Dear reader,

Welcome to the first newsletter of UPWATER! As an important stakeholder in the field of water (management) or as an interested party, we wish to inform you about the progress and interesting findings and insights of the project. Curious? Find out more about UPWATER below.

In 2023, we've already marked two significant milestones, and we're gearing up to achieve two more by the end of this month. Curious to read about our project partners and their ongoing initiatives? Visit our website!

Management platform where project partners can effectively collaborate, monitor progress, and share results is operative.

Monitoring plan for all groundwater contaminants that are of concern in the three case studies has been developed.

Data and cloud platform for sharing all data generated within the project. With project partners, but also with stakeholders and the public in general.

Sampling training sessions to deploy novel sampling devices and procedures. Information about our sampling methods will soon be available on our website.

UPWATER stands for: Understanding groundwater Pollution to protect and enhance
WATER quality. This project will offer tools and strategies to safely introduce contaminated-free recharge water into aquifers. Involving stakeholders, water agencies, and policymakers through co-creation spaces that include public participation will help gain social acceptance and appreciation for the solutions offered in this project. Additionally, the project aims to raise public awareness about the benefits of engineered natural treatment systems for improving water quality. It will provide evidence, models, and methods that can inform regulatory and governance decisions.

In UPWATER, the work of our project partners unfolds across multiple fronts. From promising technological advancements, like the success of floating wetlands in the removal of ammonium and (organic) contaminants of emerging concern, to the imminent release of a User Guide for the UPWATER Cloud Ecosystem. This is an online data platform for sharing all data generated within the project. Both with project partners, and with stakeholders and the public in general. Meanwhile, exciting developments are reported in the case studies at Barcelona, Stengaarden and Athens. For example, in Barcelona, the first sampler campaign took place, in Stengaarden, the entire pilot plant involving Moving bed biofilm reactors (a nature-based solution to remove pollutants from groundwater) is operating and in Athens, the baseline for the case study site is being prepared and set up. Additionally, environmental risk assessment and management is being planned, and the scope of this research is being clarified. Furthermore, we're actively collaborating with stakeholders in the water sector. Initial events include a focus group for policy makers, a webinar for a broader stakeholder network, and on-site participatory workshops.

Want to stay updated on all our activities? Follow UPWATER on LinkedIn!

Today in the spotlight: Clara Laguna Marin, PhD Student in Environmental Pollution and Nature-Based Solutions at IDAEA-CSIC.

"Currently, I'm working on different lab scale experiments in relation to the biobased mitigation measures of the Upwater project. The experiments aim to test the efficiency of two types of constructed wetlands - floating root mats and bioelectrochemical wetlands - in removing organic persistent contaminants from wastewater treatment plant effluent. The two types of wetlands have already been tested separately and we are currently working on a lab scale combined setup."

The ZeroPollution4Water Cluster is a new-born initiative that originated from the coalition of seven different water projects, all funded by the EU. The cluster aims at creating further collaboration and synergy between the sister project, developing co-operation actions with other projects running and future projects and other initiatives, such as co-funded and co-programmed partnerships. Currently, the ZP4W Cluster is working on a website and LinkedIn page, to plan events, communicate our projects progress and share interesting findings.

UPwater is an EU Horizon project. It focusses on Understanding groundwater Pollution to protect
and enhance WATERquality. Read more about the project and our project partners on our website.