Sixth framework programme

Relevance to the objectives of the specific programme and/or thematic priority

The World is running out of clean, safe, fresh water. By 2025 one third of humanity – almost three billion people – will face severe water scarcity. This has been described as the “single greatest threat to health, the environment and global food security”. The research on global change and ecosystems is a major support for the EU strategy to meet the goals as defined in the context of the Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development (SD) 2002, where two of the Millennium goals are; by 2015 reduce by half the proportion of people without access to basic sanitation (2 billion people), and reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water (1.5 billion people). The sustainable development of any society is very closely linked to water. Water is fundamental for life, is by far the most important food item and a commodity that modern societies rely on in many aspects including potable water, agricultural water, industrial water and recreational water. Water is essential and preservation of its safety in quantity and in quality is critical to the sustainable development of any society. The goal of this project is to make a contribution to meet this challenge.

Continuous extraction of water has resulted in depletion of available water sources in and around the industrial areas in many regions of the world. In addition, wastewater discharges into natural watercourses has caused surface and groundwater pollution, often leaving water unsafe for potable use and impairing industrial use without major and costly treatment. The current low-cost end-of-pipe treatment approach will become increasingly expensive as effluent discharge standards become more stringent. Meanwhile, technological advancements now make it possible to treat wastewater for a variety of end uses as direct discharge to sensitive areas, industrial or even potable water reuse. The development of advanced wastewater treatment strategies is necessary to implement sustainable water management in general.

The protection of water in the European Union has been further encouraged through the establishment of the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/CE (WFD). The intention of the WFD is to protect the water resources and gain advantages by integration, but how to make the WFD operational through water resource management is by no means clarified on a European scale. The challenges in implementing the goals of the WFD requires activity within several integrated areas which includes defining and developing objectives and understandable criteria to define ecological quality, define limits of water exploitation, balance ecological and user needs, and place the role of integrated water management in the larger context of sustainable regional development. Two important aspects in an integrated water resource management policy have to be considered: Quantity and Quality.
Quantity: The stress on the available freshwater resources both in a global and regional perspective has been well documented. In Europe an estimated 20 to 40% withdrawal of the available reserves is anticipated by the year 2025. The result of exploiting the water resources in some regions has lead to water shortage problems. This has been observed mainly in the southern parts of Europe where the increased use of water for agricultural, industrial and domestic purposes has resulted in more frequent periods of water scarcity. The global climate changes might, in the near future, increase the regions of Europe concerned by this phenomenon. The efficient utilization of the water resources and reuse of water is therefore an important issue in water resources management. Although in the coastal zones, sea water desalination may bring a solution for domestic purposes, it cannot be imagined that, in the near predictable future, the technologies involved in water desalination could produce water at an acceptable cost for industry and agriculture. Advanced treatment of wastewater with respect to high effluent standards for safe discharge combined with potential reuse and linked with a more rational use of water in industry and agriculture is an important aspect of water management.
Quality: Raw water sources everywhere face growing deterioration from pollution – from industry, agriculture, landscape decline, poor sewerage and waste disposal. Pollutants include nitrates, heavy metals, disease-causing micro-organisms, organohalides and phosphates, endocrine-disrupting chemicals and other micropollutants, e.g., anionic pollutants (perchlorate, bromate and arsenic), and pesticides. As such, the European Union has established a list of priority substances in the field of water policy as specified in Article 16 of the WFD. Traditional methods of water purification are reaching the limits of their technical capability to cope with these and, in cases such as trihalomethanes, may even make the problem worse. A fresh approach is called for. The same applies to wastewater treatment, which must be safe and clean enough for discharge to the environment as well as use in industry, agriculture, urban watering and other end-uses. The characteristics of the treated water produced have to be compatible with its further application, for the environment and for the final users of the products. Also the wastewater treatment process has to be safe for the workers involved.
Efficient but cost effective wastewater treatment processes are needed for two purposes; both for producing high quality water from contaminated resources and for transforming wastewater into water able to be reused for various applications – for potable water, in agriculture and industry. Due to their unique characteristics, and mainly the possibility to adjust the retention efficiency to the level which is needed (from colloids and micro-organisms to small molecules and ions), membranes will play a more and more important role in a near future. To both the problems of water management and water quality, advanced membrane technologies offer practical, cost-effective and energy saving solutions whether for large-scale, medium-, or smaller-scale applications. Membrane bioreactor processes represent such advanced technologies for the treatment of municipal wastewater. Furthermore membrane processes are suited for onsite small-scale reuse which is probably one of the strong tendencies of this approach: presently water piping costs represents the major part of the cost of the water.
Within the context of developing countries, in which the per capita water consumption is low and the region is water stressed, there is a large demand to provide a low cost sanitation system from which the treated water can be reused, particularly for agricultural purposes. Additional challenges in such regions compared to the EU are: poverty is high; unemployment is extensive; food security is poor; the electricity supply is costly, intermittent or non-existent; and traditional infrastructure is lacking. For a sustainable solution for wastewater treatment and reuse the system must be reliable and not dependant on skilled operators, and requires water that is free from pathogens, micro-pollutants but with the recycling of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus). The South African government has made the provision of sanitation services a development priority and the outcomes of this proposal will contribute to this overall goal. Several of the EUROMBRA solutions have the potential to provide sustainable solutions to both secure resources for potable water and for sanitation in developing countries.
It can therefore be concluded that in the near future membrane processes will be important for water and wastewater treatment. Today most newly built seawater desalination plants are using membrane technology, not distillation, for the production of potable water. The biological treatment/membrane alternative for wastewater is friendly to nature and needs less pre-treatment than most other water treatment methods. The costs for the process are already fairly low but there is a potential for optimisations giving further overall cost reductions. Membrane processes can be used to produce water of very high standards from both very poor sources as well as wastewater. In fact, membrane processes are now considered to be the Best Available Technology (BAT) for water production and wastewater treatment with respect to reuse potentials, and an integral component of advanced treatment options. The development of membrane bioreactors as outlined in this proposal will contribute to integrating advanced treatment technologies as a sustainable solution for future water resource management policies.