Sustainable and safe water management in agriculture:

REWATER

During the past decades climatic features (e.g. droughts, floods), as well as release of man-made chemicals, have been driving to water depletion and deteriorated water quality. This creates a need for water reuse in certain situations, such as in agriculture. Wastewater treatment plants are crucial sources for water reuse, however, a major challenge restricting wastewater reuse is the presence of emerging contaminants (ECs) as they are usually not properly managed by conventional treatment technologies. These technologies still need innovative development and integrated solutions. The present project REWATER, proposes to develop an innovative joint research and application of technologies producing a final integrated solution for reuse of WW for agricultural purposes. REWATER provides a unique interdisciplinary expertise of consortium scientific partners (REQUIMTE, UVIGO, UNIOVI, UBc, CIIMAR, KU, SLU, iCOMMS) and SMEs specialized in water treatment. The work will include tuned improvement or development of: 1) biosensors for rapid and selective detection of ECs and their degradation products (DPs), so as to obtain miniaturized analytical devices for in-field use, 2) treatment processes for ECs and DPs removal through integration of electrochemical and biological technologies, 3) ecotoxicological tools to evaluate treated water for reuse and develop expeditious surveillance, and 4) analytical monitoring, scaling-up and environmental/economic assessment.