Integrated water management of Mediterranean phosphate mining and local agricultural systems : The El ’ Maa project

The phosphate industry is a major contributor to the economy of some Mediterranean countries (i.e. Morocco, Jordan, Tunisia, etc). Large volumes of water are required by the mining industry from areas where water resources are scarce or limited. Water scarcity may be worsened by a degradation of the water quality after phosphate processing. The pressure on water is liable to hamper the development of phosphate industry and results in competition with other water reliant economic sectors such as agriculture or tourism. Within the EU INCO-MPC programme dedicated to the co-operation between European and Mediterranean countries, BRGM and CERPHOS, together with Mediterranean (Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia) and European (Belgium, France, Greece) partners, have initiated an ambitious project on integrated water management in phosphate mining areas. This project, which is supported by the European Commission started in September 2005. This paper aims to present the context and the objectives of the El'Maa project, along with the methodology to achieve the objectives and the expected outcomes and benefits. The El'Maa project meets the strategic following need: to reduce tensions on water resources (quantity and quality) at regional scale and to consolidate the sustainable development of the phosphate mining industry. El'Maa focuses in priority on the interface between the mining and agricultural sectors, given the economic and social importance of the latter sector. The general objective of El’Maa is to provide the phosphate industry and the water managers with a methodology for the integrated management of water resources in the zone of influence of the mine sites and provide technological innovations to reduce the pressure on water resources, in mining (e.g., use of municipal wastewater in phosphate process) and agricultural practices (e.g. use of phosphate process water). This methodology will integrate a customised Decision Support System with a realistic representation of water management system, integrating technical, economic, social and environmental dimensions. El'Maa DSS will serve i) to identify and rank the factors controlling water management and sharing; ii) to optimize the water consumption and re-use; iii) to measure the potential impact of changes in the mining and agricultural practices related to technological innovation or evolutions in the institutional or regulatory framework. It is accordingly possible for the phosphate industry as well as the institutional players to rank the actions to be initiated and hence to propose action plans.