One-tenth of the world’s population – 663 million people – have no access to clean water. This is according to the ‘Progress on Sanitation and Drinking Water’ report published in 2015 by Unicef and the World Health Organisation.
Fortunately, innovative technologies are already disrupting the water sector – making an impact by reducing waste, optimising consumption and improving water quality.
iMETland is an EU Horizon 2020 research project. The aim is to unleash the potential of small community economies through innovative wastewater treatment technologies, creating a virtuous cycle – connecting water, energy, ICT, land resources and safeguarding of the environment.
The worldwide innovative wastewater project is composed of 11 partners from 4 different European member states and two associated countries, Argentina and Mexico.
They are currently testing a smart water solution for wastewater treatment in four locations around the world: the Mediterranean (Spain), Europe (Denmark), South America (Argentina) and North America (Mexico).
The idea behind the solution is to have 15-minute readings of the parameters – all of this data will then be uploaded to the cloud. The data is later extracted giving the possibility to monitor behaviour in real time. The detail that makes the difference is that these units are located in isolated locations without power supply.
The installations work on three different stages, starting with the testing of ambient water conditions and ending with the de-infestation of the water flow.
Innovation technologies applied to wastewater treatment have added real value to the sector. iMETland offers a new tool for maximising the reuse of water in small or isolated communities and minimises costs of wastewater treatment. It also reduces by 10-fold the extension of land needed for natural wastewater treatments and integrates the treatment system into the landscape.
The development of iMETland platform enhances end-user autonomy and satisfaction, making use of user-friendly technologies for monitoring. One of the main features of the initiative is that it can be replicable worldwide as it has been tested in four different locations. It has demonstrated and raised awareness about how European citizens can us use the iMETland approach as a sustainable way to decentralise wastewater treatment.