An international workshop, bringing together stakeholders from several European Member States to discuss the application of public and private investment in water reuse was held between the 16th and 17th of May, 2019.
The meeting, as part of the Aquares, Interreg Europe project, was hosted by the Energy and Water Agency, with project partners coming over Spain, Greece, Poland, Czech Republic, Italy, Germany, Latvia and Slovenia.
This two day meeting saw a number of presentations to better explain how private investments for water reuse can be secured and thus ensure that participants get a better understanding of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) and their application. Presentations and experiences shared by Projects Malta, the Union for the Mediterranean and the European PPP Expertise Centre, EPEC were the highlights of the first day of the meeting where different themes related to public private partnerships were tackled. These Agencies were able to give a better understanding of what PPPs are, the work they entail as well as looking at them from different perspectives including a regional and national perspective.
During the second day, German, Spanish and Greek partners shared their experiences in this sector whilst the local water utility, the Water Services Corporation explained in detail their experience with the use of PPPs in the building of new water treatment plants, taking the Gozo plant as a case study.
To further explain this process in a practical manner, the participants were then invited for a site visit of one of WSC’s treatment plant. Water Services Corporation CEO Richard Bilocca gave a tour of the Ċumnija plant in Mellieħa, explaining the process of this water reuse installation.
Each presentation during the conference was followed by a Q&A session to allow the participants to discuss the themes presented, share their own experiences and offer advice and first hand experience from the projects they have carried out.