The Project – rewaise

REWAISE will create a new “smart water ecosystem”, integrating an intelligent digital framework for decentralised water services and decision-making, involving all relevant stakeholders to embrace the true value of water, reducing freshwater and energy use, and recovering nutrients and materials. The results will be a carbon-free, sustainable hydrological cycle in line with the concept of a resilient circular economy.

REWAISE reveals the full value of water for Europe, considering three key components of the economic and social value generated by comprehensive water cycles:

REWAISE will extract the value in water, promoting efficient use and reuse, and also recovering energy and materials inherent in raw and used water streams. This will be achieved by:

Reducing freshwater consumption by over 30% with available alternative water sources
Achieving a zero-carbon water cycle service and generating value from water nutrients and materials
Demonstrating innovative recovery of raw materials, minerals from water desalination and nutrients

REWAISE will also generate value from water, boosting economic activities and service quality, and creating water-centred jobs and business. To achieve this, REWAISE will:

Engage the community in new economic models, creating recurrent activities and jobs
Create new market niches and boost businesses related to the new technologies
Develop a common digital framework to improve decision-making on shared criteria

The project will generate social well-being and value through water, accomplished by:

Developing new governance models that favour policy and regulatory changes
Increasing the sustainability, safety, security and resilience of water systems, to recover from disruption
Demonstrating a carbon-free smart water cycle in nine living labs across three European climate zones

The nine living labs, grouped into 3 hubs (Mediterranean, Atlantic and Continental) will demonstrate real-world technological innovation business models and new governance methods that will contribute to a secure water supply for Europe. The concepts will be scalable and replicable to other municipalities and utilities across Europe and the world, fostering the transition towards resilient and smart water services.

The Skåne Living Lab

With the changing climate, Skåne (Sweden) experiences increasing periods of droughts as well as more heavy rainfall events. To improve this situation, the Skåne Living Lab is part of the European-funded project REWAISE to create new market niches for innovative technologies that support alternative smart water systems.

The proposed decentralised water treatment technologies in the Living Lab are based on a nexus system to optimise the use of drinking water. In an attempt to solve its challenges of water, sewage, and nutrient cycles, the Skåne Living Lab focuses on its urban and industrial water users to capture storm and rainwater to treat effluents to be used for housing and irrigation; to develop a self-sufficient wastewater treatment plan to improve wastewater treatment; and to provide biogas from organic material.