AQUAREHAB

Development of rehabilitation technologies and approaches for multipressured degraded waters and the integration of their impact on river basin management

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Within the AQUAREHAB project, different innovative rehabilitation technologies for soil, groundwater and surface water will be developed to cope with a number of hazardous (nitrates, pesticides, chlorinated and aromatic compounds, mixed pollutions,…) within heavily degraded water systems. The technologies are activated riparian zones/wetlands; smart biomass containing carriers for treatment of water in open trenches; in-situ technologies to restore degraded surface water by inhibiting influx of pollutants from groundwater to surface water; multifunctional permeable barriers and injectable Fe-based particles for rehabilitation of groundwater. Methods will be developed to determine the (long-term) impact of the innovative rehabilitation technologies on the reduction of the influx of these priority pollutants towards the receptor. A connection between the innovative technologies and river basin management will be worked out. In a first stage of the project, the technologies and integration of their impact in river basin management will be developed in three different river basins (Denmark, Israel, Belgium). In a second stage, the generic approaches will be extrapolated to one or two more river basins. One of the major outcomes of the project will be a generic river basin management tool that integrates multiple measures with ecological and economic impact assessments of the whole water system. The research in the project is focussed on innovative rehabilitation strategies to reduce priority pollutants in the water system whereas the generic management tool will include other measures related to flood protection, water scarcity and ecosystem health, The project will aid in underpinning river basin management plans being developed in EU Member States, and will demonstrate cost effective technologies that can provide technical options for national and local water managers, planners and other stakeholders (drinking water companies, industry, agriculture,'

Introduzione (Teaser)

A recent EU-funded initiative has developed technologies and tools for rehabilitating and managing polluted freshwater systems.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Rehabilitation of polluted freshwater (surface water & groundwater) systems is of utmost importance in the face of increasing population density. Current approaches focus either on removing the source of pollution or preventing polluted groundwater from reaching dams and lakes. There is a need, however, for an overall management approach to ensure that the water system is rehabilitated as a whole.

The http://aquarehab.vito.be (AQUAREHAB) project aimed to do this through a two-pronged approach. The first part of the project developed new technologies for cleaning priority contaminants and tested these technologies at local scale aiming at linking this with river basin management. The second part used the data gathered during case studies to create broadly useful tools for rehabilitation of water systems.

AQUAREHAB research identified nitrates, pesticides, chlorinated compounds, aromatic compounds, and mixtures of these as priority contaminants of freshwater systems. Project partners investigated a number of innovative technologies to block, degrade or remove these pollutants.

Scientists tested the most promising of these technologies in three case study areas: Denmark (mostly agricultural run-off), Israel (industrial) and Belgium (urban groundwater). From these case studies, two management tools were developed.

REACHER is a tool for evaluating the effects of a given technology on a body of water, while REACHER-local provides the same service for groundwater. Both tools are freely available on the project website.

AQUAREHAB research has provided tools and technologies to help manage and decontaminate polluted water systems regardless of the type of pollution. Policy recommendation towards an integrated management of groundwater and surface water were formulated.