Dear reader,

Welcome to the fifth edition of the UPWATER newsletter, fresh after the summer break! While our consortium reconnects, shares updates, and tours the Danish pilot site during our general meeting in Denmark, here's a look at what you might have missed. Below, you'll find a roundup of the milestones UPWATER has achieved, ongoing tasks, key announcements about upcoming events, as well as news from our partners and cluster. Dive in to stay informed!

During the last months, the UPWATER project has been prominently featured in several events, highlighting our ongoing contributions to global water management. Below, you will find our efforts regarding UPWATER events, ZeroPollution4Water cluster events (with other projects focusing on groundwater pollution) and an international event. 

1

On June 6, around 100 participants joined our webinar on "Climate Change and Groundwater: Resilience Building and Adaptation Strategies," partner event of the EU Green Week. Co-organized with two other projects from the ZeroPollution4Water Cluster, NINFA and Mar2Protect, the webinar focused on the impacts of climate change on groundwater in the Iberian Peninsula. We thank all speakers and participants for their valuable contributions.

The first Participatory Workshop for the Danish Case Study, that brought together a diverse group of international experts and stakeholders, was successfully held online on June 13th. The focus: "Exploring Preventive Measures to Agricultural Pollution in Groundwater: Knowledge Exchanges between Denmark and Germany.

2

3

At Water Innovation Europe 2024 in Brussels, Prof. Jeff Camkin from TARH and UWA presented the Besós case study, emphasizing the challenges of evidence-informed policymaking. The event strengthened our collaboration within the ZeroPollution4Water Cluster and deepened connections with key stakeholders, including the European Commission.

On July 8, the ZeroPollution4WAter Cluster held its third internal cluster webinar! The focus: innovative treatment technologies for groundwater and drinking water. Read more about this event below.

4

5

Jeff Camkin also presented UPWATER at the 25th Conference of the Islamic World Academy of Sciences (IAS), where he discussed our project's role in addressing the nexus of water, energy, food, and ecosystems. His call to move beyond research toward collective wisdom resonated with attendees. 

On September 11, our on-site stakeholder event in Stengaarden will take place in Denmark, bringing together Danish Regions, Utilities, and regulators to delve into Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) for water treatment. Several EU projects, including UPWATER, Nature, and Multisource will participate. Read more on our project website.

6

UPWATER has made significant progress across multiple tasks. The development of the Ceramic Passive Samplers (CPS) is doing well: CPS have been improved and validated for the monitoring of various contaminants, though challenges remain in calibration and deployment. Refining these methods will be our focus, to ensure their broader application in regulatory practices. We also prepare for upscaling CPS production and market transfer.

Compound specific isotope analysis is also developing well, the method development and validation is still ongoing. Testing the metal uptake by DGTs is finished and the DGTs are being deployed in groundwater.

Pathogens monitoring methods have developed nicely and human viruses have been detected in all our Spanish extraction wells. A paper was published about these findings in Water Research Journal. The monitoring will continue at all sites, and apart from pathogens, it will also include chemical and fysical groundwater parameters, and we will also continue to optimize sensor deployment (for measuring groundwater level and temperature). 

Bio-based mitigation measures have achieved its goals: large removal of nutrients and pharmaceuticals has been achieved by using floating mats and bioelectrochemical wetlands. This forms the basis for building the pilot in the Besos and Athens catchment.

Additionally, we have explored a biofilm approach for pollutant mitigation at derelict dumpsites, but the removal of the target pesticides has not yet reached the desired levels; our efforts in this area are ongoing. We have observed that the iron concentration influences pesticide removal. However, the levels at Stengaarden do not appear to be negatively impacting the process. That said, further increasing the iron concentrations does not seem likely to result in significant improvements of the pesticide removal.

Furthermore, we have been active in stakeholder engagement through expert workshops during the EU Green Week 2024. A catalogue of technological and non-technological measures to prevent groundwater contamination is under development. The Governance and Policy Options report will be submitted in November 2024, with participatory methodologies planned for future workshops.

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

18th International Symposium on Persistent Toxic Substances and Health
14-19 September 2024 | Crete, Greece
The International Symposium on Persistent Toxic Substances and Health (ISPTS), organised by the Technical University of Crete, is the premier event for scientists and experts to discuss the latest research progress and developments in the areas of persistent and emerging contaminants. 

18th Brussels Conference of the European Water Association (EWA)
19 November 2024 | Brussels 
The 18th EWA Brussels conference will discuss the future of the water sector after the European Elections. Learn about the future of European water directives and more and collaborate with a broad network of stakeholders, from policy makers to the end users.

Second ZeroPM Workshop: Achieving Zero Pollution of Persistent and Mobile Substances - Prioritization through Substance Grouping and Risk Assessment
19 & 20 September 2024 | Dessau-Rosslau, Germany
The second ZeroPM workshop, held at the UBA Conference Center in Dessau-Rosslau, Germany, will consider prioritization strategies for the prevention and removal of PMT/vPvM substances, with a particular focus on human exposure via drinking water. 

Winter School 2024
25-26 November 2024 | Porto, Portugal
The H2OforAll Project is organising a co-creation workshop, called “Future Challenges in the Drinking Water Sector – Public Engagement, Communication, and Raising Awareness” as part of the Winter School on Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CECs) and Disinfection By-Products (DBPs): Occurrence, Impact, and Elimination.

Today in the spotlight: Franco Coscia, PhD candidate at the Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA.CSIC) and the University of Barcelona (UB).

"My research focuses on unsteady flow and transport modelling in heterogeneous porous media. The main tasks within my research are the collection and curation of historical data, conceptual and numerical modelling of processes such as flow, solute and heat transport, seawater intrusions, hydromechanics and quantification of water balance management.

Within the UPWATER project, I have carried out field campaigns obtaining data on heads, electrical conductivity and temperature of groundwater using dataloggers. Currently, I am building and calibrating the 3D numerical model of flow and solute transport of the Besòs aquifer. Subsequently, simulations will be carried out of different scenarios related to climate change, aquifer management, and assessing the performance of engineered natural treatment systems designed as mitigation solutions."

3D mesh (model) of the Barcelona Case Study (Besòs aquifer).

The ZP4W Cluster is an initiative that originated from the coalition of seven different water projects, all funded from two Horizon Europe 2022 calls. 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. 

On July 8, UPWATER participated in the third internal webinar of the ZP4W Cluster: 'Treatment technologies in Groundwater and Drinking Water'. During this webinar, a representative from every project presented the objectives, challenges, progress and findings regarding their treatment solutions, aiming to find the gaps and synergies between our seven sister projects and streamline our continuing collaboration. 

Are you a member of the ZP4W Cluster? Or project partner at one of the ZP4W Projects? Then you are welcome to join the last cluster meeting.

Internal meeting 4: September 24th, 2024: Decision Making Tools/Central Knowledge base

We keep you updated about the date and time of these and other ZP4W events via the ZeroPollution4Water website and LinkedIn page of the cluster!

After a successful presentation by our sister project SafeCREW about the Case Study Inventory at the side event of Water Innovation Europe 2024, you can now download the overview of the 32 Case Studies of the ZeroPollution4Water Cluster. All projects focus on drinking water or groundwater contamination and innovative methods to mitigate pollution from these waters.

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.