Demoware

Innovation Demonstration for a Competitive and Innovative European Water Reuse Sector”

Funder(s): European Commission (Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 619040.)

Timescale: Jan 2014- Dec 2016

The DEMOWARE project had as a primary ambition to deliver a European roadmap for a viable water reuse industry through providing business cases for the development of water recycling projects, which will pave the way for future opportunities. The project brought together 27 institutions from ten different countries together, including public authorities, regulators, water utilities and companies, the research community and the public, to generate and share knowledge on innovative water reuse schemes technologies, not only to increase water use efficiency, but to position Europe ahead of the world market for water reuse. The project was guided by SME & industry priorities and had two central ambitions; to enhance the availability and reliability of innovative water reuse solutions, and to create a unified professional identity for the European Water Reuse sector. The project focused on the specific opportunities and benefits of water reuse in each of the three main water sectors: agriculture, industry and urban as well as on the interfaces between each of these sectors. The project sought to overcome constraints including technological, economic and social barriers.

Using nine existing and one greenfield innovation demonstration sites distributed all over Europe and Israel, the project aimed to improve both operator and public confidence in reuse schemes by:

• deepening the evidence base around innovative treatment processes performance and reuse schemes,
• testing new tools for process monitoring and performance control,
• providing strategies for the risk management and quantifying the environmental benefit of water reuse.
• advancing the quality and usefulness of business models and pricing strategies,
• generating regulatory regime specific guidance on appropriate governance, public involvement and stakeholder collaboration processes and,
• the establishment of a European water reuse association to shape market opportunities for European solution providers.

The DEMOWARE outcomes increased Europe’s ability to profit from the resource security and economic benefits of water reuse schemes without compromising human health and environmental integrity.

For more information on the outcomes of the project, you can download the project final summary report and other publically available deliverables at: http://demoware.eu/en/results