EU launches water management project in West Bank

The European Union has launched a 1.5 million euro project to improve the livelihoods of poor and rural families through improving agricultural water management, officials said Wednesday. The project is being implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN and is expected to be finalized at the end of 2012, a statement from the EU said. "There is an unquestionable need for a comprehensive response to water scarcity and difficulties in accessing water for Palestinian farmers," said the acting EU envoy John Gatt-Rutter. "This project comes in addition to the EU food security programme which has focused exactly on improving the management of water and wastewater in rural areas of the oPt to tackle these problems. "We are particularly proud to launch this project whose asset lies not only in giving immediate access to water for the most impoverished rural families in the West Bank but also in directly involving the local community".