THE MAGAZINE FOR THE DRAINAGE,WATER &WASTEWATER INDUSTRIES
SPECIAL FEATURE
profitable, socially responsible and environmentally friendly industry, withwater at its centre. The outcomewill significantly enhance the recovery and use of resources, enablingmore sustainable socio- economic developmentwith better strengthened resilience to climate change. ProfessorNavMustafee,Associate Professor ofAnalytics and the DeputyDirector of theCentre for Simulation,Analytics andModelling (CSAM), said:“Our projectwill employ hybrid computermodelling and simulation techniques, such as, the combined application of System DynamicswithAgent-based andDiscrete-event simulation, tomodel recycling strategies that take into consideration the different systemic inter-linkages existing inwater-smart systems”. Prof SlobodanDjordjevic andDrMehdi Khoury at theCentre forWater Systems (CWS)will also contribute their expertise inwater research and data sciences
toULTIMATE.TheUniversity of Exeter’s role in the new partnershipwill be assembling, developing and demonstrating a set of transversal tools to supportWSIS decisionmaking.Wewill identify symbiotic opportunities, improve the design and operation of symbiotic schemes and assess theirmedium- and long-term performancewithin a dynamic socio-economic and business environment. Several other schemeswill be conducted as part of the project. TheAretusaConsortiumin Italy, treating residueswaters fromtwo communities inTuscany, has an ambitious vision to increase its annual water process capacity from3 to 4million cubicmetres,while famous
Glenmorangiewhiskey distillery in Scotland is another partner that takes part in the
pilot.The aimis to extract up to 800mg/L ammonia for usage as fertiliser and to recover heat for use in the distillery processes.
Another demo case is the horticulture development areaNieuw Prinsenland in
theNetherlands.At this site excess heat during summer is stored and reused to cover the greenhouse heat demand during the wintertime. Furthermore, the project aims to reuse thewater and nutrients after treatment of thewastewater to remove pesticides and plant
pathogens.The goal is to achieve zerowastewater discharge. All these approaches promise benefits such as lower costs aswell as newtypes of revenues, by exploitingwastemanagement: not only because it is a legal obligation but because it offers business
opportunities.The EuropeanCommission has long recognised this potential and adopted the newCircular EconomyAction Plan, one of themain building blocks of the EuropeanGreenDeal, Europe’s new agenda for sustainable growth. “ULTIMATE is a 4-yearHorizon2020 project under the EUWater in the Context of theCircular Economy programme”, says senior researcher Gerard van den Berg, coordinator of theULTIMATE project fromKWR Water Research Institute in
theNetherlands.Van den Berg explains that “We havemobilised a strong partnership ofwater utilities, industry, technology providers, business developers and applied research institutes.We aimto create economic and sustainability value by valorising resources fromthewater cycle.”
“Don’t kick tyre pollution scandal down the road,”experts warn A
newGovernment-backed study pointing to the huge volumes of tyremicroplastics being shed all along the UK’smotorways
and trunk roadsmust prompt urgent action to protect rivers and seawaters at pollution hotspots, experts havewarned. TheUniversity of Portsmouth report, published by theDepartment for Environment, Food and RuralAffairs (DEFRA) onMay 27, is the first to provide real-world evidence that plastic particles fromtyres in road runoffcould be contaminating up to 100million squaremetres of the UK's river network and 50million squaremetres of estuarine and coastalwaters. Sustainable drainage systems can stop tyre particles, and the poisonous contaminants that stick to them, frombeingwashed into sensitivewater environmentswhen it
rains.The report’s call for follow- up studiesmust not delay action to tackle a known and serious threat to ourwater environment,warns SDSwater quality specialist Jo Bradley. Jo Bradley spentmore than 20 yearsworking in pollution prevention in urban drainage for the EnvironmentAgency,most recently specialising in road runoffand pollution fromhighway outfalls. She joined SDS as specialist advisor onwater quality in 2017. Jo Bradley comments:“Tyremicroplastics are an overlooked and widespread pollution scandal that should surprise no-one. Previous studies havewidelymodelled the pollution; common sense even tells us all that tyrewearmust end up somewhere. “Deframust not nowkick a very dirty can down the road just because the report calls formoremeasurement and study of pollution pathways. Known pollution is being consistently neglected, particularly
FOLLOW US
Whenever it rains tyre microplastics are suspended alongwith other harmful pollutants in road runoff.
in high-trafficmotorway and trunk road‘hotspots’in England. “There is ample evidence that aquatic species and birds ingest microplastics, but it’s not just the plastics that are damaging. The polluting particles emitted by tyres, brakes and exhaust fumes include copper, zinc and PolycyclicAromaticHydrocarbons (PAHs), particularly benzo[a]pyrenewhich is classed as a‘Substance ofVeryHighConcern’ under the REACHregulations. “Every time it rains thesemutagenic, carcinogenic, bio-accumulative chemicals are being discharged, often in excess of the Environmental Quality Standards, via highway drainage
outfalls.They bind to sediment that also silts and chokes the rivers, and somemetals dissolve in the surfacewater.
July 2020 | drain TRADER 49
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