Metito advocates the role of privatization in implementing effective wastewater reuse projects

Metito's participation in this year's conference highlighted key topics related to the cost of investing in wastewater (WW) reuse technologies, benefits of privatization in implementing effective reuse solutions and the impact of subsidies on WW reuse which has proven to be a major obstacle against implementing efficient water reuse schemes. Hani Tarazi, Concession Specialist in Metito delivered a key presentation which has addressed solutions to the major challenges of providing additional fresh water resource, environmental as well as economic benefits of WW reuse.

Presenting a strong case for WW reuse Hani Tarazi, Concession Specialist at Metito said, "As water reuse expansion continues at a rapid pace in the Middle East, Metito offers technologies capable of producing potable water quality from wastewater by using a combination of Membrane Bio-Reactors biological treatment process and Reverse Osmosis (RO) membrane desalination. He demonstrated that WW reuse is not only cheaper than desalinating seawater but also reduces the pressure on the existing desalination plants."

He added, "The demand for fresh water is increasing at an alarming rate considering the fact that the Middle East is the driest regions in the world. Meeting this demand is now a vital issue and one of the key answers come from the great potential of reusing wastewater which can meet various applications such as landscape irrigation, industry, agriculture and up to potable uses."

In his presentation at the conference Hani Tarazi also explained the way to establish a successful model of privatization which takes into consideration the strengths and weaknesses of the privatization process to ensure efficient reuse projects that benefit the public and private sectors in addition to the end users. In this model the private sector would provide the management of operations, technical know how including investing in additional assets while keeping the water strategies, policies, planning and raw water sources under the governments' control. Hani also stressed on the impact of water tariffs, where an appropriate tariff could lead to an efficient consumption of water as compared to providing water at very low prices. Recent tariff reviews has shown that water traffics need to be cost recovery driven and local governments need to establish enough regulations that can convert the existing tariffs into cost recovery based tariffs.

Metito, founded in 1958, is a shining example of a Middle Eastern company that has grown to be a world leader in its field. Metito operates locally in 14 countries of the Arab and Islamic World, and supplies its plants internationally to locations as far apart as Argentina and Australia from its base in the United Arab Emirates. Some of the company's notable achievements in 2006 include high purity demineralised water supply for Jebel Ali and Umm Al Nar power projects in UAE, drinking water supply to Kandahar in Afghanistan and high quality water supply for North Rumaylah project in Iraq.