Water reclamation for Schweinfurt
The area around Schweinfurt is a region with traditionally pronounced water scarcity, in which water use conflicts are increasingly occurring due to the effects of climate change. It is representative for many regions in Germany, Europe and other locations that are facing a new water management situation and in which there is an urgent need to explore unconventional solutions. Building on the findings from a previous project (link to feasibility study), the next step in this project is the demonstration in order to investigate the possible implementation of water reclamation as a sustainable and innovative solution under the conditions of real laboratories with high transfer potential.
The project is part of the specific funding program of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with the topic: "Water Technologies: Reuse". The aim is to develop new, highly flexible and needs-based management strategies for water reuse for urban and agricultural irrigation. The specific goals of the project are:
- Elaboration of the prerequisites for a legal implementation for urban and agricultural irrigation practices
- Establishing water quality requirements for different irrigation practices
- Development of contemporary digital approaches for the automated recording, archiving and determination of the irrigation requirement taking into account local and regional data in real time
- Implementation of innovative multi-barrier treatment technologies for the efficient reduction of microbiological and chemical contaminants
- Development of an automated, needs-based provision of advanced treated wastewater including automated systems for quality assurance, taking real-time data into account
- Development of innovative concepts for the implementation of reclaimed water water systems in existing infrastructure (e.g. irrigation systems)
- Conception of adapted operator models and possibilities of technology transfer
- Embedding the project from the start of the project in an interactive stakeholder process and
- Establishment of an innovative public relations platform to present concepts of reclaimed water use to an interested public
Link to the project website: https://www.nutzwasser.org/public/index.html
The project is accompanied by partners from research, public institutions as well as industry partners:
| Project leader | Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörg E. Drewes Prof. Dr. Brigitte Helmreich |
| Researcher | Javad Ahmadi |
| Collaboration | BGS Umweltplanung GmbH |
| Funding | Government of Lower Franconia (RUF), Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) |