The main idea underlying the WATUSER Project stems from the need to control and manage all the impacts and risks that appear in the water use cycle.
The main objective of the WATUSER project is to develop and implement an integrated system of innovative technologies and management instruments for reducing environmental impacts and associated
human health risks caused by water quality aspects in the entire water use cycle: water abstraction, treatment, distribution, use, wastewater collection, wastewater treatment and discharge/reuse.
The project’s implementation consortium includes 2 prestigious
Romanian Universities: “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iasi, which acts as coordinator and Politehnica University of Timisoara, together with 2 important partners from the regional water operators
network: SC APAVITAL SA from Iasi and SC AQUATIM SA from Timisoara.
Directions of research:
A. Innovative technologies for :
- Advanced treatment of the water (nitrite, nitrate, NOM)
- Advanced wastewater treatment (priority organic pollutants)
B. Management tools for identification/quantification of:
- Impacts and environmental risks
Risks to human health
Research efforts aimed to develop and test some assessment instruments to identify and analyze impacts and risks in the water use cycle. These instruments refer to:
- An integrated environmental impact and risks assessment methodology
- A methodology to assess human health risks in the water use cycle
- The Grey water footprint
- The life cycle assessment methodology
Resources needed
Research Grant 60/2012 - National Collaborative Applied Research Project
Project value: 636089 euro
Co-financing of 95668 euro
Evidence of success
The most important achievements are the 2 products (technologies) developed up to the stage of functional pilot installations, which also constitute the objects of patent applications.
1.The pilot facility for advanced wastewater treatment for reuse was developed by Apavital and the Technical University "Gheorghe Asachi" both from Iasi.
2. The modular pilot installation for advanced water treatment for purification was developed by: Polytechnic University of Timisoara and Aquatim SA Timisoara
Potential for learning or transfer
The major novel project features are:
a) Integration: the environmental, technical, operational and management problems are approached within the water use cycle in an integrated and coherent manner.
b) Multidisciplinarity: the project activities address problems in multiple science areas related to water resources management: environmental management (water resources management, impact and risk assessment,
water footprinting, life cycle assessment, environmental performance indicators) and engineering sciences: chemical and environmental engineering (electrochemical processes, advanced oxidation processes, membrane processes), computer engineering (integrated monitoring
system for water related impacts and risk surveys design and implementation)
c) Originality, novelty & innovation: the project develops an integrated system of management instrument and technological developments to tackle water related impacts and risks on the whole water use cycle at regional level.
Tags: Environment, Research, Water
