Hydrousa
Nature-based solutions implemented to combat water scarcity; an award-winning concept
HYDROUSA goes beyond the current water management practices, adopting regenerative nature-based and biomimicry solutions characterised by low energy and carbon footprint to recover water and other valuable resources. The HYDROUSA concept is materialized by implementing 13 innovations in 3 islands (Mykonos, Tinos, and Lesbos) at six demonstration sites.
HYDROUSA team works intensively in order to develop, integrate, test and validate these solutions, while the local stakeholders are continuously involved, impacting on the design procedure.
Now, we step into the phase of evaluation where the team can bear the fruits of their hard work. As all the demonstration sites are fully operational, the first results show that we can effectively deal with the water demand side through the utilization of non-conventional water resources in agriculture and for domestic use. Specifically, domestic wastewater is treated through anaerobic processes and constructed wetlands, producing reclaimed water that complies with the requirements for unrestricted agricultural irrigation. The recycling of reclaimed water is realized by the irrigation of a 1 ha agroforestry system. In addition, water sources such as rainwater, stormwater and vapour water are valorised as different treatment systems are applied to harvest and store these sources. The analysis confirmed the high quality of recovered water satisfying the needs for the irrigation of different cultivations. In addition, we have achieved the first crop harvest from the cultivations within HYDROUSA.
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