In NEW WATER, wastewater, rainwater and polluted surface water are scientifically assessed as resources for producing drinkable water in North-West Europe.
Progressive climate change, longer drought periods, rising temperatures and growing demand from municipalities and industry are placing increasing pressure on established water resources in North-West Europe. Against this backdrop, the Interreg NWE project NEW WATER explores how new, sustainable sources of drinkable water can be unlocked. The focus is on three alternative resources: wastewater, rainwater and polluted surface water. The aim is to develop solutions that are both scientifically sound and practically applicable in order to improve long-term security of supply and strengthen the climate resilience of municipalities, water utilities and industry.
NEW WATER brings together 16 partners from Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Germany. Within two transnational pilot actions comprising seven pilot sites in total, different approaches for producing drinkable water are being tested and assessed. These include large-scale centralized systems as well as circular decentralized applications. The project is designed to help stakeholders in North-West Europe to address technological, regulatory, economic, safety-related and societal questions in a systematic way. In addition, training opportunities for water utilities, industry and public authorities, as well as networking and coaching formats are planned to accelerate transfer into practice.
TZW contributes expertise in water microbiology, water chemistry, water treatment, and water quality assessment. Within the project, TZW works closely with KU Leuven to compile and evaluate existing data on the physical, chemical and microbiological parameters of different water sources. In addition, TZW supports further investigations at the pilot sites and the development of targeted monitoring and analysis plans. A key contribution of TZW lies in the application and further development of quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA), which is used to evaluate whether the treatment trains under investigation can achieve water quality that meets drinking water requirements.
Beyond this, TZW supports the pilot partners in sampling and in the analysis of microbial indicators. The resulting assessment parameters are essential for the risk evaluation of the pilot plants and feed into the implementation handbook. TZW also contributes to a framework concept for joint Water Safety Plans and participates in the transnational competence teams. In this way, TZW makes a substantial contribution to the scientifically robust assessment of new water sources and to the transfer of research findings into application-oriented strategies for climate-resilient water supply.
Expected project results include robust monitoring and assessment approaches, a validated implementation handbook, training and exchange formats for relevant stakeholder groups, and an improved basis for the upscaling and large-scale deployment of new water sources in North-West Europe. NEW WATER will thus help to secure the long-term availability of drinkable water, even under conditions of increasing drought events.
