UNESCO Chair on Water Reuse

The establishment of UNESCO Chair on Water Reuse has been proposed by school of chemical engineering in University of Tehran and with the objective of introducing vast capabilities of this university in water section and development of international cooperation in this sector. The proposal was designed in 2011 and it was approved by UNESCO in 2013 and the chair has started its activities since 2014 and Dr. Mohammad-Hossein Sarrafzadeh, member of faculty of engineering has been chosen as the chairholder. Considering the importance of water crisis in domestic and international levels, this chair has been established with the aim of changing approach toward unconventional water resources and water reuse and recovery possibility with two slogans of "Water for Peace and Cooperation not for War and Disintegration" and "Judge the Water based on its Quality not it History". The main objective of UNESCO Chair on Water Reuse is to enhance the place of Islamic Republic of Iran in global water communities through providing appropriate solutions to research, cultural and educational development in water reuse and facilitating cooperation between scientific centers and international distinguished researchers in UNESCO water family and industry as well. Three main approaches have been under studied in this chair. These approaches are based on sectors which are great water consumers and categorized into agriculture, industry and urban to propose practical solutions to overcome the water crisis in each sector considering water reuse principles. In Industrial sector, this chair is exclusively attempting to provide the appropriate platform for making the right policies within Water Closed Loop structure. In urban sector, the main focus of our activities in UCWR is on the importance of gray water which are the water resources which can be reused without any complicated and expensive treatment processes. In agriculture which is the greatest water consumer in the country and the region, water reuse is an appropriate suggestion for increasing productivity which is being followed seriously by UCWR.