Almost 50 people from the DESSIN project participated in the Work Area (WA) 2 & WA3 coordination meeting at the EYDAP – Athens Water Supply and Sewerage Company headquarters in Athens at the 3^rd and 4^th of November.

The combined DESSIN WA2/WA3 meeting was initiated to discuss the progress of the activities in WA2 and WA3, and to define actions and goals for the next months of the project. It was also organised with the intention to give the researchers in WA2 and WA3 the opportunity to meet each other and look for common issues and options for collaboration. Click to read more

On the 11th of August the Emschergenossenschaft, the University of Duisburg-Essen and UFT visited two potential demo sites for the operation of the decentralized water treatment technology, as planned within the project work package 31. The experimental cross-flow lamella settler unit, produced by UFT, will be located in a movable container and will be tested in the Emscher catchment throughout 1 year. The sedimentation efficiency of the technology will be tested at a Combined Sewer Overflow to show its suitability as an additional cleaning facility. Following the demo phase, the container will be transported to Norway and will be tested for another year at the Hoffselva demo site. Click to read more

DESSIN scientist Pere Camprovin from Cetaqua held a presentation at the “Deltas in Times of Climate Change II” Conference that took place in Rotterdam from 24^th to 26^th of September.

During the conference was a workshop named “Creating and managing subsurface water buffers as a solution for fresh water shortage in coastal areas”. The workshop started with an introduction of the potential of water buffering solutions and managed aquifer recharge, showing examples and experiences worldwide.

Click to read more

DESSIN scientist Marta Hernandez held a presentation at the Iberian conference on hydrogeology, which was organized by the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) and took place in Valencia, Spain at the beginning of September. The about 110 attendees consisted of members of the scientific community, students and technicians from the National Geological Survey (IGME institute). The aim of the conference was to meet and share different experiences of the research and demonstration projects on hydrogeology carried out by Spanish researchers.

Click to read more

The Freshwater Blog covers the science, policy and conservation of global freshwater ecosystems, and is run by the EU project “Managing Aquatic Ecosystems And Water Resources Under Multiple Stressors”, short MARS. The project aims to identify and understand how different stressors – for example pollution, water abstraction, and habitat fragmentation – impact freshwater environments, both now and in the future.

Click to read more

On November 3^rd and 4^th there will be a DESSIN meeting in Athens, Greece. Purpose of the meeting is for Work Area 2 and 3 of the project to meet and present, compare and coordinate the ongoing and expected activities in each demonstration site. Furthermore, the ESS framework will be presented in theory and in practice by the expert team of Work Area 1.

Click to read more

A meeting took place to analyse potential links between the European research projects DESSIN and MARSOL to find out how both projects can benefit from possible modes of interaction and therefore creating real added value and synergies.

Managed Aquifer Recharged Solutions, short MARSOL, is another European WATER-INNO-DEMO research project that aims to demonstrate Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) as a sound, safe and sustainable solution to water scarcity and drought. The basic idea is simple: Collect water when there is too much of it and store it for dry times in aquifers. Click to read more

The second meeting between the DESSIN project partners Emschergenossenschaft (EG), the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE), and SEGNO Industry Automation GmbH took place in Essen on the 27th of June. Purpose of the meeting was to report on the progress of work and to clarify details about the implementation of the real time control system for sewer networks (ADESBA).

Click to read more

Dr. ing. Herman Helness is Research Manager at the research institute SINTEF and kindly answered some questions about the DESSIN demo site in Hoffselva, Norway.

1. What is being tested at your test site for DESSIN?

We are testing two innovative solutions for improving water quality in Hoffselva by local treatment of combined sewer overflows: A lamella settler and a high rate filter. The solutions will be automated and in communication with a centralised system to ease operation. The innovations will aid in achieving the goals of the WFD. Click to read more

The aim of the workshop that was organized by FCIHS, the International Centre of Hydrogeology on the 14th May in Barcelona, Spain was to share experiences of joint and coordinated use of surface water and groundwater. The flexible use of surface water and groundwater is typical in arid regions with irregular water resources. The main advantage of this flexible management in the use of sources is a stronger resources warranty and less investment costs in hydraulic infrastructures. At the workshop, some examples were presented, starting with the most relevant cases in Spain located in the Mediterranean coastal area.

Click to read more