Project Information
The Water Emergency Relief Project (WERP) was established i...
Project Information
The Water Emergency Relief Project (WERP) was established in response to the significant, ongoing drought exacerbating water access issues which has created an emergency situation in rural areas across southern and central Afghanistan. WERP will finance the provision of off-grid solar systems to support surface water irrigation in selected districts throughout Afghanistan. The UNOPS-managed WERP project primarily addresses water scarcity challenges faced by farmers in drought-affected districts by providing them with access to solar PV powered water driven pumps. These solar pumping systems will enable water to be drawn from rivers to irrigate agricultural land.
The project will pilot the Energy as a Service model (EaaS) by contracting Private Energy Service Companies (PESCs) to carry out the provision of services. These include the construction, installation, operation and maintenance of the solar PV powered irrigation pumps, pipelines; associated equipment and services. The intention is for the project to provide 80% of the capital costs (solar PV and water supply systems equipment) with the PESCs contributing 20% (Civil works, including pipeline materials). The project will pay for the operation and maintenance costs either fully or partially until the end of the two year project. The estimated completion date is mid 2025.
The project will only consider rivers that are perennial, not seasonal. One of the project focus areas is to adopt appropriate technology for the instructure elements that make up the water supply and solar PV systems. The estimated quantity of water that is to be pumped from the river abstraction sites ranges from 10 to 250 m3/hr with the majority of the pump stations using the smaller pumps. The intention is to not to construct weirs or large pump stations that are appropriate for large irrigation schemes or municipal water supply systems. The proposed intake structures are small in terms of size and of low complexity, suitable for rural irrigation schemes.
Job-Specific Information
The Senior River Engineer shall work under the direct supervision of the Senior Project Manager and support project team members on the concept design of river engineering elements. The Senior River Engineer will provide technical input to irrigation water supply river abstraction structures, including site selection; flood hydrology; hydraulic design and general advice on river engineering and hydrology matters.