ECOMAWAT · Ecosystem-based management strategies for urban wastewater systems

Ecosystem-based management strategies for urban wastewater systems

Policymakers have grown increasingly aware of the importance of water quality in rivers in the European Union. The Water Framework Directive (WFD) implementation requires integrated management of the different elements of the urban water system, such as natural water bodies, sewer systems and wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Without integrated management, resources are misused, freshwater ecosystems are degraded, and the overall costs of wastewater treatment increase. Hence, the main objective of the EcoMaWat project was to increase the knowledge about the interactions between urban wastewater systems (UWWS) and rivers in order to propose strategies to maximize ecosystem services at the same time that operating costs of the UWWS are minimized. More specifically, the objectives were: 1) To estimate the effect of UWWS on the chemical status of the rivers 2) To define and apply best control strategies and infrastructure upgrades for the case studied 3) To integrate the knowledge in the tools for the management of the UWWS The EU-funded EcoMaWat (Ecosystem-based Management strategies for urban Wastewater systems) initiative has found solutions to enhance the integrated management of urban wastewater systems and freshwater ecosystems, which reduce environmental impacts while minimizing the costs of wastewater treatment. Experimental work was conducted in the first two years of the project to better understand how WWTPs and freshwater ecosystems perform to attenuate traditional (organic matter and nutrients) and emerging contaminants (pharmaceuticals). The results demonstrated that pharmaceuticals load reduction was much higher at the WWTP, but the attenuation efficiencies (as half-life times) were higher at the river. The link between sewers and freshwater ecosystems was studied for wet weather conditions through monitoring of undesired discharges of untreated wastewater into freshwater ecosystems. A low-cost sensor was developed (and patented) for that purpose. Within the last two years of the project dynamic model was finalized that couples a WWTP to a river in order to understand how contaminants attenuate across these two systems. It can be used to see how changing the operating conditions of the WWTP affect the attenuation of contaminants. Modelling was also used to demonstrate the usefulness of the low-cost sensor to improve the calibration of sewer hydrodynamic models. In addition, EcoMaWat contributed to Life Cycle Assessment application to UWWS by providing comprehensive inventories of resources required for the construction and operation of sewers and WWTPs. In order to transfer the results from the scientific community to society, EcoMaWat contributed to the development of an educational game (played from computers and tablets) which highlights the importance of integrated management of urban wastewater systems. Hence, the integration of the knowledge (objective 3) has been achieved through the development of the mathematical model, the comprehensive inventories (targeting scientists) and the development of the educational game (targeting the society in general). EcoMaWat resulted in 15 published papers, 34 contributions to conferences, 1 patent, and 2 PhD thesis. Since the start of the project in 2011, the number of citations from the PI tripled (from 49 up to 145 citations/year) and the H-index rose from 10 to 15 (Google Scholar). EcoMaWat was fundamental for the research career of its PI to start a new and independent research line at the Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA). The PI consolidated his position as a junior group leader after being awarded the prestigious Ramon y Cajal Spanish grant (RYC-2013-14595). In addition he became ICRA’s PI of the EU project R3Water (GA No 619093). (EcoMaWat project website: http://www.icra.cat/projectes/ecosystem-based-management-strategies-urban/38)

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