3rd FIT4REUSE Water Reuse Day

Our FIT4REUSE project comes to and end and the consortium organized the 3^rd Water Reuse Day to present the results of the project and have a discussion with experts out of the consortium about main barriers and future prospects of water reuse in Europe and the Mediterranean.

This event took place on the 23^rd and 24^th of November 2022 in Bologna and online with the title sustainable “Water Solutions for Agriculture in the Mediterranean“. This two-day event brought together policymakers, researchers, farmers, entrepreneurs, and innovators to discuss how to solve the region’s water problems.

This conference was opened with a roundtable discussion dedicated to the challenge of water scarcity in agriculture, featuring experts from EIT Food, Irrigants d’Europe, PRIMA programme and FAO. To follow, the 3 Pillars of FIT4REUSE were explored, thanks to the presentation of the results obtained within the project and much more. The main sessions were divided into:

• Innovative solutions for wastewater treatment and desalination for water reuse.
• The use of treated municipal wastewater and desalinated water for irrigation and aquifer recharge.
• Assessment and regulation of water reuse.

Following these sessions, the project partners took part to a roundtable discussion about the main outcomes and challenges encountered during the development of FIT4REUSE activities. The main results of the project presented were technologies for water reclamation and aquifer recharge including Natured Based Solutions, LCA and cost-benefit analysis, risk management methodologies, guidelines for practitioners, and impact assessment of crops cultivated etc.

During the project, from Bioazul we have been leading the exploitation strategy and the work package on applications or reclaimed water. For that reason, our CEO Antonia Lorenzo participated in the conference presenting the exploitation strategy and also taking part to a round table regarding main outcomes of FIT4REUSE, challenges and insights for the future. Furthermore, our colleague Rafael Casielles presented the guidelines for practitioners with practical aspects for users of reclaimed water and also moderated a round table on the challenge of water scarcity in agriculture.

This Water Reuse Day was a moment of celebration for the good results and we were glad to receive the congratulations from the project officer and other invited actors. The results have been achieved according to the plan. Results are complementary because they include promising technologies for water reclamation such as NBS and AnMBR but also recommendations for practitioners e.g. farmers in form of guidelines to learnt practical aspects of irrigation, e.g. best irrigation method, considerations to select disinfection, adequate nutritional balance using reclaimed water, etc.

We cannot forget that FIT4REUSE is a RIA (Research and Innovation Action), so results are not ready to be commercialised. Further developments are needed. The consortium will seek for opportunities to continue and achieve final uptake of the solutions.