Value in Water
Extracting and putting to beneficial use the dissolved substances and energy embedded in raw and used water streams.
Value from Water
Expresses the importance of water for economic activities, and related businesses of the water sector.
Value through Water
The societal, health and well-being functions of water, as it enables almost all our economic activities.
REWAISE demonstrates innovative technologies, processes and governance models in 9 living labs, grouped in 3 hubs (Mediterranean, Atlantic and Continental).
The consortium:
24 research and water industry entities working together to create a new “smart water ecosystem”, mobilising all relevant stakeholders to make society embrace the true value of water, reducing freshwater and energy use, resulting in a carbon free, sustainable hydrological cycle, to transition into a resilient circular economy.
COORDINATOR
Aqualia
PARTICIPANTS
AQUALIA, SEVERN TRENT WATER, VA SYD, AQUANET, EUROPEAN NETWORK OF LIVING LABS, HIDROTEC TECNOLOGIA DEL AGUA, MALMO STAD, POLYMEM, RESOURSEAS, BLUETECH, AQUAPORIN, WE&B, ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING SOLUTIONS, SOLAR WATER, INSTYTUT EKOLOGII TERENOW UPRZEMYSLOWIONYCH -IETU, UNIVERSITAT DE VALENCIA, TECHNICKA UNIVERZITA OSTRAVA, FAKULTET ELEKTROTEHNIKE I RACUNARSTVA, CETIM, COVENTRY UNIVERSITY, LUNDS UNIVERSITET, POLITECHNIKA POZNANSKA, PKF ATTEST INNCOME y la UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PALERMO
After its first year, the project has deployed its first pilots to tackle key issues in improving water management efficiency
- The Skaane Living Lab has already implemented two activities to recover resources. The first is an ultrafiltration pilot for roof-based rainwater harvesting installed in a public urban area with an underground storage of 100 m3. The pilot aims to reuse water for irrigation with a focus on the removal of microplastics and micropollutants.
Storm tank in Lund (SE)
- In addition, the VASYD building now boasts the very first urine separation toilet prototype installed and monitored in this crowded working place to produce a new dry and safe fertiliser.
- In the Galicia Living Lab, after a successful pilot run of an anaerobic bioreactor for treating 1 m3/day in Vigo, the design of a demo unit for sewer mining for treating 55 m3/day of wastewater from a local car factory has been completed. The unit is capable of repurposing water for cooling, washing and processing, transforming organic matter into biogas and also recovering nutrients for fertigation.
AnMBR in Vigo and its location
- In Vigo, new designs are also in the pipeline to create a large ultrafiltration plant for treating surface water following the successful pilot tests to compare membranes and define quality parameters.
- The Midlands Living Lab is implementing network modelling and control, to reduce distribution leaks and prevent flooding in collection systems. Work is also underway to scale up and design the ammonia recovery unit based on stripping sludge dewatering liquors. Options are also being examined for generating hydrogen from the hydrolysis of concentrated ammonia.
The REWAISE IT platform is being developed to establish a common framework of digital innovation for supporting alternative water management strategies. One main challenge is finding tools to limit the need for thousands of sensors everywhere. Initial efforts are focusing on separate modelling of reservoirs and algae formation, a drinking water treatment plant and distribution system, sewage network and wastewater treatment plants so as to optimise operations before integrating the different modules.
Over 30 KPIs have been identified and categorised in different groups to benchmark project progress, namely technical, environmental, economic, and social key performance indicators. Having figures on carbon footprint, water scarcity and human toxicity will be useful for measuring the technical merits, while the number of market briefs, communication impacts, and economic analysis will assess the commercial value of the most promising technologies.
In this context, a map of key stakeholders has been developed to analyse the community and civil context of each Living Lab, to establish dialogues through hub-based competency groups. Guidelines to measure the impact of improved water services in terms of governance, and to determine the Social Return on Investment, will in turn help incentivise water-related investments, to accelerate SME growth by enhanced social engagement.
All this progress is coordinated with the other four EU co-funded initiatives within H2020 SC5-04-2019 call, grouped in a cluster baptised as Circular Smart Economy for Water (CirSEau). Three working groups were created to identify common methodologies for boosting i) Stakeholder engagement, ii) Communications, and iii) Impact and KPI assessment. Joint sessions were also held with the European Research Executive Agency (REA) to garner policy feedback for water directives.
Logo from CirSEau cluster (Circular Economy + Eau)
REWAISE will be active for five years to implement its innovative processes in a sustainable water cycle. It posts the most recent events and advances on its website www.rewaise.eu and in
https://twitter.com/REWAISE_EU
https://www.linkedin.com/company/rewaise-eu-project/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgKKjNbehcnSLzdqoCYokcA/featured