Periodic Reporting for period 2 - Project O (Project Ô: demonstration of planning and technology tools for a circular, integrated and symbiotic use of water)
Período documentado: 2019-12-01 hasta 2021-05-31
Nowadays, the transition towards sustainable water resources management is more urgent than ever as our freshwater availability faces increasing pressures: according to the 2030 Water Resources Group, global freshwater demand will have exceeded supply by over 40% by 2030. The approach to the management of water resources needs to adapt, moving away from the usual take-use-dispose practice and starting to incorporate water reuse and recycle and use of water from alternative sources.
The challenge taken up by Project Ô is to provide practical tools for implementing the principles of circular use of water, introducing organized and standardized small loops of water reuse/recycling that distribute the weight of water management over the territory and the users, and release the pressure over the infrastructure and the ecosystem.
During its four years, Project Ô aims to demonstrate a novel approach based on a distributed water network that enables the use of sources of water alternative to mains or freshwater, such as brackish water, saltwater and wastewater. This novel approach will be demonstrated thanks to a set of innovative technologies for water treatment able to remove efficiently contaminants and pollutants very difficult or very costly to handle with standard technologies, such as high salt contents, dyes, pharmaceuticals and pathogens. The choice between technological alternatives, water pricing and opportunities for symbiotic agreement between users will be facilitated by two new multi-stakeholder collaborative platforms.
Project Ô water treatment technologies are highly customisable owing to modularity of design and closed loop control, which enable the assembly of flexible plants integrating different innovative technologies according to the actual water contamination. The water treatment pilot plants that will be demonstrated during the project focus on small scale and, when possible, use solar power and solar irradiation, aiming at cost-effective treatment of water from low volumes sources that are difficult to reach or not otherwise economically accessible. The plants are also suitable for intervention over critical spills close to the point of entry, i.e. before they enter the system and therefore get diluted and/or affect the working of the WWTP and/or pollute water bodies.
In addition to the water treatment pilot plants, Project Ô will deliver two multi-user collaborative platforms to evaluate the overall effects of introducing and regulating small water management loops on the system (water utility, water basin, the regional natural and economic territory and its population) and on the users’ business models:
- an ICT-based decision-analytic platform (DAP) to support policy makers in selecting robust and efficient water planning portfolios under current and projected water availability and demand;
- a user-centred platform, the Circular Economy Platform (CEP), to improve the circularity of resources between different partners involved in the water treatment value chain.
Alongside with the practical tools described above, Project Ô promotes an integrated and participative approach to water planning, focusing on the integration of water circular economy approaches into current water resources planning and spatial planning with co-creative schemes to facilitate transition to water circular economy. Project Ô will involve the community and the territory through direct consultation and integration of their point of view on every aspect of the decision making, integrating social science research throughout the entire innovation process.
The challenge taken up by Project Ô is to provide practical tools for implementing the principles of circular use of water, introducing organized and standardized small loops of water reuse/recycling that distribute the weight of water management over the territory and the users, and release the pressure over the infrastructure and the ecosystem.
During its four years, Project Ô aims to demonstrate a novel approach based on a distributed water network that enables the use of sources of water alternative to mains or freshwater, such as brackish water, saltwater and wastewater. This novel approach will be demonstrated thanks to a set of innovative technologies for water treatment able to remove efficiently contaminants and pollutants very difficult or very costly to handle with standard technologies, such as high salt contents, dyes, pharmaceuticals and pathogens. The choice between technological alternatives, water pricing and opportunities for symbiotic agreement between users will be facilitated by two new multi-stakeholder collaborative platforms.
Project Ô water treatment technologies are highly customisable owing to modularity of design and closed loop control, which enable the assembly of flexible plants integrating different innovative technologies according to the actual water contamination. The water treatment pilot plants that will be demonstrated during the project focus on small scale and, when possible, use solar power and solar irradiation, aiming at cost-effective treatment of water from low volumes sources that are difficult to reach or not otherwise economically accessible. The plants are also suitable for intervention over critical spills close to the point of entry, i.e. before they enter the system and therefore get diluted and/or affect the working of the WWTP and/or pollute water bodies.
In addition to the water treatment pilot plants, Project Ô will deliver two multi-user collaborative platforms to evaluate the overall effects of introducing and regulating small water management loops on the system (water utility, water basin, the regional natural and economic territory and its population) and on the users’ business models:
- an ICT-based decision-analytic platform (DAP) to support policy makers in selecting robust and efficient water planning portfolios under current and projected water availability and demand;
- a user-centred platform, the Circular Economy Platform (CEP), to improve the circularity of resources between different partners involved in the water treatment value chain.
Alongside with the practical tools described above, Project Ô promotes an integrated and participative approach to water planning, focusing on the integration of water circular economy approaches into current water resources planning and spatial planning with co-creative schemes to facilitate transition to water circular economy. Project Ô will involve the community and the territory through direct consultation and integration of their point of view on every aspect of the decision making, integrating social science research throughout the entire innovation process.
The main project achivements from M1 up to M36 are the following:
- Contingency plan for Nanoquimia termination on Demosite #2 developed and implemented
- Bench scale water treatment modules, integrating different technologies, have been tested allowing to proceed with the finalisation of the design of pilot scale prototypes.
- The authorizations and permits for the installation of the pilot plants were identified and obtained for each demo site.
- An overall economic and operational model, able to simulate the effects of price regulation, cost and operational drivers on the adoption of new technologies has been provided.
- A complete version of the mathematical model of the whole Apulian system has been implemented and tested.
- Creation and design of a new KER (#12): the standardization toolkit
- An interactive design of the Decision Analytics Platform (DAP) user interface and of the User Collaborative Platform (UCP) have been developed and discussed within project partners. UCP IT infrastructure has been developed and demonstrative data to test UCP functionalities have been updated.
- Stakeholder Analysis: systematic assessment of the attitudes and expectations, anxieties and pre-knowledge about sustainability aspects of water management among different groups of stakeholders.
- Project Communication Analysis and of Communication Strategies. New project branding, website, etc under development.
- Dissemination plan updated. Summer School for water reuse is under definition.
- Definition of the business cases for each KER. CAPEX and OPEX has been calculated and compared to the actual status after defining the evaluation methodology.
- Contingency plan for Nanoquimia termination on Demosite #2 developed and implemented
- Bench scale water treatment modules, integrating different technologies, have been tested allowing to proceed with the finalisation of the design of pilot scale prototypes.
- The authorizations and permits for the installation of the pilot plants were identified and obtained for each demo site.
- An overall economic and operational model, able to simulate the effects of price regulation, cost and operational drivers on the adoption of new technologies has been provided.
- A complete version of the mathematical model of the whole Apulian system has been implemented and tested.
- Creation and design of a new KER (#12): the standardization toolkit
- An interactive design of the Decision Analytics Platform (DAP) user interface and of the User Collaborative Platform (UCP) have been developed and discussed within project partners. UCP IT infrastructure has been developed and demonstrative data to test UCP functionalities have been updated.
- Stakeholder Analysis: systematic assessment of the attitudes and expectations, anxieties and pre-knowledge about sustainability aspects of water management among different groups of stakeholders.
- Project Communication Analysis and of Communication Strategies. New project branding, website, etc under development.
- Dissemination plan updated. Summer School for water reuse is under definition.
- Definition of the business cases for each KER. CAPEX and OPEX has been calculated and compared to the actual status after defining the evaluation methodology.
The scientific and technical impact of Project Ô will regard different sectors ranging from economic to socio-political and environmental.
- reduction of water and energy consumption by: enabling the use/reuse of water harvested onsite; maximizing water and energy efficiency by tailoring the treatment to the end user needs; implementing the DAP to give value to local harvesting and to select the most convenient option between local and centralised treatment; enabling circular use of water in offgrid/isolated point of use
- promotion of new economic and social opportunities by better distributing water resources through consultative, inclusive planning
- promotion of public involvement
- improved water quality, reduced pressure on resources and use of water from alternative sources
- new business models for market exploitation of water innovation, involving SMEs and relevant stakeholders along the water value chain
A set of KPIs was selected to evaluate the performance Project Ô technologies and methodologies at the demonstration sites.
The benefits on the environment of Project Ô regard mainly the reduction of water footprint achieved thanks to the implementation of novel reuse schemes.
Project Ô will also reduce the energy consumption of water treatment when compared to state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plants. Even though more advanced technology to treat impaired water requires more energy, reuse schemes have already proven their effectiveness in energy reduction, thanks to the minimization of water losses and to the avoidance of over engineering in the case of centralised tertiary treatment.
A specific social impact is the expected positive perception by stakeholders, including citizens, achieved thanks to the co-creative water management system proposed, which is expected to raise the acceptability of circular water systems and to help understanding decisions made by water Utility companies, either public or private, through public engagement events in the demonstration sites.
The impact of Project Ô will be significant to improve the competitiveness of many sectors that are related to water.
- reduction of water and energy consumption by: enabling the use/reuse of water harvested onsite; maximizing water and energy efficiency by tailoring the treatment to the end user needs; implementing the DAP to give value to local harvesting and to select the most convenient option between local and centralised treatment; enabling circular use of water in offgrid/isolated point of use
- promotion of new economic and social opportunities by better distributing water resources through consultative, inclusive planning
- promotion of public involvement
- improved water quality, reduced pressure on resources and use of water from alternative sources
- new business models for market exploitation of water innovation, involving SMEs and relevant stakeholders along the water value chain
A set of KPIs was selected to evaluate the performance Project Ô technologies and methodologies at the demonstration sites.
The benefits on the environment of Project Ô regard mainly the reduction of water footprint achieved thanks to the implementation of novel reuse schemes.
Project Ô will also reduce the energy consumption of water treatment when compared to state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plants. Even though more advanced technology to treat impaired water requires more energy, reuse schemes have already proven their effectiveness in energy reduction, thanks to the minimization of water losses and to the avoidance of over engineering in the case of centralised tertiary treatment.
A specific social impact is the expected positive perception by stakeholders, including citizens, achieved thanks to the co-creative water management system proposed, which is expected to raise the acceptability of circular water systems and to help understanding decisions made by water Utility companies, either public or private, through public engagement events in the demonstration sites.
The impact of Project Ô will be significant to improve the competitiveness of many sectors that are related to water.