LIFE Conquer celebrated its final event on 29th October in a hybrid format (Murcia and online) to present the main results and learnings. One of the most outstanding milestones of this European project has been the construction and demonstration of a pilot plant that produces and injects more than 140,000 m3 of reclaimed water per year into the irrigation system of Murcia. This represents a 8% reduction of potable water used for urban irrigation.
In addition to obtaining quality reclaimed water for irrigation, the LIFE Conquer technology, developed at Aguas de Murcia’s Zarandona Water Regeneration Plant, has made it possible to obtain 0.4 tonnes per year of bleach for self-consumption from the brine resulting from the process, thus achieving a circular model.
During the closing event, which brought together more than 80 attendees from the water management, irrigation and innovation sector, Eva Mena, Head of Innovation at EMUASA, stressed that the use of reused and reclaimed water responds to the importance of using water efficiently, with environmental responsibility and sustainability. In this sense, she highlighted the importance of this project, awarded as Innovative Project of the Year by the Isaac Peral Association, for the Region of Murcia.
Sonia Matencio, Project Coordinator and Researcher at Cetaqua, highlighted the technical advantages of the technology developed by the technological centre, which allows the separation of nitrates and salts from the treated water while retaining the nutrients necessary for irrigation: “This project has made it possible to demonstrate a membrane technology for the production of regenerated water which use is very little widespread and that offers great improvements in terms of operating costs if we compare it with the most widespread systems.”
Nil Calvet, Operations technician at ACES, explained that, within the framework of the project, the replication of the technology has been studied in different contexts and for different uses, among which are a crop irrigation community or a collector of brines. He stated that “the technology used has great potential for agriculture, industry and domestic uses.”
The meeting also included the participation of Mariano García, Innovation Technician at Aguas de Alicante, who shared experiences regarding the reutilisation of water for urban uses in the Region of Alicante in a presentation. Through projects such as LIFE Conquer, Cetaqua, EMUASA and ACES consolidate their commitment to the sustainable management of water resources, with special focus on the reuse of water for different uses, proposing new R&D&I solutions to ensure sustainability and efficiency of the water cycle taking into account local needs.