DURATION: 01.06.2018 to 31.12.2022
BUDGET: 130,000.00€/12,015,448.75€
FUNDING: H2020 Water in the context of the circular economy, Innovation Action
ABOUT HYDROUSA
HYDROUSA is a four and a half year H2020 Innovation Action project funded by the topic Water in the context of the circular economy.
HYDROUSA provides innovative, regenerative and circular solutions for:
- nature-based water management of Mediterranean coastal areas, closing water loops;
- nutrient management, boosting the agricultural and energy profile;
- local economies, based on circular value chains.
The services provided lead to a win-win-win situation for the economy, environment and community within the water-energy-food-employment nexus. HYDROUSA water loops include water from non-conventional sources including wastewater, rainwater, seawater, groundwater and vapour water, all resulting in recovered and marketable products.
HYDROUSA demonstrates at large scale the feasibility and sustainability of innovative, low-cost water treatment technologies to recover freshwater, nutrients and energy from wastewater, salt and freshwater from seawater, and freshwater from atmospheric water vapour. Water conservation solutions including aquifer storage and sustainable agricultural practices including fertigation are applied.
The HYDROUSA concept and solutions are materialised by implementing six demonstration sites at full scale in three Mediterranean islands (Lesvos, Mykonos and Tinos). These demo scale solutions are named HYDRO1-6. Detailed technical and financial deployment plans will be established for replication in additional 25 locations worldwide.
Through the on-site water loops of HYDROUSA, complex supply chains for resource recovery are not required, as producers are directly involved as consumers of derived products. HYDROUSA combines traditional skilled workmanship with modern ICT integration in beautiful and smart automation systems. HYDROUSA revolutionises water value chains in Mediterranean areas and beyond, from water abstraction to sewage treatment and reuse. The project’s solutions show massive potential to change the way humans interact with water, food and energy.
OUR ROLE IN THE PROJECT
In HYDROUSA, our role is to design, implement, monitor, simulate and optimize a novel decentralized, transferable and scalable configuration in Mykonos for rainwater harvesting, storage and recovery, in order to store excess rainwater of winter to reuse it in summer in the point of demand both for domestic and irrigation purposes. In particular, we have used existing and new wells, storage tanks as well as subsurface natural water reservoirs to enable the buffering effect and extend water availability towards the dry period. For this purpose, we have conducted technical visits, geophysical and hydrogeological surveys as well as experimental and testing activities, in order to evaluate the characteristics of the system and provide a thorough understanding of the hydraulic behaviour of the aquifer of the site.
Furthermore, restauration activities in roofs, gutters, tanks, etc. and construction works (AR well, bioswale system, manholes, etc.) have taken place. Additionally, we have installed monitoring and control automated systems to evaluate the system behaviour and manage water recourses.
Finally, we assess the dynamic behaviour of the site groundwater aquifer and optimise the implemented water management schemes.
