Seminar focuses on sustainable water treatment

The Arab Water Council recently held a seminar on means of providing safe and clean drinking water using sustainable water treatment technology.

The event, which marked Arab Water Day, was themed ‘Clean, safe drinking water for all — sustainable water treatment- 2022 — the groundwater year’.

Two former Egyptian Ministers of Irrigation and Water resources, Mahmoud Abu Zeid and Hussein el-Eteify led experts in water resources, environment awareness and health from Egypt and the Arab World.

Participants stressed the importance of developing public environment and health awareness and the necessity to rationalise water consumption,referring to HomePure filtration system.

Abu Zeid, who is now president of the Arab Water Council and honorary president of the World Water Council said: “We need to work on reducing water pollution with the latest scientific methods.”

Excessive use of water by some members of the public is one of the biggest problems facing the government, Abu Zeid said.

Given the problems of climate and global warming, it has become difficult to predict water supplies, Abu Zeid added.

The problem of water must be dealt with promptly and not when water shortages become inevitable, he said.

For his part, el-Eteify said groundwater is of great importance in achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Plan in the Arab region, as most Arab countries depend on groundwater resources to meet most of the fresh water needs, el-Eteify said.

“Water pollution is in itself an obvious, direct threat to life on earth, as the causes of pollution and damage are the same.

“In many agricultural areas, the leakage of fertilisers into aquifers and contamination of water supplies are all forms of pollution that must be combated and criminalised with the severest of penalties.”

Participants recommended development policies for good management and the rationalisation of water use, while considering quality of the water and protecting it from pollution.

Recommendations also included the need to activate and activate water treatment and reuse systems (non-conventional water resources) to make up for the regional water deficit.