Yemen wins World Bank prestigious award [Archives:2005/846/Business & Economy]
By Walid Al-Saqqaf
For the Yemen Times
Washington – The Yemeni team representing the Ministry of Water and Environment, had won a World Bank award totaling about $127,000 for the implementation of a proposal in 'Reusing Mosque Water for Irrigation”. Yemen was one out of 30 winners in the Development Marketplace 2005 event held in Washington last week. The award was handed over by President of the WB James Wolfensohn on Wednesday to the head of Yemen's delegation to the event, Dr. Hussien Al-Gunied, Deputy Minister for Environment Affairs at the WB's headquarters in the American Capital.
“I am quite happy for our achievement and winning this prestigious award. Being awarded among 2,600 competitors means that we have achieved the top 2% rank in the world. This is something we ought to be proud about.” Dr. Al-Gunied said.
The application for grant from Yemen was solely organized by the Department of Environmental Affairs of the Ministry and aims at conserving scarce water resources in Yemen through the reuse of cleansing water from mosques for irrigation.
“This shows Yemen's willingness and ability to be innovative and help develop projects that will have great impact on farmers in the grassroots level. I believe that this is also a source of encouragement and motivations for Yemeni NGOs and civil society organizations to participate in future marketplace events.” the Deputy Minister said.
“I believe the project will be successful and we are committed to use the grant effectively to benefit the community. This project is a message to all that mosques may not only be a place for worshipping, but it could as well serve in irrigation, education, and assistance to the community.”
Through a partnership between the government's Department of Environmental Affairs and a water engineering firm, this project would develop grey-water treatment and distribution facilities to recover grey water from mosques in 3 pilot communities. In doing so, it would increase incomes by adding irrigated land and increasing water availability. To promote social acceptance and to increase understanding of grey-water reuse and sustainable water management, the project would conduct a public awareness campaign and seek the support of religious leaders, sheikhs, and government officials. In addition, the Department of Environmental Affairs would disseminate the project experience and results gained to other communities.
This project expects to reduce groundwater extraction for agriculture and initiate an industry to reuse grey water throughout Yemen.
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