Almar Water Solutions shares its experience at the UNESCO’s Second International Conference on Water, Megacities and Global Change

• The conference responds to the need to consider the challenges of megacities from the perspective of water, and vice versa.
• Almar Water Solutions shared its experience in the development of unconventional water resources to supply cities and industry.

Last week, Almar Water Solutions participated in the Second International Conference on Water, Megacities and Global Change organized by UNESCO. The conference’s goal was to bring together scientists, policy makers, operators, public bodies and civil society to address water security and global challenges in megacities.

The concept of megacity applies to urban centers with more than 10 million inhabitants. These large cities face “mega-challenges” related to providing water services for both their inhabitants and their industries, while they must also manage their environments and not degrade them.

The 2nd International Conference on Water, Megacities and Global Change proposed cross-cutting and multidimensional solutions and shared success stories and experiences, with the aim of overcoming the challenges of climate change and water supply.

With the conviction that cities and their managers can do more to promote and develop alternative water sources, Almar Water Solutions sponsored this event and shared its experience in this area. Manuel García Calvo, Business Development Director for the Middle East and Marketing Director, participated in the round table “City-Basin dialogue and climate change adaptation: how to reconnect cities to their basins” and gave a presentation on the importance of non-conventional water resources, such as desalination and reuse, in cities. Almar Water Solutions’ success stories and projects were presented to raise awareness of the global water crisis and the need for collaboration between all of the urban water stakeholders in order to achieve sustainable resource management.

The cases of the Muharraq sewage treatment plant or the Shuqaiq 3 desalination plant show how technology may be the best ally to obtain and reuse water and guarantee the supply for municipal, industrial and agricultural uses. Manuel also pointed out that the generation of non-conventional water resources preserves scarce natural water sources, while at the same time caring for the environment and the planet.

The challenges posed by water management in megacities are particularly important and raise new issues that require close collaboration between scientists, who provide the knowledge, operators and basin authorities (public and private), who innovate technically and socio-politically, and local decision-makers, who can support new, fairer and more efficient water governance models. As a private company, Almar Water Solutions provides sustainable water infrastructure solutions for both the municipal and industrial sectors, with the goal of creating more sustainable and resilient societies.