From CORDIS:

Objective: Water, a fundamental resource for human being, presents a substantial problem in a big part of the developing world. Availability is restricted and the quality is low. Half of the population in the developing world lacks access to potable water and 132 million people even suffer water shortage. To achieve economic and political stability, appropriate policy and strategies for the water supply in rural areas must be developed.

In the rural context the question how to provide electricity for water supply and purification systems in non-electrified areas must be solved. Renewable energy technologies offer a good option. The project aims at the development of rural water management concepts with renewable energy for the Maghreb, where 60 to 70% of the rural population lack access to safe-water. A workshop on rural water supply in the Maghreb will be realised to initiate a forum on which joint approaches and strategies are developed.
About 70% of the rural population in the Maghreb lack access to safe water. The consequence is a bad health situation as well as socio-economic and political obstacles. Hence, strategies and concepts on rural water supply must be developed. These must often consider technical solutions with renewable energy, as the rural access to the electric grid is low. The project aims at joint approaches of Maghrebian and European players to rural water supply and purification. A workshop initiates a forum for steady discussion, exchange of information, and cooperation. Model concepts for the Maghreb will be developed using the example of Morocco. Existing projects will be evaluated and exemplary concepts based on renewable energy will be developed linking water supply with electrification. Transferred to the Maghreb context these concepts build a base for joint projects with the long-term objective to establish a "EU-Maghreb-Council on Rural Water Supply".