SPORE-MED Launch

Today starts SPORE-MED project “SUSTAINABLE UPGRADED WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS FOR RESOURCE RECOVERY, WATER REUSE AND HEALTH SURVEILLANCE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN REGION” led by LEQUIA research group from Universitat de Girona.

Coordinated by Jesus Colprim, SPORE-MED seeks to upgrade current urban wastewater treatment plants by making them more efficient and sustainable. The project, which will be executed for three years, has a consortium composed of seven universities and two large enterprises from Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Morocco, and Tunis: université de Sfax – University of Sfax (USS), Technical University of Crete, University of Cyprus, Università degli Studi di Salerno, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, UM6P – University Mohammed VI Polytechnic, GS Inima Environment, Adasa Sistemas and Universitat de Girona. Within Facultat_de_Ciències Universitat_de_Girona, SPORE-MED also involves researchers from UdG research group gEMM.

Urban wastewater treatment plants are key to returning the water used to the environment in the best conditions. Wastewater treatment plants are also a source of valuable resources – such as reclaimed water or nutrients – and a crucial element for wastewater-based surveillance. However, these facilities are still major energy consumers and are not capable of removing certain pollutants.

With a budget of 3,67M€, SPORE-MED has the goal of upgrading current wastewater treatment plants to respond to these and other challenges within the water-energy-food-health nexus in the Mediterranean region, more vulnerable to climate change and water scarcity than the world average. Innovative water treatment and resource recovery technologies, online monitoring tools, sustainable agro-practices for water and nutrient reuse, and several protocols and plans for wastewater surveillance and reuse will be developed and validated in four different demo sites in the participant countries.

SPORE-MED project is part of PRIMA Partnership supported by the European Union (GA: 2322).