Last 5th of March, Aqualia (REWAISE project’s coordinator), organised the 3rd Communities of Practice event alongside the Townhall of Salamanca (Spain) and the ULTIMATE project. Salamanca is part of the Continental Hub within REWAISE, and both REWAISE and its sister project ULTIMATE contribute to improve the efficiency and sustainability of the city’s water cycle. This event took place during World Energy Efficiency Day and was mainly focused on Water and Energy, framed on the current context of climate emergency and drought.
Carlos García Carbayo, Mayor of Salamanca, inaugurated the event and was accompanied by Ángel Luis Pérez Buitrago and Víctor Monsalvo García, from Aqualia. The Major highlighted that this initiative is a successful alliance between public and private organisations, which “contributes to add up to the city’s strategy to generate an entrepreneurial ecosystem in Salamanca with a direct impact on the economic and business development”.
In addition, the measures being developed in Salamanca were also outlined to “modernise public services and save water”. Carbayo emphasised, especially, the results of the Active Pressure Management system, developed in collaboration with Aqualia, which increases 16 years of life cycle to pipes, as well as decreasing water loss by regulating the pressure within the network when the demand is lower.
During the event, relevant agents involved in the development and implementation of value chains around water and energy debated over the challenges and opportunities ahead within water management, the water cycle and the bet for biomethane and green hydrogen to materialise an ecological transition for the sector. This way, and without losing sight of other renewable forces, the current challenges as well as future national and international initiatives may be addressed.
After the technical sessions, the attendees made a tour around the Innovation within the Integral Water Cycle Centre (Centro de Innovación en el Ciclo Integral del Agua) located in the Wastewater Treatment Plant of Salamanca. There, researchers are investigating innovative solutions for the generation of renewable hydrogen, biomethane as well as other bio products (bio plastics, fertilisers, etc) from biowaste of the local industries.
During this visit, the advances of different projects were detailed. The national project ECLOSION, for the generation of green hydrogen and biomethane; REWAISE, with 9 Living Labs demonstrating different technologies to achieve value in, from and through water and ULTIMATE, an European project seeking to create economic value and increase sustainability by valorising resources within the water cycle.
