SEMIDE at the Plan Bleu hybrid workshop: Bridging the Water Investment Gap in the Mediterranean

SEMIDE participated on November 5, 2026 in the hybrid workshop “Bridging the Water Investment Gap in the Mediterranean” organised by Plan Bleu in Marseille (France). Bringing together 16 key stakeholders, the workshop aimed to foster a “One-Water” approach across the Mediterranean by evaluating and ranking the quantitative and qualitative barriers (institutional, regulatory, and financial) that impede water security. The workshop engaged participants in a structured discussion to collectively prioritize the identified challenges, ensuring the resulting ranking reflects the shared expertise of the group.

SEMIDE presented its paper “Socioeconomic and regulatory feasibility of decentralized water recovery technologies in the Mediterranean and Middle East regions”. The study was conducted as part of the transferability and replication analysis for services developed under the EU-funded HYDROUSA project.

This paper evaluates the socioeconomic and legislative barriers as well as drivers that affect the feasibility of six decentralized water recovery solutions (HYDROs). Based on a sample of 19 small and isolated sites in the Mediterranean and Middle East regions, the paper provides an original classification of the replication sites and offers a graphic representation to clarify the socioeconomic and regulatory sustainability of the decentralized technologies. The study shows that the economic feasibility is crucial to ensure the sustainability of HYDROUSA solutions. This is particularly relevant in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Türkiye and in southern countries (Oman, Palestine, Tunisia and Egypt), which have been recording the highest levels of water stress and where water loops’ implementation is most needed. Public incentive mechanisms (subsidies, grants, payments for environmental services …) at several scales (regional, national, and international) are mandatory to offset market failures as well as externalities and to achieve greater economic efficiency.

The workshop outcomes include refining pre-selected policy papers for the 2027 “Edited Volume” to ensure academic rigor aligns with policy-ready frameworks, facilitating a high-level policy dialogue between researchers and the Plan Bleu expert network, and providing broad perspectives on integrating empirical data into the Plan Bleu Observatory.