The initiative, of which the UB Solidarity Foundation is a partner, looks into nature-based solutions (NBS) for water reuse in rural areas of the SUDOE region.
The SOLLAGUA project consortium, a three-year initiative co-funded by the Interreg SUDOE programme, held its third face-to-face meeting on February 18–19 in Badajoz, one year after its launch. The event took place at the headquarters of the Spanish beneficiary PROMEDIO, where representatives of the ten partner entities took stock and coordinated the next actions of a project that promotes nature-based solutions (NBS) for water reuse in rural areas of Spain, France and Portugal.
Day 1: Many publications ahead
The first day began with discussing the annual evaluation meeting with the Interreg SUDOE Joint Secretariat, which was held virtually on 27 January. The University of Toulouse, the coordinating entity of the project, highlighted that the feedback received was positive and announced that the project officer would visit its facilities soon to see first-hand what exactly is being worked on within SOLLAGUA.
Regarding the status of the work packages, they are already bearing fruit in the form of technical publications. For example, the project has published a ‘Portfolio of different treatment schemes for water reuse’, which will soon be joined by other thematic reports on stakeholder needs, the NB-WoLL (nature-based water-oriented living lab) strategy and an analysis of the deployment of nature-based solutions (NBS). All scientific papers will be disseminated through the same media and channels already used to talk about SOLLAGUA’s vision, mission, and goals, with the aim of reaching as many people as possible.
The progress of the installation of the demo sites, the composition of the advisory committee, and the administrative block closed the meeting agenda from a project management point of view. In the afternoon, the SOLLAGUA partners had the opportunity to get to know the heritage of Badajoz better thanks to a guided tour of the Alcazaba and the historic centre.
Day 2: Technical visits
After a breakfast of local products, the beneficiaries made two technical visits to the wastewater treatment plants in Monesterio and Pallares, the latter of which uses an NBS system consisting of artificial wetlands to clean polluted urban water and discharge it into watercourses.
The next face-to-face consortium meeting is scheduled to take place after the summer at the Experimental Centre for New Water Technologies (CENTA), located in the Seville municipality of Carrión de los Céspedes.
The UB Solidarity Foundation and water management
The Solidarity Foundation of the University of Barcelona has extensive experience in WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) projects, which promote nature-based solutions for the sustainable management of water resources.
Currently, in addition to the SOLLAGUA project, the Foundation participates in the LIFE4Zoo project, funded by the LIFE program of the European Union, which promotes NBS so that the zoos of Barcelona and Liberec optimize the use of water.
On the other hand, in Senegal, together with the Gaston Berger University (UGB) of Saint-Louis and Món-3, the UB Solidarity Foundation is working on the implementation of low-cost, sustainable and environmentally friendly technologies for the sustainable management of wastewater and sanitation services in the Saint-Louis region; including the installation of an ecological wastewater treatment plant on the UGB campus.
Likewise, in Palestine, together with the Catalan Association for Peace (ACP), the UB Solidarity Foundation contributes to the training of women’s farmer cooperatives in areas such as water management. Meanwhile, in Southeast Asia, it has developed training programs on water resources in six universities and contributed to integrating nature-based water treatment technologies in six cities. In fact, more than 10 years ago, with the National University of Vietnam, the UB Solidarity Foundation created an industrial wastewater treatment plant with ecological systems in Hạ Long Bay, which was the first infrastructure of its kind (Constructed Wetlands) in Southeast Asia.
