiative actively engages society, science and policy-makers to co-create informed knowledge.

The approach is based on practical experimentation through four demonstration cases, the feedback from which will enable the formulation of strategic recommendations at the local level. This European-scale project brings together the unique expertise of 14 partners and two affiliated entities, spread across seven countries.

In this context, OiEau plays a central role by ensuring the overall coordination of the project and leading the work package dedicated to ‘maximising impact’, a pillar that encompasses all activities relating to communication, dissemination and the exploitation of results.