Focused on the city of Gabès, in southern Tunisia, the project aims to promote the recovery and reuse of rainwater in urban environments through innovative technical and institutional strategies and actions, and to disseminate it to Tunisia and the southern Mediterranean. Led by the Barcelona Metropolitan Area, in cooperation with MedCities and Gabès City Council, a member of the network, the project responds to the strategic priorities of this Tunisian city. The Gabès Strategic Plan, finalised in 2018 with the technical and methodological support of MedCities. identifies the optimization of water use as one of the city’s main challenges. In addition, the project has a number of associated entities that provide their technical and political expertise in the project, such as the Mediterranean Institute of Water and the Laboratory of Waste, Water, Environment and Pollution of the University of Lyon.

With a duration of 30 months and a budget of more than 800.000€, ValEUr Gabès will begin in October 2020 with four main activities: the elaboration of a municipal plan for the integrated management of rainwater; the analysis and transfer of the best available technologies and inspiring practices in urban stormwater management; the implementation of pilot projects for the recovery and use of rainwater through infiltration and rain collection techniques; lastly, the dissemination and capitalization of the results of the project to public and private actors involved in water management in Tunisia and the Mediterranean. The project has the explicit support of actors such as the Union for the Mediterranean and the Mediterranean branch of the Global Water Partnership (GWP-MED) that will be actively involved in its capitalization strategy in order to maximise the impact on public policies.