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 fourth face-to-face meeting on September 23–24 in the Seville municipality of Carrión de los Céspedes. Specifically, the event took place at the Experimental Center for New Water Technologies (CENTA), attached to the Environment and Water Agency of the Andalusian Government (AMAYA) and dedicated to research, training and dissemination in the field of new water technologies.
In this space, coinciding with the project’s midpoint, representatives of the ten partner entities took stock and coordinated the next actions to promote nature-based solutions (NBS) for water reuse in rural areas of Spain, France and Portugal.
Among the milestones achieved so far, the members of SOLLAGUA highlighted the publications Identification of Stakeholders and Quality Needs for Water and Portfolio of different treatment schemes for water reuse. The latter has been coordinated by Dr. Antonina Torrens, professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Barcelona linked to the Program of nature-based solutions for sustainable development of the UB Solidarity Foundation.
On the other hand, the SOLLAGUA’s partner entities defined the locations of the demonstration sites (demosites) planned in the three participating countries, which will begin to be installed in the coming months. They have also worked on the design of training actions around the demosites at three levels, both for users and for technicians and managers.
The UB Solidarity Foundation and sustainable 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 (NBS) 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.
