Project description
Innovative management for drinking water resources protection
Agricultural pollution impacts the quality of drinking water in Europe. In this context, the EU-funded WATERPROTECT project aims to enhance the adoption of effective management practices and mitigation measures for safeguarding drinking water resources. Through seven diverse case studies spanning various environmental and farming conditions, legal frameworks, and water collection areas, WATERPROTECT has developed innovative tools for water governance. These tools comprise web-based applications to assess the impact of agrochemicals on water models, conduct cost-efficiency analyses, and evaluate the societal benefits of mitigation strategies. The project involves various stakeholders, including farmers’ associations, local authorities, and water production companies, implementing best practices such as land management, responsible farming, product stewardship, and prevention of point source pollution.
Objective
High-quality, safe, and sufficient drinking water is essential for life: we use it for drinking, food preparation and cleaning. Agriculture is the biggest source of pesticides and nitrate pollution in European fresh waters. The overarching objective of WATERPROTECT is to contribute to effective uptake and realisation of management practices and mitigation measures to protect drinking water resources. Therefore WATERPROTECT will create an integrative multi-actor participatory framework including innovative instruments that enable actors to monitor, to finance and to effectively implement management practices and measures for the protection of water sources. We propose seven case studies involving multiple actors in implementing good practices (land management, farming, product stewardship, point source pollution prevention) to ensure safe drinking water supply. The seven case studies cover different pedo-climatic conditions, different types of farming systems, different legal frameworks, larger and smaller water collection areas across the EU. In close cooperation with actors in the field in the case studies (farmers associations, local authorities, water producing companies, private water companies, consumer organisations) and other stakeholders (fertilizer and plant protection industry, environment agencies, nature conservation agencies, agricultural administrations) at local and EU level, WATERPROTECT will develop innovative water governance models investigating alternative pathways from focusing on the ‘costs of water treatment’ to ‘rewarding water quality delivering farming systems’. Water governance structures will be built upon cost-efficiency analysis related to mitigation and cost-benefit analysis for society, and will be supported by spatially explicit GIS analyses and predictive models that account for temporal and spatial scaling issues. The outcome will be improved participatory methods and public policy instruments to protect drinking water resources.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwater treatment processesdrinking water treatment processes
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwater treatment processeswastewater treatment processes
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental scienceshydrology
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringinformation engineeringtelecommunicationsmobile phones
- social scienceseconomics and businessbusiness and management
Programme(s)
- H2020-EU.3.2. - SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy Main Programme
- H2020-EU.3.2.1.1. - Increasing production efficiency and coping with climate change, while ensuring sustainability and resilience
- H2020-EU.3.2.1.3. - Empowerment of rural areas, support to policies and rural innovation
- H2020-EU.3.2.1.2. - Providing ecosystems services and public goods
Topic(s)
Funding Scheme
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinator
2400 Mol
Belgium
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Participants (27)
8800 RUMBEKE-BEITEM
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9820 Merelbeke
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R93 Carlow
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1350 Kobenhavn K
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20123 Milano
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28006 Madrid
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29121 PIACENZA
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00975 Warszawa
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1030 Bruxelles / Brussel
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40139 Bologna
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1165 Kobenhavn
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08820 EL PRAT DE LLOBREGAT
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7800 SKIVE
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
7800 SKIVE
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430273 BAIA MARE
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400114 Cluj Napoca
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Participation ended
1040 BRUXELLES
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08028 Barcelona
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05 090 Falenty
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08820 EL PRAT DE LLOBREGAT
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70 310 Szczecin
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R95 DXR1 KILKENNY
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BT52 1SA Coleraine
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Y35 WY93 WEXFORD
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1000 BRUXELLES
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9300 Aalst
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8911 LEEUWARDEN
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.