A MEWA-KAUST workshop was held on October 24-25 on campus as KAUST is poised to undertake a strategic partnership with MEWA focusing on water research.

Day 1 comprises joint presentations by MEWA giving an overview and discussing issues surrounding reservoir operations, and WDRC faculty on addressing water challenges facing the Kingdom by Associate Professor Peiying Hong. Ph.D. candidate Adair Gallo Jr. gave a presentation on soil amendments and carbon capture. The team also gave a visit to the wastewater pilot facilities (facilitated by Utilities) as well as to the Tahlia Almiah desalination pilot.

The meetings on Day 2, led by the Halo Lab, was to provide an overview of the water use estimation methodology to MEWA and discuss the future technology transfer and training. Professor Matthew McCabe, Drs. Kasper Johansen, Oliver Lopez, and Marcel ElHajj joined by students Areej Alwahas and Ting Li,  presented topics on groundwater abstraction, object-based image analysis (OBIA), crop classification mapping and introduction to the new cloud-based project.  An open discussion successfully concluded the proceedings.