| projects-431 |
311943 |
TREAT&USE |
Safe and efficient treatment and reuse of wastewater in agricultural production schemes |
FP7 |
No data |
KBBE.2012.1.4-02 |
2012-06-01 |
2014-11-30 |
Completed |
€ 001 336 990.64 |
TREAT&USE project aims to bring together 6 European SMEs and one RTD to prove and disseminate the technical and economic viability of a method for safe and economic wastewater treatment that allows a direct reuse of the water and nutrients in agricultural production with minimal operational and maintenance costs.TREAT&USE is based on the outcomes of two successful finished EU research projects: PURATREAT and WACOSYS on wastewater treatment, reuse technologies and fertigation systems. The produced technical and scientific results of both projects were excellent and very promising in terms of energy and cost efficiency. The most promising MBR system developed in PURATREAT run successfully with reduced energy consumption ( 90 % less than RO). The tested MBR lab-prototypes generated an effluent not suitable for drinking water but an excellent source for irrigation and fertilization purposes (rich on nutrients such as N and P and free of pathogens). In WACOSYS, the application of wastewater in agricultural production schemes has been successfully applied and monitored. Based on these valuable outcomes, within TREA&USE is planned to construct and implement a pre-commercial prototype unit which combines the treatment of substantial amounts of communal wastewater in an up scaled MBR system and the safe application of the effluent as irrigation and fertilization water in agricultural production schemes. The tailor-made MBR effluent will be applied directly for irrigating and fertilizing fruit trees and vegetables in commercial agricultural production site in Southern Spain. To measure the performance and the reliability of the approach, the pre-commercial prototype will include a feedback and control unit based on soil sensors. Therefore, the gained knowledge and tools of PURATREAT and WACOSYS will be further specified, applied and demonstrated in praxis and developed to direct market applications. The participating SMEs have already developed business plans. |
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/311943 |
Urban water' |
| projects-432 |
315054 |
WATERGOLF |
Wireless distributed intelligent system for irrigation optimisation and early turf disease prevention and treatment on Golf Courses |
FP7 |
No data |
SME-2012-1 |
2013-01-01 |
2014-12-31 |
Completed |
€ 001 497 564.62 |
Recreational water use is usually a very small but growing percentage of total water use and is mostly tied to reservoirs. If a reservoir is kept fuller than it would otherwise be for recreation, then the water retained could be categorized as recreational usage. Recreational usage is usually non-consumptive. The report from the European Environment Agency (EEA), reveals that Europe has so far concentrated on increasing the supply of water rather than exploring ways to limit its demand. Golf courses are often targeted as using excessive amounts of water, especially in drier. Some governments have labeled golf course usage as agricultural in order to deflect environmentalist’s charges of wasting water. The objective of the project is the development of a system based on wireless and artificial intelligence which provides support to irrigation Golf course processes with a water saving of 33% minimum. By including On field underground sensing: i) Underground humidity; ii)Salinity underground iii) Underground NIR measurement iv) Underground temperature, V) soil Ph. Also On-surface sensing will be included: i) Visible color sight; ii) Filtered visible colour measurement; iii) Wind speed and direction. Also the system will include a number of Ambient sensing at different zones, Ambient temperature and weather forecast based on consensus.All the measurements are transmitted by means of low consumption battery powered wireless ZigBee technology with specific antenna design.An Artificial Intelligence driven and ‘fools-proof’ software system and others, will use the sensor measurements information and others, such as 3D Golf course mapping and drainage, compacting soil degrees, weather forecast, etc…, will suggest the parameters for irrigation for the different zones, and also will inform of existing or coming turf diseases conditions and possible treatments if needed. Also an internet access to human experts is provided by the WaterGolf system. |
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/315054 |
Water reservoir', 'Urban water' |
| projects-433 |
308502 |
SWINGS |
Safeguarding Water resources in INdia with Green and Sustainable technologies |
FP7 |
No data |
ENV.2012.6.6-1 |
2012-09-01 |
2016-02-29 |
Completed |
€ 002 366 253.02 |
"At a time with an urgent need to conserve water resources, efficient sanitation systems play a key role in sustainability. They can ensure that the vital resource Water is recovered from waste and can be re-used at the same time as protecting human health and the environment. The SWINGS project consortium will establish an optimal methodology for nutrient and energy recovery from wastewater (WW) at the same time as making the water safe for reuse, all in a manner conducible to rural communities in developing countries, with India as the concrete example. In particular, the SWINGS project will enlist already optimized municipal WW treatment concepts and combine ""green"" and sustainable technologies. The result will be enhances water recycling and re-use, decreased energy consumption, and production of useful by-products from the process as secondary resources. Thus, treated WW will be transformed to soil enrichment resource, to irrigation water, to aquaculture farm feed, via sustainable sanitation that safeguards the local drinking water supply in India.The starting point of the SWINGS project will be anaerobic digestion (AD) and constructed wetlands (CW) that will be configured with environmentally sustainable disinfection technologies, like water solar disinfection. Pilot plants will be designed and constructed in India that combine the treatment methods mentioned above, after which the new systems will be established in steady-state operation, and then, the AD-CW configurations optimized. Systems for disinfection of the effluent will be implemented and on-line monitoring of pathogen load attempted. Finally, life cycle assessment of several treatment configurations will be used to develop a decision support system for future selection of sustainable and efficient treatment technologies in developing countries like India. The project will publish articles and hold workshops in order to disseminate its results, especially to SMEs and to public authorities." |
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/308502 |
Urban water', 'Wetlands' |
| projects-434 |
286580 |
PipeGuard |
A novel technology for sewerage mapping, inspection and cleaning with integrated real-time self-audit capability |
FP7 |
No data |
SME-2011-1 |
2011-09-01 |
2013-08-31 |
Completed |
€ 001 498 943.00 |
Sewage systems are crucial to reduce the risks of water borne diseases and avoid flooding of cities. Cleaning processes are thus highly important to avoid health risks and environmental, economic and societal impacts which can be caused by damaged or blocked sewerage. European sewage networks are operated by over 20,000 municipalities and public entities which spend over €6.5 billion annually to clean and maintain over 2.25 million km of pipes that are constantly deteriorating. Over 10,000 SMEs are employed by network operators to keep the sewerage clean and operable. Recent budget cuts and the implementation of the water framework directive (2000/60 EC) that requires new measures for more efficient use of water resources have put pressure on municipalities and therefore on the service providing SMEs in the cleaning business in order to save water resources and find cheaper ways of maintaining efficient sewage networks. Current systems for sewer cleaning are highly inefficient. During the cleaning process, high amounts of water are used to clean the pipes regardless of the real cleaning demands. Hence, there is a high need to develop a system integrating a reliable inspection tool which efficiently varies the cleaning process according to the real demand. The PIPEGUARD system will consist of an ultrasonic inspection system, which will detect the degree of pollution and damages. The data captured will be used to adjust the cleaning through algorithms. After cleaning, the system will keep a record that will provide a reliable cleaning audit trail. Further, PIPEGUARD will monitor with inertial sensors the system position in real-time in order to obtain reliable position mapping for the creation of network maps. The solution will not only cut costs for cities due to the use of an integrated system which will eliminate various inspection and cleaning steps, it will also save ca. 35% of cleaning costs due to reduced fresh water usage thanks to the on-demand cleaning. |
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/286580 |
Urban water' |
| projects-435 |
327403 |
WATER AND TRANSITION |
River Basin and Water Circulation in the Transition to an Urban-Industrial Society: the Po Drainage Basin, 1860-2000 |
FP7 |
No data |
FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IOF |
2013-08-16 |
2016-08-15 |
Completed |
€ 000 261 326.40 |
The research proposed aims at retracing the historical transformation of river basins and water circulation in the urban-industrial age, by integrating social and environmental sciences. The empirical case study will be the Po river basin, which hosts one of the most developed urban-industrial region in the EU, and which is surprisingly lacking of a comprehensive historical reconstruction. I will fill that void, retracing the genealogy of the present condition by looking at the interplays of social and environmental processes over the last two centuries.I will achieve this goal by:1.retracing the historical development of agricultural, urban, and industrial uses of Po basin water; as well as the main actors, projects, and phases of the transformation;2.mapping the changing geographies of water metabolic circulation in the Po river basin, related to the historical transformation of water uses in the transition to the urban-industrial society;3.studying the impact of the transformation in water uses and circulation on the river basin hydro-ecosystem, and the consequences of this on the various set of human activities over time;4.identifying the most relevant characteristics that can qualify the transformation in water socio-ecological metabolism in the transition to the urban-industrial society.This research will provide a comprehensive historical account of the Po river basin transformation from an environmental point of view. It will also implement an interdisciplinary analytical framework on river systems transformations and metabolic exchanges with urban-industrial societies: a crucial issue for European research and policies. The project will be carried out in the US and in Austria, under the guidance of the leading scholars Craig E. Colten (LSU), Fridolin Krausmann (AAU-SEC) and Verena Winiwarter (AAU-ZUG), ensuring a high-profile international and interdisciplinary career development for the fellow. |
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/327403 |
Rivers and estuaries', 'Urban water' |
| projects-436 |
604069 |
AQUAVIR |
Portable Automated Water Analyser for Viruses |
FP7 |
No data |
NMP.2013.1.2-1 |
2013-11-01 |
2016-10-31 |
Completed |
€ 005 082 038.62 |
Water-borne viral diseases pose high risks for public health worldwide. The urban wastewater contains large number of pathogen viruses, and even the most advanced wastewater treatment is not safe for full removal of virus particles.The conventional biological water quality indicators do not provide adequate information about the presence of pathogenic viruses. The currently available reliable virus test - based on molecular biology - is expensive, time consuming and labour intensive, thus limited to few laboratories with sophisticated facilities and well-trained personnel, even though the protection of water networks against pathogenic viruses is crucial.In this project we aim to develop a novel, cost effective, portable, on-site detection system, which is capable for monitoring human enteric viruses in different freshwater bodies.The method is based on disposable microfluidic chip, in which the virus particles can be up-concentrated and detected by electrical readout with a detection limit of 0.01-1 virus/L. We will focus on selective detection of norovirus, Hepatitis A and rotavirus (the most prevalent viruses), but the sensor is capable to detect any other virus with relevant functionalization.The “plug-and-play” virus sensor chip will be integrated into a measurement unit, which will send the data to the monitoring station.The project will include laboratory and field tests and validation of the monitoring unit, development an early warning system and epidemic risk assessment, provide with exploitation possibilities at the end-users, economical assessment for positive production capacity and preparation for future standardization. |
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/604069 |
Urban water' |
| projects-437 |
222322 |
SYNCSEN |
ULTRA-LOW POWER WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORK FOR METERING APPLICATIONS |
FP7 |
No data |
SME-1 |
2008-12-01 |
2011-01-31 |
Completed |
€ 001 542 518.19 |
Meter reading is the backbone of the home water and gas billing system. If meters are read incorrectly or not read at all, it will cause a chain reaction of added events that add unnecessary expense and create customer dissatisfaction. Additionally, it has been well established that one of the main reasons for the EU negative balance in the supply and consumption of gas are faults in measurements. Consortium SMEs have identified a clear need to develop a metropolitan gas/water metering system based on wire-less technology to send gas and water supplies readings to their control centre. The system will require no maintenance (battery powered sensors with life-time about 10-15 years) and will provide authenticable and secure data transmission. Timely and accurate recording of the consumption of gas, water and electricity is important as it will also help in identifying any leakages through the analysis of the actual quantity supplied and recorded by the meters. The commercial objective is to develop an ultra low power-consumption, battery-powered, wireless, cost effective and self organizing sensor network for maintenance-free automatic home meter reading applications. This network will be form by smart sensors which will include gas or water counter, logging consumption, outage detection, real-time clock and 2-way communications for remote control (i.e. switch on/switch off) and will support a huge number of sensors (+100). |
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/222322 |
Urban water' |
| projects-438 |
286753 |
WIMBex |
Remote wireless water meter reading solution based on the EN 13757 standard, providing high autonomy, interoperability and range |
FP7 |
No data |
SME-2011-1 |
2011-12-01 |
2013-11-30 |
Completed |
€ 001 489 888.76 |
"Meter reading is the backbone of the home water billing system. If meters are read incorrectly or not read at all, it will cause a chain reaction of added events that add unnecessary expense and create customer dissatisfaction. Consortium SMEs have identified a clear need to develop a smart wireless water metering system based on the European Standard EN 13757 ""Communication systems for meters and remote reading of meters"".The system will be suitable for use in a variety of water metering scenarios, will require no maintenance and will provide authenticable and secure data transmission as well as timely and accurate recording of the consumption of water which will help in identifying any leakages through the analysis of the actual quantity supplied and recorded by the meters.The commercial objective is to develop a powerful set of new features to the SME wireless EN 13757 platforms, to enable the products and services of consortium SMEs to keep pace, and even surpass the future needs (high autonomy, interoperability and long radio range) of the emergent Automatic Water Meter Reading (AWMR) market in Europe. The project also aims to exploit aspects of the EN 13757 standard, which are not fully exploited as yet, and in this manner to add value to a European standard" |
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/286753 |
Urban water' |
| projects-439 |
312330 |
ISIS |
Integrated intelligent sensor system for improved security of water supply |
FP7 |
No data |
SEC-2012.1.5-2 |
2014-01-01 |
2016-12-31 |
Completed |
€ 004 783 890.00 |
"ISIS will provide public security by developing an advanced monitoring system for drinking water networks that instantly detects chemical or biological contamination and gives clear indication of the risk level.Water distribution systems are vulnerable to deliberate, accidental or natural contamination, having many potential entry points for rapid and extensive distribution of harmful substances. Recent increased terrorist activity has raised awareness of the threat.Surveillance platforms for intruder security are available but can only be adapted to alert for chemical and biological contamination if selective, sensitive and instantaneous detectors are available. However, current methods are limited to off-line laboratory analysis, which are too slow to initiate prompt action, or simple indicators (e.g. pH, conductivity), which are limited in the information that they provide, failing to cover many contaminants and rendering decision-making unreliable..The ISIS project will combine advances in the state-of-the-art in four main areas: sensors; wireless networks; intelligent surveillance strategies and integrated risk analysis software. This combination of technologies is a major advance in security systems, giving a capability for water suppliers that is not currently available. It will enable immediate alert of chemical or biological contaminations and, crucially, indicate not only the location and nature of the hazard, but also the level of risk. This will allow appropriate informed action to be taken and will minimise the chance of false alarms, which not only cost water companies thousands of Euros, but also cause the panic and disruption that are also the aims of terrorist activityThe ISIS consortium brings together two water company end-users with security and sensor specialists from the research, academic and SME communities. The partnership of 10 includes 4 SMEs, and has the capability to exploit the product." |
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/312330 |
Urban water' |
| projects-440 |
286522 |
INFLATER |
Development of a universal flood protection tool using the force of the water to protect against floods |
FP7 |
No data |
SME-2011-1 |
2011-10-01 |
2014-01-31 |
Completed |
€ 001 447 294.89 |
"The flooding of rivers has always been a problem, and thanks to advances in civil engineering humans learnt of methods to keep the river in its bed. In urban areas especially, but in rural areas as well, embankments have been built to keep the river where it belongs. Unfortunately even with embankments flooding occurs as we can see it all over Europe and the World. Due to global warming flooding is becoming more and more common and the water level is getting so high that the presently built embankments cannot cope. At present people use sandbags as the main protection against flooding. The advantage of sandbags is that it is cheap and sand is widely available, but it requires a lot of manpower to fill and place the bags..The idea of this project would be to design and build a portable dam, which can be placed anywhere quickly, easily and does not require much manpower.The project would be broken down onto two main sections. The first section includes the mechanical part, which involves the design of the inflatable section. The second section involves the electrical sensor part and wireless communication.The construction consists of three parts, the floating top section and the inflatable section with a skirt secured by fixing spikes and supporting strings.. The inflatable section is connected to the skirt and secured to the grown with support strings and spikes. As the water level rises it lifts the floating part and the water is let inside the inflatable section. As the inflatable part is filled the strings go tight to support the structure.To aid the mechanical design, electrical sensors can be introduced. The sensors can be used so INFLATER can monitor itself and the river. INFLATER needs to monitor itself so it can warn if it fails or the water level gets too high It also monitors the river to help predict its behaviour and send warnings to the surrounding areas via wireless communication to help avoid a tragedy." |
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/286522 |
Rivers and estuaries', 'Urban water' |
