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MINOTAURUS will deliver innovative bio-processes (bioaugmentation, enzyme technology, rhizoremediation with halophytes, and bioelectrochemical remediation), which are all based on the concept of IMMOBILIZATION OF BIOCATALYSTS (microorganisms and enzymes), to eliminate emerging and classic organic pollutants. The immobilization-based technologies will be applied to engineered (ex-situ) and natural systems (in situ) for the bioremediation of groundwater, wastewater, and soil. The selection and adaptation of modern physico-chemical, biological, and ecotoxicological monitoring tools combined to a rational understanding of engineering and enzymology/microbial physiology aspects is a pertinent approach to open the black-box of the our technologies. The reliable process-monitoring will constitute a solid basis to develop and refine our biodegradation kinetics models, which will be the mean to improve the predictability of performances to be achieved with our technologies. A key strength of MINOTAURUS is the possibility of direct implementation of our technologies at five EU reference sites that are confronted with pollutants (two technologies will be tested on-site during the first year). We will deliver not only a set of tools, techniques and processes which will enhance the ability of our communities to respond to the challenges of organic pollutants but also frameworks for structuring and making evidence-based decisions for the most sustainable and appropriate bioremediation measures. MINOTAURUS consortium consists of fifteen partners from eight European and Europe-associated countries. Eight research & education institutions, five SMEs covering the whole chain of our bioremediation approaches (production/monitoring of biocatalysts, bioremediation, and engineering), one large end-user installing wastewater treatment plants, and one environmental agency will work together with the support of an advisory board mainly consisting of environmental decision-makers
Objective: NEW ED aims at closing industrial water cycles and reducing the amount of waste water streams with highly concentrated salt loads stemming from a broad range of industrial production processes by exploiting the waste components (salts) and transforming them to valuable products. This will be achieved by developing new micro- to nano-porous bipolar membranes for bipolar electrodialysis (BPMED), a new membrane module concept and by integrating this new technology into relevant production processes. The bipolar membrane process produces acids and bases from their corresponding salts by dissociating water at the interface within the bipolar membranes. However, BPMED so far has been applied only in niche markets due to limitations of the current state of membrane and process development. Major drawbacks of the classic BPMED process are low product purity, limited current density and formation of metal hydroxides at or in the bipolar membrane. The objective of this project is to overcome these limitations by developing a new bipolar membrane and membrane module with active, i.e. convective instead of diffusive water transport to the transition layer of the bipolar membranes, where water dissociation takes place. The key feature of the innovative new bipolar membranes is a nano- to micro-porous and at the same time ion conducting intermediate transition layer, through which water is convectively transported from the side into the transition layer. The porous transition layer may have either the character of a cation or an anion exchanger. Several promising intermediate layer materials together with different monopolar ion-exchange layers will be tested and characterized. Membrane manufacturing and new module concepts will be investigated to exploit the full potential of the new bipolar membrane technique. Integration of the developed membranes and modules into relevant production processes is an essential part of the project.
This proposal responds to balance industrial supply-side and demand-side approaches to managing scarce water resources. In this context we are aiming on: - reducing high quality water consumption and fresh water needs, - mitigating the environmental impacts of both water treatments and effluent discharges, - better management of health and safety risks relating to water use, while - improving product quality and process stability, - reducing water relating costs (intake, treatment, re-use, closed loops, discharge), - increase independency and flexibility, - creating new jobs in Europe when strengthen competitiveness by ensuring world market leadership of European water cleaning technologies. To reach these ambitious goals a new management system including new approaches, tools, methods, and technologies needs to be developed. AquaFit4Use aims at these developments focusing at cross-sectorial issues that concern the major water consuming industries in Europe. Prime Contractor: Nederlandse Centrale Organisatie voor Toegepast-Natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek; Delft; Nederland.
Objective: WAHARA will take a transdisciplinary approach to develop innovative, locally adapted water harvesting solutions with wider relevance for rain-fed Africa. Water harvesting technologies play a key role in bringing about an urgently needed increase in agricultural productivity, and to improve food and water security in rural areas. Water harvesting technologies enhance water buffering capacity, contributing to the resilience of African dry lands to climate variability and climate change, as well as to socio-economic changes such as population growth and urbanisation. To ensure the continental relevance of project results, research will concentrate on four geographically dispersed study sites in Tunisia, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Zambia, covering diverse socio-economic conditions and a range from arid to sub-humid climates. The project emphasizes: i) participatory technology design, i.e. selecting and adapting technologies that have synergies with existing farming systems and that are preferred by local stakeholders, yet tap from a global repertoire of innovative options; ii) sustainable impact, i.e. technologies that combine multiple uses of water, green and blue water management, and integrated water and nutrient management. Using models, water harvesting systems will be designed for maximum impact without compromising downstream water-users, contributing to sustainable regional development; iii) integration and adaptability, i.e. paying attention to the generic lessons to be learned from local experiences, and developing guidelines on how technologies can be adapted to different conditions; and iv) learning and action, i.e. a strategy will be developed to enable learning and action from successes achieved locally: a. within a region, to upscale from water harvesting technologies to water harvesting systems, and b. across regions, promoting knowledge exchange at continental scale.
The European project initiative TRUST will produce knowledge and guidance to support TRansitions to Urban Water Services of Tomorrow, enabling communities to achieve sustainable, low-carbon water futures without compromising service quality. We deliver this ambition through close collaboration with problem owners in ten participating pilot city regions under changing and challenging conditions in Europe and Africa. Our work provides research driven innovations in governance, modelling concepts, technologies, decision support tools, and novel approaches to integrated water, energy, and infrastructure asset management. An extended understanding of the performance of contemporary urban water services will allow detailed exploration of transition pathways. Urban water cycle analysis will include use of an innovative systems metabolism model, derivation of key performance indicators, risk assessment, as well as broad stakeholder involvement and an analysis of public perceptions and governance modes. A number of emerging technologies in water supply, waste and storm water treatment and disposal, in water demand management and in the exploitation of alternative water sources will be analysed in terms of their cost-effectiveness, performance, safety and sustainability. Cross-cutting issues include innovations in urban asset management and water-energy nexus strengthening. The most promising interventions will be demonstrated and legitimised in the urban water systems of the ten participating pilot city regions. TRUST outcomes will be incorporated into planning guidelines and decision support tools, will be subject to life-cycle assessment, and be shaped by regulatory considerations as well as potential environmental, economic and social impacts. Outputs from the project will catalyse transformation change in both the form and management of urban water services and give utilities increased confidence to specify innovative solutions to a range of pressing challenges.
Objective: The WHaTeR project aims to contribute to the development of appropriate water harvesting techniques (WHTs). These WHTs should be sustainable under dynamic global and regional pressure, and strengthen rainfed agriculture, improve rural livelihood and increase food production and security in Sub-Saharan Africa. In total 3 European and 5 African organisations will be involved; namely VU University Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Newcastle University (United Kingdom), Stockholm Resilience Centre (Sweden), University of Kwazulu Natal (South Africa), Sokoine University (Tanzania), Southern and Eastern Africa Rainwater Network (Kenya), National Institute for Environment and Agricultural Research (Burkina Faso) and one Ethiopian organisation to be decided upon. Project activities will be divided over 14 Work Packages. The first Work Package covers project management and the second comprises a situation analysis-through revisits to water harvesting sites in 15 African countries studied previously by participating organisations. The next four Work Packages focus on detailed research and technology development activities on cross-cutting themes (environmental sustainability; technology development; livelihood improvement; uptake and upscalling; and global and regional impact) and will be conducted together with four country-based Work Packages (in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, South Africa and Tanzania). One Work Package will concentrate on stakeholder communication and outreaching activities, and the final Work Packages consists of synthesis and dissemination of project results, including production of guidelines for WHTs. The project will spend an estimated 74Prozent of the budget on RTD, 13Prozent on other costs related to stakeholder workshops and outreaching and 13Prozent on project management. The expected impacts of the project comprise technology support for farmers, development of stakeholder communication networks, innovative water harvesting systems, tools for impact assessment, upstream-downstream land use, and policy support for integrated water management and adaptation to climate change to promote EU and African strategies on strengthening rainfed agriculture, food security and livelihoods.
The HEALTHY FUTURES project is motivated by concern for the health impacts of environmental changes. HEATHLY FUTURES aims to respond to this concern through construction of a disease risk mapping system for three water-related high-impact VBDs (malaria, Rift valley fever and schistosomiasis) in Africa, accounting for environmental/climatic trends and changes in socio-economic conditions to predict future risk. Concentrating on eastern Africa as a study area, HEALTHY FUTURES comprises a comprehensive, inter-disciplinary consortium of health, environment, socio-economic, disease modelling and climate experts in addition to governmental health departments. To achieve its aims, HEALTHY FUTURES will deploy a bottom-up, end-user/stakeholder-focused approach combining field-, laboratory- and library-based research.
Es existiert eine Vielzahl von kleinen und mittelgroßen Städten in Afrika, die ein gravierendes Problem mit Wasserver- und Abwasserentsorgung haben. In diesen Regionen gibt es zudem meist kein ausreichendes Know-how und strukturelles Potential, um integrierte kreislauforientierte Wasser- und Sanitärkonzepte zu implementieren und zu betreiben. Das Hauptziel von CLARA ist es, durch Qualifizierungsmaßnahmen und die Bereitstellung von Informationen, lokale Kapazitäten im Wassersektor zu stärken. Ein einfaches Planungstool für kreislauforientierte Wasser- und Sanitärkonzepte soll entwickelt werden. Die Erfahrungen aus den FP6 Projekten ROSA und NETSSAF bilden die Grundlage für CLARA.
Objective: The Future of Reefs in a Changing Environment (FORCE) Project partners a multi-disciplinary team of researchers from Europe and the Caribbean to enhance the scientific basis for managing coral reefs in an era of rapid climate change and unprecedented human pressure on coastal resources. The overall aim is to provide coral reef managers with a toolbox of sustainable management practices that minimise the loss of coral reef health and biodiversity. An ecosystem approach is taken that explicitly links the health of the ecosystem with the livelihoods of dependent communities, and identifies the governance structures needed to implement sustainable development. Project outcomes are reached in four steps. First, a series of experimental, observational and modelling studies are carried out to understand both the ultimate and proximate drivers of reef health and therefore identify the chief causes of reef degradation. Second, the project assembles a toolbox of management measures and extends their scope where new research can significantly improve their efficacy. Examples include the first coral-friendly fisheries policies that balance herbivore extraction against the needs of the ecosystem, the incorporation of coral bleaching into marine reserve design, and creation of livelihood enhancement and diversification strategies to reduce fisheries capacity. Third, focus groups and ecological models are used to determine the efficacy of management tools and the governance constraints to their implementation. This step impacts practical reef management by identifying the tools most suited to solving a particular management problem but also benefits high-level policy-makers by highlighting the governance reform needed to implement such tools effectively. Lastly, the exploitation and dissemination of results benefits from continual engagement with practitioners. The project will play an important and measurable role in helping communities adapt to climate change in the Caribbean.
Understanding how freshwater ecosystems will respond to future climate change is essential for the development of policies and implementation strategies needed to protect aquatic and riparian ecosystems. The future status of freshwater ecosystems is however, also dependent on changes in land-use, pollution loading and water demand. In addition the measures that need to be taken to restore freshwater ecosystems to good ecological health or to sustain priority species as required by EU Directives need to be designed either to adapt to future climate change or to mitigate the effects of climate change in the context of changing land-use. Generating the scientific understanding that enables such measures to be implemented successfully is the principal focus of REFRESH. It is concerned with the development of a system that will enable water managers to design cost-effective restoration programmes for freshwater ecosystems at the local and catchment scales that account for the expected future impacts of climate change and land-use change in the context of the WFD and Habitats Directive. At its centre is a process-based evaluation of the specific adaptive measures that might be taken to minimise the consequences of climate change on freshwater quantity, quality and biodiversity. The focus is on three principal climate-related and interacting pressures, increasing temperature, changes in water levels and flow regimes and excess nutrients, primarily with respect to lowland rivers, lakes and wetlands because these often pose the most difficult problems in meeting both the requirements of the WFD and Habitats Directive. REFRESH will advance our fundamental and applied science in 5 key areas: i) understanding how the functioning of freshwater ecosystems is affected by climate change; ii) new indicators of functional response and tools for assessing vulnerability; iii) modelling ecological processes; iv) integrated modelling; and v) adaptive management.
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