Project no. 031697

CYCLER SUPPORT

Supporting the implementation of FP6 research activities related to waste water use and recycling by using new generation greenhouse systems,

adapted to the requirements of the MED partner countries

Priority B.1.2.Mediterranean partner countries, Environment,

Improving the water consumption efficiency and effectiveness by usersand uses. Plant breeding for efficient crop water and nutrient use

Deliverable D 36 b “24 Months Activity Report”

Due date of deliverable: 15.12.2008Actual submission date: 15.12.2008

Start date of project: 01.11.2006 Duration: 24 Months

Organisation name of lead contractor for this deliverable: TUBProject co-funded by the European Commission within the Sixth Framework Programme (2002-2006)

Dissemination Level PU PublicPP Restricted to other programme participants (including the Commission Services)RE Restricted to a group specified by the consortium (including the Commission Services) xCO Confidential, only for members of the consortium (including the Commission Services)

Content

1. Publishable executive summary 2. Project objectives and major achievements during the reporting period 3. Workpackage progress of the period 4. Consortium management 5. Awareness rising, Disseminating and Exploitation

Publishable executive summary

Mediterranean Countries struggle with serious water problems like rising water competition between agriculture, households and industry, but limited and/or salt-affected water resources, irregular rainfall, escalating dehydration of landscape; and with inefficient wastewater treatment systems leading to pollution of surface- and groundwater. A solution is worked out in different recent research activities concerning greenhouse technology using unconventional water resources like urban wastewater, greywater, brackish water, seawater and rainwater harvesting.

The main topics of technology used are (1) increased water efficiency by lowered air velocity and enhanced air water vapour around the vegetation as well as rainwater harvesting from greenhouse roofs and storage, (2) proper use of wastewater or grey water in greenhouse irrigation, (3) reduced water demand in evaporative cooling by using sea water, (4) solar heating of sea- or brackish water in greenhouse roof area for combined evaporation and condensation (5) cooling of greenhouse air by heat exchanger elements with resulting condensation water yield from air water vapour (irrigation water recycling), (6) day night heat storages for getting coolant from night temperatures and (7) lowered energy consumption by using air movement of rising heated air and falling cooled air instead of using ventilators

However, these research activities have not been implemented in the Mediterranean Partner Countries so far. Main reasons are too high costs for the special water cycling greenhouse architecture and technology, insufficient studies about MPC’s wastewater collection systems and about the socio-economical benefits and risks to upgrade wastewater by greenhouse irrigation, and insufficient studies about the market value of useful crops which can be used in combination with greenhouse internal wastewater treatment.

In this context, the objectives of this project are to collect the missing information by accomplishing a detailed CYCLER-SUPPORT study, to disseminate the existing know-how of accomplished research activities and the completed study results mainly by a final CYCLER-SUPPORT-WORKSHOP, to give a clear view over further needed research activities to related stakeholders, to strengthen the exchange of know-how and co-operation between EU and MPC scientists, and to support the establishment of sustainable business-relations.

Project objectives and major achievements during the reporting period

Project objectives: The Background of this project is the problem of diminished water availability in Mediterranean countries, given by growing drought and over-exploitation of fossil water sources especially for agricultural use. A solution is worked out in different recent research activities concerning greenhouse technology using unconventional water resources like urban wastewater, greywater, brackish water, seawater and rainwater harvesting.

The main topics of technology used are: - Increased water efficiency by lowered air velocity and enhanced air water

vapour around the vegetation. - Rainwater harvesting from greenhouse roofs and storage - Reduced water demand in evaporative cooling by using sea water at the

greenhouse air inlet instead of fresh water- Filtration of infrared light and use of this part of the light spectrum in the

greenhouse roof to heat up sea- or brackish water for combined evaporation and condensation in a greenhouse system

- Cooling of greenhouse air by heat exchanger elements with resulting condensation water yield from air water vapour (Irrigation water recycling)

- Day night heat storages for getting coolant from night temperatures- Lowered energy consumption by using air movement of rising heated air and

falling cooled air instead of using ventilators

This area of technology is called “New Greenhouse Generation”. It has the potential to change greenhouse horticulture from a water consuming into a water producing technology, by optimising water efficiency and by using marginal water in irrigation and evaporative cooling while giving back condensed water as a fresh water source.

As a main objective as a specific interdisciplinary interface of this project is the proper use of marginal water, especially urban waste water in irrigation and the use of these technologies in new generation greenhouses. The specific added value is related to the fact, that a lower need of irrigation water in a hot and humid climate also allows to reduce the nutrient input, especially the until now unsolved problem of nitrogen accumulation in soils and drainage water output.

A further objective of the project is to discuss the concepts with major stakeholders from both, horticulture and water management. For this, a workshop will be held in the second year of the project, that has been prepared and announced within the first year.

Major achievements: After an extended analysis of currently working projects in the described area and the identification of major stakeholders in both, horticultural and water affairs the main emphasis of the project was taken on the until now unsolved or at least open questions.

The final implementation guide describes within 5 steps the implementation of approaches. The concept consist of (1) the new generation greenhouse systems, (2) the formation of an urban water and matter cycle, (3) the accumulation of carbon in the urban perimeter (4) the use of saline water in combination with concentrated solar power generation and finally (5) the interaction of the previous approaches

Withhin the Annex, the localisation of the described measures within the exemplary regions of Agadir and Gabes is described. Finally, policy recommendations and an outline for ten research programmes as fist steps of implementation are presented.

Main points that have been investigated are: - How can urban wastewater be used as a save water source in greenhouse irrigation?

For this question, already a clear out view is worked out. - Even if wastewater is used in irrigation within many informal ways, a secure use for

food production, especially for export products will be very difficult due to the extremely different qualities of wastewater and differing contaminations. A much saver way of using urban wastewater is the pre-selection in the households into greywater, urine and faecal. Greywater can be used directly in the irrigation process due to its low pathogenic content. Urine can be easily pre-treated and added to the irrigation water in a controlled way to prevent over-nutrition and soil salinisation. Faecal can be composted or converted to Biogas, while the solid matter from these processes can be transferred to soil substrates.

- As large fractions of existing wastewater is not separated, a use for non eatable biomass as raw material for construction, textile, paper and chemical industries are of high interest, as a pure production of biomass for energetic use will not give sufficient outcome in the context of greenhouse cultivation.

- If using wastewater with only mechanical pre-treatment, greenhouses can be used for secondary treatment of the wastewater. For that, greenhouse cultivation has to be separated into two processes, where in the first one, plants are grown on a gravel bed with high vertical flow with water treatment by bacteria growing on the surface of the gravel. In the second stage (which can be 10 – 20 times larger) the drainage from the first stage can be used in sufficient quality for direct irrigation with zero discharge at best practice.

- There has been an extended view onto the urban water- and matter circuit, that includes water needed for irrigation and evaporative cooling and different treatment methods, that allow to use unconventional water sources. Also dry matter waste was subject of the concept. Mainly, a treatment with new pyrolysis technologies have been suggested, that allows a pollutant sink in the cycle and also allows to use of biochar as a residue from this process as a soil enhancer.

- The use of saline water for irrigation and greenhouse evaporative cooling and related technologies of greenhouse integrated desalination are described.

- Cross technology synergisms, especially the cooling water recycling from concentrated power stations within closed greenhouses have been investigated.

- A further question is related to implementation strategies. How can the new technologies be sufficiently cheap and simple in order to be used within the context of farming in Northern Africa. This question is related to a detailed analysis of the processes and an out-view on potential cost reduction regarding construction, energy management, water management and horticultural practice.

The results of the project, as worked out in the work packages 1 – 6 have been presented in an implementation guide, that is distributed through the project website and through email contact to a large group of stakeholders, that had been invited to the Cycler Workshop. The results of the workshop also have been integrated into the implementation guideline.

3. Workpackage progress of the period

WP 1, Task 1.1 Completion of the research activities and expertise assessment

A report of research activities and expertise assessment related to the project’s main objectives has been produced by the partners. It includes the following topics:

- Technology of rainwater harvesting.- Use of wastewater in general agriculture irrigation.- Management of saline water in irrigation.- Separation of wastewater (faecal, urine, grey water) as a base for more

hygienical wastewater irrigation and more controlled integration of plant nutrient use in wastewater.

- Closed greenhouse technology.- Use of seawater for open greenhouse evaporative cooling.- Water recovery in open greenhouses. - Greenhouse roof integrated seawater desalination.

WP 1, Task 1.2 Setting up a stakeholder list

A stakeholder list (Deliverable 02) with a main focus on North African countries has been compiled. The list will be used in order to send information about the project activities and invitation flyer to the Cycler-Support Workshop , preferably via e-mail or fax. The list of contacts includes stakeholders from greenhouse horticulture, water supply, sanitation and related policy-makers, as well as European scientists, who are involved in related projects with developing countries (e.g. German “Mega cities” projects funded by DFG). Actually, the list includes 187 contacts, more contacts will be added along the duration of the project and it is continuously updated

WP1, Task 1.3 Informing and inviting the stakeholders

A workshop flyer (Delieverable 03, Delivered end of February) has been designed, in order to inform about the general objectives of the project and some first details about the Cycler-Support Workshop. It has been distributed by email to major addresses of the stakeholder list (Task 1.2) and will now also be distributed together with a first newsletter. It can also be downloaded from the project’s website (www.cycler-support.net).

WP 2, Investigating the wastewater situation

Task 2.1 Wastewater situation assessment

Wastewater assessed of the situation in Gabes and Agadir (Chapter 1 and 2) has been completed during the first month of the reporting period. A deliverable report (Deliverable 4) has been submitted on the 31st of May.

The subject includes the quantity and quality of the wastewater and the resulting clear water. Emphasis is given on the specific technologies used and to the possibility of using treated wastewater in agriculture, esp. greenhouse horticulture. Gabes has only a few greenhouse areas in its perimeter, while Agadir is one of the larges production areas of Northern Africa. Because of this, a special report has been produced (chapter 3) concerning

the actual situation of the greenhouse sector with specific emphasis on water availability as the main limiting factor of this branch. The investigation of regulations for biological and chemical contaminations of agricultural products in the MPCs and Europe (chapter 4) is being lead by TTZ, in order to proceed with the investigation of solutions for the wastewater pre-treatment and collection, applicable for the new greenhouse generation. In order, to amplify the available sources of irrigation water the outcomes of parallel ongoing European Research activities in this region such as the “PURATREAT” project and the NETSSAF coordination action have been evaluated and taken into account. Finally, a comprehensive report on the general questions of wastewater use in irrigation is included (chapter 5) as a basis information for the further work.

Task 2.2. Development of first implementation concepts

This task has been worked out during the whole reporting period. A deliverable report (Deliverable 5) has been submitted on the 31st of July.

Implementation measures are mainly related to the waste water offer. One part of the scenarios did examine the use of the existing waste water collection infrastructure and a part of the waste water treatment structure, while a specific pre-treatment strategy has been proposed, that enables an optimum availability of plant nutrient in the clear water output for regarding plant irrigation. Also minimisation of electric energy in the process was a subject (especially replacing compression based aeration of ponds by specific packed bed methods.

A second part of the scenarios has been worked out with regard to the two cities, their surrounding and regional context. Existing wastewater quantities were converted to needed greenhouse surfaces, which then were associated to specific areas in the surrounding of the cities.

A regional strategy of concentrated decentralisation for the future growth of the city is proposed, to allow a minimisation of transport between urban and greenhouse areas. This contributes to general urban master planning strategies.

For this case of non existing waste water collection in certain areas of the cities, the concept of water separation has been proposed, where the resulting grey water can be used for irrigation without further pre-treatment and applications will include decentralised greenhouse structures directly in the neighbourhood (greenhouses are placed in existing free spaces or are integrated into the structure of new neighbourhoods in the periphery of the city) or grey water is transported out of the city and greenhouse areas will remain separated areas in the perimeter.

Further concepts did propose to integrate seawater desalination into the greenhouse structure, where seawater is easily available. This is especially the case on the mounten slopes in the north of Agadir. In Gabes., the possibility of a distribution of seawater as a main water source is proposed to be transported through a new channel that in the long term can be built around the whole Shot el Djerid on the level of 40 m above sea level.

WP3, Investigating potentials for cost reduction

This task has been worked out during the whole reporting period. Several deliverable reports (Deliverable 6-12) have been submitted one month later on the 31st of August. Cost reduction of closed greenhouses and greenhouse integrated desalination of the proposed technology and reduced complexity (also resulting into cost reduction) is a main goal for market acceptance in the MPC. Related measures can be subdivided into greenhouse construction, greenhouse cooling and irrigation technology.

For construction, an alternative design for a very cheap and wide spread greenhouse has been proposed. The existing design does not allow a closed environment, as greenhouse foils are penetrated by wires for fixing, resulting in many little holes in the plastic. A detailed examination for alternative and more stable construction methods has already been undertaken, including double curved geometries (sphere-like and tent-like shapes), with different methods of fixing and stretching of the foils.

For cooling, different methods are considered, including simple direct air-to-water heat exchangers. As this proposal is the most important for cost reduction, a calculation method for the until now unproved system has been worked out on the base of an Excel calculation sheet with integrated psychrometric formulas. Further more, the work on a more sophisticated calculation, that allows a precise simulation of the cooling processes has been started an will also be a part of the later scenarios (WP 5.1.).

Methods of improved accumulation of heat in the soil are proposed as more simple, space efficient and cheaper solutions are proposed as a further contribution to cost reductions.

For irrigation, the emphasis is (1) on the proposal of an adequate waste water pre-treatment strategy, that allows to maintain the plant nutrients in the water output. A further strategy follows the distribution of water under the soil with only little technical installations and little need of control and maintenance.

A one-week technical meeting between Partner ENIT (leader of Task 3.1.) and the project coordinator was held in Tunis in Early February in order to prepare the very important work of investigating and estimating the potentials to reduce the production and running costs for the new greenhouse generation.

Most parts of this work package were not based on existing research results, but did propose principal solutions, that have to be further worked out in future research and development projects. The work contributes as a base for the development of further research and policy recommendations in WP 5, Task 3.

WP 4, Investigating potential economical valuable crops

Non food biomass is a big general topic, as being a renewable energy resource as well as a renewable material resource. Anyway, a first overview did show, that the implementation of cultivation within greenhouses is problematic, as the prices for the resulting raw materials are much lower (around the factor of 10 lower than standard greenhouse eatable crops) and by this, greenhouse cultivation in general might be too expansive for such “low–cash crops”. Anyway, two major concepts are further investigated in terms of economical valuable crops:

The objective of WP4 was to investigate the economic potential of crops that are especially useful for biological wastewater treatment. For fulfilment of this objective the task was split into two subtasks. Whereas the first one dealt with the investigation of crops that are currently used or have a certain potential for wastewater treatment, the second one consisted of an assessment of the market potential of the before listed crops. TTZ and IAV were responsible for these tasks and developed the deliverables D13 and D14 that were duly submitted to the EC.

The partners started with collecting information about specific plants that were already used for biological wastewater treatment. Hereby a differentiation was made between plants that can be irrigated with wastewater and plants that provide a substantial benefit for wastewater treatment by removing nutrients and heavy metals, and further support the important microbial degradation of pollutants and organic material. For the work in WP4 only the last group of plant species was relevant because almost all food and non-food crops can be irrigated with wastewater if hygienic standards and specific crop requirements are met. Especially macrophyte plant species (higher water plants) were found to be suitable for biological wastewater treatment because they can stand permanent wet conditions that are required for wastewater treatment. Hereby two groups were differentiated, floating and emergent macrophytes, and the most relevant species for wastewater treatment selected and listed. The list (D13) includes plant species that were already used for treating different types of wastewater especially in Europe and North America, but also in North Africa and Asia.

In a second step the economic potential of most of the selected plants was assessed. Hereby the partners conducted a literature search for information about existing applications of the plants and if stable regional, national or even international markets exist for the plants or plant products. TTZ further contacted partners from other projects to include their experiences. The results, fixed in D14, show that currently only local applications and markets exist mainly due to the limited knowledge about the potential of certain plants to substitute conventional products. However, local applications or direct integration of plants and plant products in the greenhouse system can provide the operator with a clear benefit than purchasing other material.

The finalisation of WP4 also lead to achievement of M04 “Overview over the market potential of unconventional crops that are suitable for biological wastewater treatment” by the end of month 10 in the project.

Use in the water pre-treatment: As further investigated in WP 2, Task 2.2., a very small part of a total greenhouse complex fed with wastewater can be used for pre-treatment of the wastewater. The literature review did show examples, where after mechanical pre-treatment, between 100 and 1000 l/m²*d is fed into a planted gravel bed, where wastewater can constantly be in contact with air and by this reduce its biological oxygen demand. In this essential process, the value of the crops, planted into the gravel bed is not of high importance, as the surface needed is only very little, compared with the surface irrigated with the outgoing, pre-treated water. For the selection of specific crops, the main criteria is not the price for the yielded biomass, but its applicability for the pre-treatment process. Criteria regard to plant acceptance to high level of pollutants and characteristics of the root/rhizome behaviour in the gravel.

WP 5, Implementation scenarios, benefit and risk analysis, and research and policy recommendations

Task 5.1: Scenarios development

It was still not possible to get more specific data on the locations of Agadir and Gabes. Spatial information in these countries seems to be of high secret or related to political control functions. Due to missing technical information the scenarios are further developed on the base of the current state of information from the first WPs. Still it makes very much sense to further work on the scenarios, as not the base of the current situation is the most important topic but the integration of the new technologies and the comparison of it.

A first scenario provides the integration in existing structures with low effort. Related to the unconventional water sources, this mainly means measures of rainwater harvesting, the more efficient use of fossil resources and the use of output water from existing waste water clearage fields. Regarding to the latter one, this means, that with a low effort, only non food crops like ornamental plants and biomass for construction and energy purposes can be used.

A second scenario focuses on broader renovation actions including a number of innovative technologies that will interact with each other and that needs further investigation in order to be successfully applied. This includes:

- Wastewater separation and use of grey water for irrigation, urban water circulation between housing and greenhouse areas, storage technology including related building technologies like vacuum sanitation systems

- Treatment of urine and faecal as a base for new fertilizers, including technology survey for elimination of endocrine organic particles

- Measures of soil re-vitalisation and soil water storage capacity using non degradable organic materials (made of biological waste, sludge, agricultural wastes)

- Greenhouse integrated water processing and measures of enhanced water productivity (related to the results of WP 3)

- Use of saline water, diluted with condensed water, technology of salt output (salt sinks)

- Use of saline water in measures of evaporative greenhouse cooling- Greenhouse integrated Solid State Fermentation for food upgrading (protein

enrichment) as a main measure for increased surface productivity and related higher degree of urban self sufficient food production

- Greenhouse integrated production of plant fibres and Solid State Fermentation for non food biomass processing (textile and pup/paper processing) in combination with wastewater in irrigation as an overall economical valuable combination

- Greenhouse integrated solid state fermentation for re-activation of existing industrial soil contaminations

- Desiccant cooling systems for greenhouse cooling and for combined greenhouse and building cooling based on solar energy

- Production of solar thermal produced electricity within greenhouses by concentration semi transparent mirrors

Task 5.2: Benefit and risk assessment

The feasibility and the impact of the implementation of the new greenhouse generation to the MPCs, is analysed and assessed on the base of the generated results and on the task 5.1

During the workshop, it has been pointed out by different speakers , that the option of doing nothing (Zero Scenario) and the attitude of looking on the drastic changes in the productive ecosystems is about to become more and more the highest risk! This includes the general risk of growing drought and water scarcity that destroys the base of food supply and the main export business. Prices for agricultural products have been rapidly rising through the last months with dramatic consequences for all Mediterranean countries. Exploding costs are caused by real physical shortages after a period of growing demand in other emerging markets like India or China.

Additionally, at present state, bio-fuels made out of sugar cane, sugar beat or corn can be produced at prices equivalent or below the current price of oil. This together means a total change of the situation: Agricultural production can face a de facto endless market on the demand site! Producers could sell as much as possible for a good price but how could they offer more?

Irrigation is a key issue in arid climate to convert previously unused or unproductive land into areas of intense cultivation. Anyway, the business is so profitable that around available groundwater stocks, land use is growing so fast, that any source will be finally ended, even if using the most sophisticated water efficient irrigation systems.

The risk of food contamination can be minimised by the choice of different possible filter methods and, if these are finally regarded as insufficient, also the possibility of non-food crop irrigation is a real perspective. Insufficient wastewater treatment as a base of diseases and groundwater contamination is the actual risk of the zero scenario.

First estimations during this project on the price of a closed greenhouse low-end market product did result in costs of about three times of a current standard greenhouse. With a double production due to CO2 enrichment and improved quality due to pesticide free cultivation, a closed greenhouse could potentially be viable in the market today following this calculation and can provide the benefits of a further advanced prosperity of the region by also solving problems of local supply of water and food as well as solving environmental problems like water and soil contamination.

Growing prices for agricultural products will now even allow to grow a much higher variety of crops within greenhouses. This will include crops like soy, sweet maize or peanuts.

The risk of insufficient value of non food products provokes a regard on high value non eatable plants that can be irrigated with urban wastewater without the problem of bringing back pathogens or endocrine organic compounds into the human food cycle. Some fibre crops will give sufficient income, especially in combination with greenhouse integrated solid state fermentation, that allows an upgrading of the textile qualities or even the production of cellulose as a raw material. Also Bamboo is an interesting candidate, as it can be used as a building material that can replace steal in certain constructions. Also the price for greenhouses are mainly based on steal compounds and steal prices are about to rise drastically as announced in the press. Bamboo can be provided for less than 25% of the price of steal if being locally produced. It can be used in greenhouse construction if consequently kept outside of the humid inside climate.

The risk of salt pollution of the wastewater stream, that can not be taken out by the proposed filter provokes a more decentralised treatment of wastewater. Especially wastewater from the coastal fish industries have to be treated separately and implements the specific potential of a total use of the contained waste in aqua farming and algae production.

The risk of accumulation of pollutants in closed matter circuits can be combated with a specific treatment of dried solid waste in pyrolysis devices, that can act as a pollutant sink for organic substances. This method becomes a major element in the scenarios beside the new greenhouse technologies.

Task 5.3: Development of further research recommendations

Most of the proposed technologies will have to be developed within research prototypes and implementation projects and field testing. This together shall be realised by an integrated implementation action plan, that should be financed together with Industrial partners as well as by the regional and national governments. The existing partner consortium is evaluating published calls and tenders in order to further develop and implement some of the developed modules in the targeted region.

The next steps of further research and development of the strategic steps in the scenarios for the general development of arid areas in the Mediterrranean Countries is summarised within 10 different areas of research:

- Closed greenhouse for food crops- Closed greenhouse for non-food crops including greenhouse integrated solid state

fermentation. - Open greenhouse with natural convection, built on mountain slopes, using saline water

from the sea for evaporative cooling. Integrated aqua farming for fish and algae production using waste water and solid waste from fish processing

- Model urban area for wastewater pre-selection in urban areas with use of greywater in greenhouse projects

- Wastewater post treatment systems adapted to reuse of water and solved plant nutrients in horticultural production

- Sea- and brackish water pre- and post treatment systems adapted to use in horticultural production

- Pyrolysis model project for treatment of urban waste, sludge and agricultural waste with charcoal as a main output product to be used as a soil enhancer

- Rainfed cultivation based in arid areas based on charcoal soil supply and surface rainwater harvesting

- Concentrated Solar Power project with cooling water recycling in closed greenhouses- Novel material research

To bring together the synergistic technological components, an MPC research policy strategy will be proposed. This will also include a perspective for teaching on university level and basic apprentice training.

Recommendations for the enhancement of legal frameworks, especially according to the use of wastewater and greywater in irrigation are proposed, also with topics going contrary to the

present watr directive, as common waste water treatment is not optimised for the preservation of nutrients for irrigation. The results of the workshop discussion did show, that the use of wastewater for irrigation of horticultural crops in principle is possible. Details have to be investigated within research projects, that are adapted to the local wastewater situation.

Recommendations for the development of official guidelines regarding to the implementation of integrated systems for basic supply into existing communal public services as alternatives to existing (mostly flush canalisation oriented) communal water disposal systems or as prevention for wastewater disposal in the nature, and recommendations for early implementation of the needed space for the CYCLER concept in the master plans of continuous suburban growth of big cities

WP6 Implementation guide and CYCLER-SUPPLY WORKSHOP

Task 6.1: Development of the CYCLER-SUPPORT implementation guide

A general scenario for the future development of the agricultural and water sector in arid and hyper arid areas, based on recent technologies and scientific results is the subject of the implementation guide. The rising global food crisis is mainly caused by a lack of water and a more and more limited supply of plant nutrients. For a long term development with foreseeable further population growth, related increase of needed human supply and growing water scarcity due to climate change, a kind of quantum leap has to be considered, that should go far beyond the currently discussed measures of higher water efficiency in agricultural and urban water supply.

For arid climate, a much more resource efficient system should be implemented, that can be defined within five new paradigms:

- The natural water cycle can be circumvented! Water efficiency can be drastically improved by new greenhouse technologies, that provide condensed water regained after being evaporated by plants with recycling rates of up to 80% and reduced water consumption compared to open field intensive production of 95%.

- Urban water and matter cycles, realised by specific wastewater and solid waste collection- and treatment technologies will allow to minimise nutrient losses, contamination of land and groundwater. For the future, they can provide a real alternative to mineral fertilisers and to groundwater based irrigation water supply.

- The natural carbon cycle can be circumvented! Carbon dioxide from the atmosphere can be captured by vegetation and after the life cycle of biological products, can be transferred to charcoal by processes like pyrolysis or hydrothermal carbonisation. By this, carbon can be accumulated in the soils for very long periods and can allow to increase the water field capacity and related heat capacity of productive land.

- Carbon dioxide produced by combustion or biological degradation of biomass or fossil fuels can be recycled into the air volume of closed greenhouses with enriched CO2 content for extensive increase of plant productivity - without disputed methods like further plant breeding or genetic modification.

- The cooling water cycle of concentrated solar powers systems and geothermal power systems can be combined with solar seawater desalination as well as with new generation greenhouse systems to allow the use of sea- and brackish water sources for agricultural systems, especially in coastal areas.

This document describes within 5 steps the implementation of these new approaches. The concept consist of (1) the new generation greenhouse systems, (2) the formation of an urban water and matter cycle, (3) the accumulation of carbon in the urban perimeter (4) the use of saline water in combination with concentrated solar power generation and finally (5) the interaction of the previous approaches

Withhin the Annex, the localisation of the described measures within the exemplary regions of Agadir and Gabes is described. Finally, policy recommendations and an outline for ten research programmes as fist steps of implementation are presented.

Task 6.2. Preparation, performance and evaluation of the CYCLER-SUPPORT-WORKSHOP

The workshop did take place with 220 participants from 15 Mediterranean and European countries (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon, Turkey, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, United Kingdom, Germany, and Denmark). Also the participant from Morocco were represented by  the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Water Ressources, State Secretariat for Environment, Ministry of Interior, as well as several Government agencies including the Water Basin Agency of Agadir, the agricultural extension service (ORMVA’s), the potable water agency (ONEP), the water agency distributors (RAMSA, RADES, LYDEC, REDAL); in addition to the farmers association, agricultural groups, cooperatives and private companies were also of attendance. The workshop showcased over fifty presentations, during the 4 days,

SESSION 1: Technologies for Treatment and proper re-use of wastewater in irrigation, chaired by Sixto Malato, CIEMAT - Spain.

SESSION 2: Wastewater reuses and monitoring, chaired by Redouane Choukr-Allah IAV. Hassan II -CHA- Agadir

SESSION 3: Case studies, chaired by Maria Fürhacker, BOKU – Austria

SESSION 4: Technologies for solar desalination and water harvesting, chaired by Marco Schmidt – Germany

SESSION 5: Opportunities and new challenges for introducing greenhouse structure minimizing crop water consumption, chaired by Sven-Erik Jacobsen , Dannemark

SESSION 6: Policies framework and institutional Aspects, chaired by L. Firdaouicy Morocco

Three concrete actions resulted from this meeting:

1. a memorandum between the farmers association and IAV Hassan II in collaboration with Dr Martin Buchholz ( coordinator of CYCLER SUPPORT Project) to develop a pilot greenhouse reducing water consumption .

2. a first contact meeting between the municipality of Agadir and the  Spanish group RLM to build a symbiotic plant station in the center of Agadir to irrigate most of the city landscape.

3. a contract programme between a French company and IAV Hassan II for valorization of the of the  sludge collected at the Agadir wastewater plant.

 On another hand, the workshop allowed 4 European projects members to exchange information on similar subjects related to integrated water management (INNOVAMED, CYCLER SUPPORT, MELIA and SWUP).

Also several international organizations were present during the workshop including CIEHAM, IDRC, WWC, AWC, and The British Council. In terms of the dissemination of the information presented during the workshop, over 10 news papers covered the event, and several articles were included in some Agricultural magazines. The local TV’s station and local Radio station broadcasted several coverage editions. 4. Consortium management

The progress in the work packages of the project and along the meetings could be realised without major problems. Distribution of work among the partners is documented in the management report.

Kick Off Meeting (Agadir, 15th and 16th of November 2006): Kick-off meetingThe Kick-off meeting took place in Agadir between the 14th to the 17th November 2006The meeting started with a brief introduction of the whole project structure and fundamental management by the coordinator and a presentation of each participant. A longer discussion was held on the question of precising the common objectives of the project, integrating all the very different specific knowledge represented (plant physiology, water management, wastewater use in agriculture, salinity control in irrigation, thermodynamics/humidification and dehumidification of air, closed greenhouse technology).

A project steering committee was formed, consisting of the following persons: Martin Buchholz(TUB), Redouane Chouckrallah (IAV), Marisol Oropeza (TTZ) (Later changed to Steffen Foellner) , Karim Bourouni (ENIT), Atef Hamdy (IAMB), Mohammed ElMourid (ICARDA),

The group organised three further official meetings:

The mid term meeting has been performed in November 2007 in Tunisia, city of Tozeur. The main topics were organisation and discussion on the Agadir and Gabes Scenarios, The general outline of the technical recommendations within the scenarios and the preparation of the Cycler Support Workshop in Agadir.

The Cycler-Support Workshop was organised in Agadir on 28th of April and 01st of May. in Agadir, Morocco. (See WP 6)

A final project meeting was held in the city of Marrakech / Morocco in October 2008. Mainly, final decisions on the content of the implementation guide and final

dissemination measures (Newsletter, Website modifications) as well as financial reporting and audit certificates have been discussed.

Further interim working meetings were held amongst different partners: Work Meeting in Tunis during February 2007: The scope of Workpackage 3 (Investigating potential for cost reduction) was prepared in a group meeting between TUB, ENIT and ICARDA in the second week of February in Tunis.

Work meeting in Agadir in August 2007: A preparation meeting was hosted by IAV, IAMB and ENIT in order to have first discussions with the participation several local experts and representative private and public institutions to discuss the important scientific event intended to be organized in Agadir in April 2008. We gave to the participant complete description of the cycler support project. Pr Choukr-Allah informed the participant about the workshop to be organized on non conventional water and its potential treatment, use and recycling in protected culture. After two days discussions between the participants we come to the following proposal concerning this intended event taking in consideration what had been reported in the first newsletter following proposal concerning this intended event taking in consideration what had been reported in the first newsletter

Work Meeting in Bari, October 2007: A meeting with Pr. Atif Hamdy, and Dr Martin Buchholz was held in Bari, Italy in the week of the 17th of October. In addition, bilateral discussion between IAV and IAMB suggesting the possibility that Bari institute contributes to the publication of the proceeding in a special option Mediterranean series with a hard copy and a CD. Pr Hamdy appreciated the idea and will report to the Bari institute director. Based on this discus a proposed programme of the meeting was developed and sent to all the partners for their suggestions. During this meeting we discussed the programme of the meeting and, how to coordinate the workshop with a course on innovative technologies of treatment and reuse of wastewater of another project financed by the EU (INNOVAMED);

Mid term meeting in Gabes in November 2007:

A mid-term Project meeting was organized at Hotel "Ksar Rouge" in Tozeur, Tunisia, during the period 17-18 November, followed by study tours in southern Tunisia on 19 November 2007. The objective of the meeting was to review project status, exchange relevant information, and discuss on-going and future activities, including the Agadir workshop in 2008. Dr. Buchholz pointed out that the WATERGY design as built in the Almeria Prototype is currently still very costly compared with standard protected horticulture structures or other greenhouses but that future demands for water recycling and energy efficient operation as well as the potential for increased productivity may make it competitive. He presented options to reduce the cost as the use of simplified cooling systems, advanced light weight greenhouse constructions, cheaper and locallyproduced material and potential self-regenerating materials. Discussions among participants centred around the need for further research to explore the feasibility and advantages of such greenhouse design. Dr. Bourouni discussed possibilities of greenhouse cooling with desiccants and the potential for current implementation. He referred to the specific local conditions in Tunisia and the requirements for cooling especially in summer and for heating in winter time. He also pointed out that cooling of open greenhouses through water evaporation requires more water than irrigation while implementation of desiccant systems can drastically reduce such water losses. The combined use of desiccants and evaporative cooling has been effective in lowering

greenhouse summer maximum temperature by 5oC in hot climate. Dr. Chaibi's presentation focused on his experience with solar desalination systems and subsoil vapour irrigation from greenhouse ambient air. The approach is very interesting especially for soil-less cultures and has soil heating as an additional benefit apart from efficient irrigation. However, it was argued that related energy consumption has to be checked carefully in relation to the needed pressure for such procedure. Mr. Foellner presented concepts for wastewater separation and pre-treatment as a requirement for further reuse. Grey water can be easily treated for greenhouse irrigation as it contains only low levels of pathogens. He also mentioned that wastewater pre-treatment in dry regions must ensure low losses by evapo-transpiration. Dr. Choukrallah started his presentation by stressing the severe drought experienced in Morocco during the season. About 4,000 ha were abandoned by farmers in Morocco because of missing rainfall and insufficient resources for irrigation of their land. Such conditions require new solutions for efficient greenhouse irrigation and overall water management strategies (automatic irrigation control, recycling of drainage water). Waste water treatment in Morocco was covered with a special emphasis on an integrated approach in the trilogy sanitation treatment and reuse. Recommendations were made for (a) designing treatment technique according to anticipated uses, (b) enhancing the value of sludge and optimizing the recycling of nutrients inwastewater, (c) developing a sound strategy for storing wastewater, and (d) encouraging the drip irrigation system. Dr Buchholz presented scenarios for the cities of Gabes-Tunisia, and Agadir-Morocco. Presented scenarios represent a rough estimation of what kind of greenhouse concepts can have a certain potential in what location, taking into account such aspects as current land use, relief and distance to the sea, etc. The two cities, both sufferingacute water shortage, can exploit the potential of newgeneration greenhouses to process different types of unconventional water to generate fresh water for use in the two cities, in addition to solar desalinized sea-water.

Work Meeting in Agadir April 2008: The organisational meeting was organised in parallel to the Cycler Support Workshop in Agadir Beach Hotel on the 30th of April. The main topics were the protocol of the workshop and dissemination activities as workshop follow up. A further main topic was the structure of the Implementation Guide.

Final Meeting in Marakkech, Morocco, October 2008. Main topics were final dissemination activites, newsletter updates, website updates and final modification of the Cycler Support Implementation Guide.

Reporting

For the first year of the project, a management report and a related first activity report as well as a TIP report were written. Financial statements of the partners were forwarded to the commission. Interim reports were submitted.

5. Awareness rising, Disseminating and Exploitation (WP 7)

As being an SSA, the project will not produce directly commercially exploitable results. Moreover, it is the aim of promoting results from previous projects. The main final dissemination instruments will be the implementation guide and the Cycler Support Workshop, that will be presented in the second year. Main dissemination activities where:

- Workshop Invitation Flyer (Deliverable 3)

A Workshop Invitation Flyer is attached to this report

- Project Website (Deliverable 24) The project website is available at www.cyler-support.net.

- Internet based expert exchange platform (Deliverable 25) An Internet based expert exchange platform has been arranged by installation of the Skype Software with links to all participants.

- Project Newsletter (Deliverable 26 A) A number of four Newsletters were produced, introducing the project, reporting on the Scenarios for Agadir and Gabes, reporting on the Cycler Support workshop and reporting on the implementation guide release.

- Cycler Poster and Workshop brochure with workshop philosophy paper (Deliverable 27) has been produced especially for the announcement of the workshop

Conference presentations (Deliverable 28 A) :

The concept of Cycler Support has been presented at different international conferences with papers published in the conference proceedings:

- International Conference on Climate Change, Hong Kong 29th-31st of May 2007, Martin Buchholz: Closed greenhouses, a tool for productive water and land management in arid areas

- Urban Climate Change Research Network, International Symposium, Columbia University, New York, NY, May 10-11, 2007, Track: Green Communities, Urban Heat Islands, and Health, Marco Schmidt, “The Importance of Evapotranspiration for the (urban) climate”.

- “Water for all life”, Wastewater Recycling Association (NOWRA) in Baltimore, MA, USA, Marco Schmidt, “Rainwater harvesting, stormwater management and building climatization – scientific demonstration projects”.

- Buchholz, Martin. The Watergy Project, a closed greenhouse urban supply system.Workshop on Sustainability in Controlled Environments, United Kingdom Controlled Environment User Group (UK CEUG) 10.-12.09.2007, University of Aberystwyth, Wales (Key Note Lecture)

- Buchholz, Martin, Choukr – Allah, Redouane. Treatment and use of marginal quality water under protected cultivation, Opportunities and new challenges for arid and semi -arid regions. Séminaire International de Exploitation des Ressources en Eau Pour une Agriculture Durable, 21.-22 Novembre 2007 Hammamed, Tunesien (www.iresa.agrinet.tn/waterconference-tn)

- Schmidt, Marco : Presentation 7th European Conference Solar Energy in Architecture and Urban Planning  "Sun and Sense", Berlin on 12.3.2008: Reduced energy consumption for cooling and ventilation - http://www.a.tu-berlin.de/gte/forschung/Adlershof/SunAndSense2008.ppt

- Schmidt, Marco : Presentation at the II. International Water Conference (IWC) Berlin, 12.-14.9.07. Evaporation of rainwater for building climatization and interrelation on the urban and global climate changehttp://www.iwc-berlin.de

- Cycler Support MEDITERRANEAN WORKSHOP ON NEW TECHNOLOGIES OF RECYCLING NON CONVENTIONAL WATER IN PROTECTED CULTIVATION in cooperation with EU Innovamed project, 28.04. – 01.05.2008, Agadir Beach Hotel, Agadir, Morocco

Press coverage

Acta Horticulturae

Zaragoza, G., Buchholz, M., Closed greenhouses for semi-arid climates: Critical discusison following the results of the Watergy prototype in: Acta Horticulturae, 797, Proceedings of the International Workshop on Greenhouse Environmental Control and Crop Production in Semi-Arid Regions

Official agency of Maghreb Arab Press (MAP)

- n25th of April it was announced on its Web site- n27th the German correspondent of MAP announced that German scientists and

universities are contributing to this Workshop- n29th of April the Arab version of the workshop was announced in the Web Site of MAPAgriculture du Maghreb

- Professional Magazine on Horticultural products - April 2008 n° 27 in the section of  Irrigation published a paper of Pr Choukr-Allah on

the water Crisis in the Mediterranean region and the importance of this Workshop- June 2008 n° 29 the journalist Laure Benoist presented a good coverage of the

workshop in 4 pages, also he emphasized the interest of the generation of greenhouses that save water

Pack info edited by Fellah Conseil

Private Magazine on Horticultural products, April 2008 no 68 published the programme of the workshop and 4 articles related to the objectives of the workshop

- strategy on the preservation of the water ressources of the Souss Massa Region edited by the Director of IAV Hassan II

- technologies of sea water desalinization edited by mohamed Aghrab journalist of the Magazine

- New Generation of Greenhouse saving Water edited by Dr. Buchholz, Dr. Zaragoza and Pr. Choukrallah

- Solar desalinization edited by Chaibi and Bourouni

- July no 70 detal press coverage on the workshop was developed with an interview of Pr Choukrallah and the temoinage of several participants

National written Press

Most of the Arab and French national Press did announce the same press coverage of MAP describing the Workshop importance and objectives

- Economist journal published the second of may 2008, an article on the reuse of treated wastewater in the region of Agadir

- Aufait Maroc Magazine published in his edition of 16 to 18 may 2008 (n° 292) two articles, one on the new technologies of recycling non conventional water and the second one was an interview with Pr Choukr-Allah on water deficit in Morocco

Buchholz, Martin 2008, Urbane Kreislaufversorgungssysteme, Garten und Landschaft 1/2008, pp26-28

Cycler Support on Radio and TV

- The film „Deserts – Destroyers of Civilisations“ by German Producer Ingo Herbst (Media Price 2007 of the German “Umwelthilfe” assesses the problem of growing deserts in Europe. It includes a profound description of the Watergy Greenhouse (as developed under EU FP 5) as the main concept for combating the problem of growing drought in agriculture. The film was on TV for several times at French/German channels “ARTE”, “Phoenix” and “3 Sat” as well as several times on Al Djazeera documentary channel.

- The national channels 2M and SNRT did several interview with the organizers of the Cycler workshop and some national and international participants

- The regional radio station «Radio plus» invited Pr Choukr-Allah on a 3 hours emission to present the objectives and the outcomes of the workshop

- .

- William Vorsatz : „Wasser vom Dunstabzug, Gewächshäuser mit eingebauter Wasserrückgewinnung“ (Radio feature about Watergy greenhouses) Deutschland Funk (National German Newsradio) 27.06.2008