Unleashing projects potential at Water Projects Europe events
Water Project Europe (WPE) is a series of WE events made to learn from and build on the experience of innovating projects working on converging topics. WPE aims at clustering water-related projects by thematic areas to allow them to interact, mutually build on the respective experience, support policy development and stimulate the market uptake of innovations.
Since December 2021, WATER Europe has held three successful Water Projects editions, under the following themes:
1. Integrated Water-Smart Strategies for industrial processes (15 December 2021)
2. Nature-based solutions for water security and ecological quality in cities (2nd of June 2022)
3. How Innovation Projects can Support a Water-Smart Industrial Emissions Directive (14th June 2022)
– The first WPE edition ‘Integrated Water-Smart Strategies for industrial processes‘, held on the 15th December 2021, counted over 300 registered participants and online viewers. An insightful panel discussion helped participants to understand how crucial is to preserve freshwater in industrial processes by integrating water-smart strategies. You can relive the full event here.
Over the month of June 2022, Water Europe organised two different editions of its Water Projects Europe event, one dedicated to the MULTISOURCE project and another one on the WATER-MINING project.
– The clustering event ”Nature-based solutions for water security and ecological quality in cities” was held on the 2nd of June. The event aimed at facilitating the systematic city-wide planning of NBS and supporting decision-making to contribute to the achievement of a Water-Smart Society. Five EU-funded NbS focused projects: MULTISOURCE, NICE, HYDROUSA, UNALAB, CONNECTING NATURE were present to exchange and discuss during WPE. The report for this event is available here, while you can still watch the session here.
– Later in the month and in the context of Water Innovation Europe 2022 conference, the WATER-MINING edition ‘How Innovation Projects can Support a Water-Smart Industrial Emissions Directive‘ took place on the 14th of June. The projects B-Water Smart, ULTIMATE, WATER-MINING, Zero Brine, and Brine Mining (LIFE) were presented during this event, giving an overview of their work and their relationship with the current legislation and their contribution to achieving a Water-Smart Society.
Please find here the full WPE WATER-MINING Event Report. The session was hybrid and the streaming is available through the WE YouTube channel.
Read MoreHow bad are droughts in Europe?
On July 18, the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre released the “Drought in Europe – July 2022” report, to assess the Europe’s drought situation based on the European Drought Observatory.
The assessment report multiple countries exposed to extreme droughts, which are driving crop yields down from a previously already negative outlook for cereals and other crops. The countries mostly affected by it are: France, Romania, Spain, Portugal and Italy. Particularly in Italy, the well-known Po river, is already facing a drought emergency across five national regions; within Italian municipalities, citizens have insufficient water availability.
This lack of water is also reducing or suspending hydroelectric and thermoelectric power production operations across countries.
In the coming months, the unfavourable forecasts may compromise the water supply and will likely keep the competition for this resource high. Integrated water resources management is essential to ensure sustainable quantity of good quality water for all water users and the environment in a given river basin.
While drought mitigation strategies are of the utmost importance now, so is tackling the root cause of the problem: climate change and its disruption of the planet’s water cycle. Further efforts are needed also for preventively adapting to the changing weather patterns by climate-proofing energy supply and applying sustainable solutions in agriculture. Find out more in the full report.
Read MoreWIE2022 Winner Idrica take new steps for a digital transition
Idrica is a leading international company that provides a unique differential value based on its experience and knowledge of the water industry. On June 2020, we awarded Idrica with the Water Europe Innovation Award for the category Water Technology & Infrastructure.
Since then, the company has made tremendous progress in helping water utilities navigate their digital transformation journey, and unlock the potential from their distributed data.
As a matter of fact, Idrica has recently launched Cleverpy, a startup specializing in technologies such as machine learning, artificial vision and georeferenced information systems, which are applied by Idrica in industries such as renewable energy and the integrated water cycle.
This move strengthens Idrica’s position as an expert in digital transformation for the water industry. The operation aims to strengthen its portfolio of solutions aimed at the digital transformation of the entire water cycle.
This is in line with the digital transformation plans initiated by various countries, as well as the growth objectives of the company itself, which seeks to become a global benchmark under the slogan “Smart Water for a Better World.”
Find more info at the official Idrica website.
Read MoreEU Commission releases guidelines on safe water reuse for agriculture
On August 5th, the European Commission published guidelines to help Member States and stakeholders apply the rules on the safe reuse of treated urban waste water for agricultural irrigation.
As severe droughts increase over time, reusing water from urban waste water treatment plants can become an essential tool to ensure a safe and predictable source of water, whilst lowering the pressure on water bodies and enhancing the EU’s ability to adapt to climate change.
The Water Reuse Regulation, applicable from June 2023, sets out minimum water quality, risk management and monitoring requirements to ensure safe water reuse. The guidelines are complemented by several practical examples to facilitate the application of the rules.
Achieve a Water-Smart Society is more than a necessity in Europe and water Reuse is one of the key element to secure water for all.
Commissioner for the Environment, Fisheries and Oceans Virginijus Sinkevičius, said:
“Freshwater resources are scarce and increasingly under pressure. In times of unprecedented temperature peaks, we need to stop wasting water and use this resource more efficiently to adapt to the changing climate and ensure the security and sustainability of our agricultural supply. Today’s guidelines can help us do just that and secure the safe circulation, across the EU, of food products grown with reclaimed water.”
Read MoreApply for the Innovation Fund call until August 31
The second call of Innovation Fund Small Scale Projects (InnovFund-2021-SSC) was launched on 31 March 2022 with a budget of EUR 100 million. The call text and application process remained largely similar to those of the first call and applicants have five months to prepare their application (until 31 August 2022).
The sectors considered by the call are: renewable energy, energy-intensive industries, carbon capture, use and storage.
If you are committed to Europe’s green transition and looking for funding to scale up your cleantech project, apply here.
Read MoreSave the date for Water Knowledge Europe 2022 coming up on October 17-19
Save the date for Water Knowledge Europe 2022, coming back to Brussels on October 17-19. The event will guide you through the Horizon Europe (HEU) Work Programmes 2023-2024 and reveal you all the exclusive insights you need for the preparation of winning project proposals.
This year, WKE2022 intends to reward the best running or recently phased out projects contributing to the achievement of a Water Smart Society. Get ready to send your application to participate for the Water Europe Projects Award (WEPA). The application will open soon, click here to learn more.
Read MoreWater Europe releases its Water Projects Europe reports
Over the month of June 2022, Water Europe organised two different editions of its Water Projects Europe event, one dedicated to the MULTISOURCE project and another one on the WATER-MINING project.
The first clustering event ”Nature-based solutions for water security and ecological quality in cities” was held on the 2nd of June. The event aimed at facilitating the systematic city-wide planning of NBS and supporting decision-making to contribute to the achievement of a Water-Smart Society. Five EU-funded NbS focused projects: MULTISOURCE, NICE, HYDROUSA, UNALAB, CONNECTING NATURE were present to exchange and discuss during WPE. The report for this event is available here, while you can still watch the session here.
Later in the month and in the context of Water Innovation Europe 2022 conference, the WATER-MINING edition took place on the 14th of June. The projects B-Water Smart, ULTIMATE, WATER-MINING, Zero Brine, and Brine Mining (LIFE) were presented during this event, giving an overview of their work and their relationship with the current legislation and their contribution to achieving a Water-Smart Society. Please find here the full WPE WATER-MINING Event Report. The session was hybrid and the streaming is available through the WE YouTube channel.
Water Project Europe (WPE) is a series of events made to learn from and build on the experience of innovating projects working on converging topics. WPE aims at clustering water-related projects by thematic areas to allow them to interact, mutually build on the respective experience, support policy development and stimulate the market uptake of innovations. From September 2022, more dedicated projects editions will be coming up. More info will follow soon.
Read MoreWE Water-Oriented Living Labs Workshop during ENOLL Days 2022
On September 21st, Water Europe is holding the ‘Water-Oriented Living Labs (WOLLs) for the Green and Digital Transition’ workshop in the context of the Open Living Labs Days 2022 taking place from the 21st to the 23 of September.
Building on the workshop implemented at the OLLD 2019, the workshop intends to highlight how the Water-Oriented Living Labs (WOLLs) will be held in the Sala Duomo of Turin from 17:30 to 19:00. The workshop intends to generate the ideal multi-contextual, empirical real-world environments and the systemic innovation approach to support the twin effort to achieve the Green and Digital transition and a Water-Smart Society.
The workshop will connect to the role played by the WOLLs in the HEU Co-funded Partnership Water4All for the demonstration of Water-Smart innovation in Europe and beyond with the participation of 74 partners, 21 MS and 5 Associated Countries.
The WOLLs workshop touches all five thematic tracks of the conference that are: society, governance, green and sustainable, transformation and beyond the city. A Water-Smart Society is a significant force towards the Green and Digital Transformation in EU. Creating a Water-Smart Society is an enormous task, considering the major societal changes in response to climate change where water security is an essential goal for all.
The Workshop aims at introducing practical and provisional guidelines for the identification, assessment, evaluation of and engagement with Water Oriented Living Labs for those who want to foster and implement Water-Smart innovations by means of the WOLLs eco-systems.
For more information on the Open Living Lab Days, please click here.
Read MoreHans Goossens, WE President’s Message
Dear Water Europe family,
Summer is here, with warm and dry days that remind us all the urgency of implementing our agenda. There is no other option, no other way than making the water systems resilient to climate extremes, and this requires joining forces with academics, scientists, technology companies and innovators in the field of new water systems. Digital shall enable us to get powerful insights out of the number of data we have available in order to improve our water services. We need to connect scientists and technology providers with water users and policy makers to pave the way to the transition to the Water-Smart Society. We need to have the public conscious about the value of water and we need to realise the benefits and the good life that a Water-Smart Society can bring us all.
The Water Innovation Europe conference that concluded successfully in June was a revelation of this exact point, bringing, after 2 years of virtual events, all water practitioners together. There was a great dynamism in the audience that showed us that, no matter the success that our online events have, this gathering brings us new ideas, creates new opportunities for collaboration, connects us with new partners and leaves us with lasting impressions. Innovation had a central place, once again, with our Water Europe Innovation Awards ceremony, bringing to the light the most innovative technologies of this year. Check here for the winning innovations.
On this note, I would like to stress out the importance of our Water Europe Implementation programme. The programme is here to ensure that innovative approaches and new solutions are put into practice and for this, the Water-Oriented Living Labs (WOLLs) are a key vehicle to bring about a paradigm shift to the Water-Smart Society. Two papers on the WOLLs are getting ready which will function as clear guidelines for supporting our strategy for the development of a network of WOLLs and implementing the Water Europe vision.
Last but not least, the annual general meeting of our Water Europe members showed that we are a healthy organisation with increasing members in different colleges and that we cover the full arena of all the stakeholders in water management. Also, as our 2021-2022 annual report shows, despite all the restrictions of COVID, we were able to keep up the spirit and bring members virtually together, with more white papers, and policy position papers produced, indicating clearly our role as the voice of all stakeholders in the EU arena. In this regard, it’s important for me to highlight, again, that understanding our members’ needs and expectations is at the core of our operation This is what we are continuously working towards, having a solid understanding of our members and always meeting their expectations.
Have a nice summer!
Read MoreNew OEDC Report on Global Plastics Outlook: Policy Scenarios to 2060
Plastic pollution is one of the great environmental challenges of the 21st century, causing wide-ranging damage to ecosystems and human health, while the fossil-fuel origins of most of the plastics produced have implications for climate change. Yet plastics have become an integral part of the global economy, being used in almost all economic sectors.
The OECD’s Global Plastics Outlook: Policy Scenarios to 2060 first provides an overview of plastics use, waste and environmental impacts with current policies until 2060 and then compares two scenarios to understand the policies needed for, and economic implications of, drastically reducing the environmental impacts of plastics.
An additional scenario, which has climate mitigation as its primary objective, examines the cross implications of policies aimed at climate mitigation and plastics leakage reduction.
Read More