AMMAN: Britain’s Deputy Ambassador in Amman Helen Fazey has inaugurated a project that will help support Jordan’s aim to meet 11 percent of water demand through its wastewater treatment plants by 2025.
Fazey opened the prototype solar-powered wastewater treatment plant in Fuheis, north of Amman — developed with funding from the Newton-Khalidi Fund — on Tuesday, reported the Jordan News Agency.
Jordanian engineering students have worked with industrial partners from the UK’s Royal Academy of Engineering and Jordan’s Industrial Research and Development Fund to design and build the plant.
They have brought together expertise in a UK-Jordan joint initiative, with a core focus in fostering innovation in energy-efficient and cost-efficient wastewater treatment technology.
The project is being implemented by De Montfort University in the UK and Jordan’s Al-Balqa Applied University.
Fazey said: “Today we see the success of a UK-Jordan collaboration between industry and academia addressing an issue of key importance to Jordan.
“This ambition requires a skilled workforce and innovative technology. I hope that those involved will take their experience with this prototype, and the process of communication and cooperation that brought them here, and make it into a stepping stone toward a new generation of engineers who can apply their academic learning to work with industrial partners.”
The Newton-Khalidi Fund is underpinned by an agreement between the Ministry of Planning and the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
It was launched at the World Science Forum in November 2017, and is designed to promote economic development and social cohesion in Jordan by supporting research collaboration between Jordanian and UK-educated and trained scientists, researchers, and engineers.
UK-funded wastewater treatment plant opened in Amman
https://arab.news/zsydy
UK-funded wastewater treatment plant opened in Amman
- Jordanian engineering students have worked with industrial partners from Royal Academy of Engineering
- British deputy ambassador salutes collaboration between industry and academia
Iran temporarily closes airspace to most flights
WASHINGTON: Iran temporarily closed its airspace to all flights except international ones to and from Iran with official permission at 5:15 p.m. ET on Wednesday, according to a notice posted on the Federal Aviation Administration’s website.
The prohibition is set to last for more than two hours until 7:30 p.m. ET, or 0030 GMT, but could be extended, the notice said. The United States was withdrawing some personnel from bases in the Middle East, a US official said on Wednesday, after a senior Iranian official said Tehran had warned neighbors it would hit American bases if Washington strikes.
Missile and drone barrages in a growing number of conflict zones represent a high risk to airline traffic. India’s largest airline, IndiGo said some of its international flights would be impacted by Iran’s sudden airspace closure. A flight by Russia’s Aeroflot bound for Tehran returned to Moscow after the closure, according to tracking data from Flightradar24.
Earlier on Wednesday, Germany issued a new directive cautioning the country’s airlines from entering Iranian airspace, shortly after Lufthansa rejigged its flight operations across the Middle East amid escalating tensions in the region.
The United States already prohibits all US commercial flights from overflying Iran and there are no direct flights between the countries. Airline operators like flydubai and Turkish Airlines have canceled multiple flights to Iran in the past week. “Several airlines have already reduced or suspended services, and most carriers are avoiding Iranian airspace,” said Safe Airspace, a website run by OPSGROUP, a membership-based organization that shares flight risk information.
“The situation may signal further security or military activity, including the risk of missile launches or heightened air defense, increasing the risk of misidentification of civil traffic.” Lufthansa said on Wednesday that it would bypass Iranian and Iraqi airspace until further notice while it would only operate day flights to Tel Aviv and Amman from Wednesday until Monday next week so that crew would not have to stay overnight.
Some flights could also be canceled as a result of these actions, it added in a statement. Italian carrier ITA Airways, in which Lufthansa Group is now a major shareholder, said that it would similarly suspend night flights to Tel Aviv until Tuesday next week.
