UNIVPM presented FIT4REUSE project and objectives in the framework of the 1st European forum on regulation of water services (EFRWS) which was organised by WAREG, the association of European water regulators. The forum took place on 3 December 2019, in Rome, Italy.
The forum was about bringing together water experts, including academics, researchers, regulators and water managers, to share and exchange opinions on how regulation can build an improved water framework in european, as well in international level. The project was presented at the section “Regional carbon and energy footprint and audit in municipal wastewater treatment services: towards standardization?”.
FIT4REUSE, which is a European project supported by the PRIMA Foundation, the Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area, envisions a water sustainable future for both society and environment.
Our aim is to develop innovative, low-cost, and safe water solutions that can fit to local scenarios and to promote the reuse of non-conventional water resources, in aquifer recharge and in agriculture. Treated municipal wastewater and desalinated water can compensate the gap between the ever-growing agricultural water consumption and the diminishment of natural water resources. Furthermore, valuable nutrients and materials can be recovered from the treatment process, in the context of circular economy.
An inventory of the current regulations in all participating countries and at EU level will be created with the aim of being analyzed within the Water Reuse Forums considering technological options, market opportunities, policy and legislative barriers and opportunities, as well as public acceptance. This will help to make foresight exercises and develop different scenarios describing a possible set of future conditions. Furthermore, FIT4REUSE will examine and understand the reasons of low public acceptance on using unconventional water resources in agriculture, through a holistic point of view, taking into account environmental, economic and social aspects. In this manner, FIT4REUSE will encourage both general and professional public to increase the use of non-conventional water resources and to reconsider and improve the current legislative and regulatory framework that could contribute to a wider use of treated wastewater and desalinated water.
