DEMEAU is a three-year EU FP7-funded project to demonstrate promising technologies that tackle emerging pollutants in water and wastewater. DEMEAU provides environmental impact and costs assessments (i.e. life cycle assessment and life cost assessment) and showcases four groups of technologies: managed aquifer recharge, hybrid ceramic membrane filtration, hybrid advanced oxidation and bioassays. The objective of DEMEAU is to demonstrate the suitability and cost-effectiveness of innovative methods and technologies to reduce levels of emerging pollutants in water and wastewater.

Background

The water and wastewater sectors face tremendous challenges to assure safe, cost-effective, and sustainable water supply and sanitation services. Detecting and treating emerging pollutants has become a critical need in these sectors. Innovative technologies could hold the key to solving these challenges. To support the market penetration and broader application of innovative methods and technologies in the water and wastewater sectors, DEMEAU cooperates with relevant policymakers, regulators, and standardisation bodies as well as with technology producers and users on the national and EU level. The DEMEAU consortium consists of 17 members from five EU countries and is led by KWR Watercycle Research (NL).

Project Objective

The objective of DEMEAU is to demonstrate the suitability and cost-effectiveness of innovative methods and technologies to reduce levels of emerging pollutants in water and wastewater. Through its partnership with research institutions and water utilities, DEMEAU creates launching sites for these technologies and addresses barriers to their market implementation. The results from research and practice will be shared within the DEMEAU consortium and beyond, helping to promote innovative methods and technologies in the water and wastewater sectors.

Ecologic Institute's Role in DEMEAU

Ecologic Institute contributes to the dissemination and project management work packages in DEMEAU. These responsibilities include (i) supporting a successful run-time and ensuring final dissemination of project results to all relevant stakeholders, and (ii) facilitating the market deployment and exploitation of the technologies. This entails the choice and design of communication means, based on an understanding of the technology-specific uptake barriers and the most current state of knowledge brokerage.