A green business award for DESSIN & EYDAP
The Athens Water Supply and Sewerage Company (EYDAP) won a prestigious award for DESSIN increasing the value of the pilot as a high profile showcase. EYDAP participated in the European Business Awards for the Environment (EBAE) and excelled at the National level. The Panhellenic Association of Environmental Protection Enterprises (PASEPPE) together with the EU Representation in Greece awarded EYDAP two prizes for the Athens sewer mining pilot, in two categories: “Products and Services” and “Business and Biodiversity”. The first category refers to the successful placing on the market of a new product or service that makes an outstanding contribution to sustainable development, while the second one refers to a successful business model, management scheme, product and service or international cooperation, which makes a significant contribution to halting biodiversity loss and supporting natural ecosystems.
EYDAP and its partner institutions in DESSIN (NTUA, CHEMITECH and TELINT), promoted the idea of an innovative small footprint sewer mining packaged treatment unit for urban reuse enabled by Advanced Monitoring Infrastructure (AMI) and Decision Support System (DSS). The pilot unit stood out for its demonstration of the use of mobile, distributed wastewater treatment units that can abstract raw wastewater from the sewer mains, treat on site and provide water for a variety of urban uses at the point of demand (including irrigation of urban green spaces). Being a versatile and flexible system, the sewer mining scheme provides ease of use through remote control and operation that meets the consumer needs, while making more efficient use of natural resources. These characteristics provide a perfect grounding for sewer mining to become an excellent alternative water source for highly urbanized, arid areas, while protecting the pressured aquatic systems, thus make it an ideal award winning candidate.
The ceremony took place at the Eugenides Foundation on the 19th of October 2016 in the presence of the Greek Minister of Interior & Administrative Reconstruction, Mr. Panagiotis Kouroublis and the Minister of Environment, Mr. Yannis Tsironis. Overall, 9 companies were awarded, all of them continuously promoting innovation, sustainable development, circular economy and environmental protection in the last 2 years.
The EYDAP team together with NTUA displaying the two prizes in front of the companys stand after the Paseppe awards