Contracting Party: UNDP
Funding Agency: OFID & UNDP
Partner Organization: International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) – (Uzbekistan and Jordan Offices)
Starting Date: October- 2015
Ending Date: December-2016
Overall, the project aims to prototype a scalable, solar powered, low-cost, small-scale aerated sludge wastewater treatment plant and evaluate the financial, social, and environmental opportunities and constraints of disseminating the innovative technology and knowhow to other rural communities in the MENA and Central Asia regions. More specifically, the project aims to Design, build, install and assess the installation, operational, and maintenance costs of the solar-powered wastewater treatment plant; Evaluate wastewater treatment technology efficiency and the impacts of treated wastewater reuse on green forages, animal production, and soil quality; and Evaluate the socioeconomic and environmental feasibility of disseminating the technology in Central Asia and disseminating of know-how to interested future stakeholders through workshop, and electronic media
The project is expected to reduce water scarcity and improve the livelihoods of poor rural communities by reducing water cost, the amount of purchased fodder, and simultaneously increasing animal productivity. This will be achieved through developing an Innovative, low operational cost, and low maintenance technology to treat and reuse wastewater to irrigate one acre of land from wastewater treatment plant with 5m3/day capacity; Increasing forage production by intensification of the cropping cycle; Improving secondary productivity (animal fertility, milk and meat production) by meeting the recommended caloric and dietary requirements of sheep and goats; and Protecting the environment from pollution caused by the improper wastewater disposals (open discharge of wastewater and/or use of unlined cesspits)