IME will organize, together with EDF, on 13 and 14 December 2010 in Marseille, a regional workshop on « Dams in the Mediterranean » and more especially on “Silting up and Sustainable Management of the Dam reservoirs”.

The organization of such an event follows upon the recommendations of the 1st workshop on the theme of the “Design and Sustainable Management of Dams in Mediterranean countries” held in November 2005 in Rabat (Morocco). The participants from Rabat regional workshop expressed their wish for making these meetings a regular feature at the Mediterranean Basin level to promote the exchange of experience in the sustainable management of dams by organizing a second workshop on the issue of the management of the solid flows more precisely on the “the problems of the silting up of dams, the techniques and the experiments of silting up in the dam reservoirs and close to the secondary works, modelling of the solid flows, innovative methods for the protection of catchment areas”.

This main theme will be approached through several themes such as: the silting up phenomena of dam reservoirs, the particularly serious threats that they represent to the mobilization of water resources in the Mediterranean region and finally, the means for the reduction of their negative impacts.

The current situation of the silting up of dam reservoirs in the countries and the measures adopted to fight against the solid flows will be presented in national reports prepared by appointed local experts. These reports will concern 11 Mediterranean countries namely Algeria, Egypt, Spain, France, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey.