Our trip to India with PAVITR project

In January 2023 we travelled to India to attend different events and meetings as part of our work in PAVITR, our EU-India cooperation project dedicated to validating and monitoring sustainable technologies for the safe treatment and reuse of wastewater in India.

Our trip began with a first stop in the city of Chennai where we participated in the 13^th IWA International Conference on water reclamation and reuse that was held from 15^th to 19^th January 2023.

During the first day of the conference the PAVITR consortium organised a workshop on novel and innovative solutions for safe water reuse in India, led by Nadeem Khalil from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and Guenter Langergraber from BOKU. Following a general presentation of the PAVITR concept, the PAVITR experts presented the several of the pilots  for safe water reuse. Under this framework our CEO Antonia Lorenzo introduced the RichWater® SBR, a compact wastewater treatment system that produces nutrient-rich reclaimed water with quality standards suitable for reuse in agriculture. Other experts that participated in this session were Mirko Hänel from ttz Bremerhaven who talked about short rotation plantation, Enrica Uggetti from Polytechnic University of Catalonia who presented the high rate algae pond, Fabio Masi from IRIDRA who explained the wetland systems and Santiago Cuervo from AIMEN who talked about the role of the sensors.

To complete these presentations, Guenter Langergraber from BOKU and Carlos Arias from  Aarhus University presented important factors for implementation in term of planning and in term of resources recovery and market exploitation. A Panel discussion with the presenters and participants moderated by Guenter Langergraber concluded the PAVITR workshop.

In addition to attending the conference presentations BIOAZUL had a presentation on the 16^th January in the 14^th session dedicated on Agricultural Reuse. There our CEO Antonia Lorenzo presented  the design and sizing process of the RichWater® SBR, a competitive option for wastewater treatment and for the use of reclaimed water in agriculture and one of the PAVITR pilots to be implement at AMU facilities, in the city of Alighard.

Once the conference was over, we flew to Pune where on the 20^th we attended the Technical Meeting of PAVITR project, hosted by Symbiosis International University (SIU) and where the Felicitation Ceremony for the partners also took place. The aim of the meting was to update the consortium on the project activities progress and decide on the next actions to be taken in the coming year.

In the afternoon, the partners we had the opportunity to visit the pilot sites of the project and see first-hand how they work.

The next day we attended the 55^th IWWA Annual Convention. This event, organized by the Indian Water Works Association, a common platform for the persons and organizations working in the water sector to exchange views, share ideas, disseminate information and knowledge about new and appropriate technologies for improving and upgrading the services.

Together with the consortium of PAVITR we participated in the International Session where we presented the work carried out in the project. We also had a stand dedicated to PAVITR at the exhibition fair, where we received many visits of stakeholders interested  to learn more about the project. To end the day we attended a gala dinner to share impressions of  our days in India and celebrate the good reception of the PAVITR project.