NaWaTech was an Indo-European collaborative project whose objective was to explore, evaluate and improve the potential, performance and reliability of different water treatment systems to cope with the water shortage in India. The concept on which the NaWaTech project was developed was based on the optimized use of different integrated systems according to the needs and conditions of each of the chosen locations: different nature and degree of contamination of the water flows to be treated, later use pretend to treat treated water, etc. The systems were also integrated into the urban environment, which also contributed to the socio-economic development of the community. This holistic approach helped reduce the ecological footprint of water and the better functioning of the local water cycle, in addition to minimizing the contamination of water sources for intermediate users.

NaWaTech has allowed the exchange of knowledge, technologies, guidelines and tools for the implementation and application of natural water treatment systems as well as qualified service providers, SMEs, research associations and institutional environments that have made it possible to cope with water scarcity in urban areas of India.

OBJECTIVES

– To assess the technical, financial and environmental potential of natural water treatment technologies to cope with water shortages in urbanised areas in India.

– To enhance the natural water treatment systems for the production of recycled water to supplement water sources considering extreme climatic conditions and highly and widely varying pollutions loads (e.g. monsoon floods).

– To disseminate, exploit, and ensure the take-up in practice and mainstreaming of NaWaTech activities and output by key stakeholders (e.g. end-users, SMEs and service providers, decision makers).

– To establish foundations of a long-term cooperation between EU and India in water technologies as part of the Strategic Forum for International Science and Technology Cooperation (SFIC) and to create bridgeheads among research institutions and ensure the take up of the NaWaTech approach in educational curricula.

– To develop technical guidelines, tools and manuals for design, implementation and operation and maintenance, as well as policy briefs.

– To ensure the interest and potential benefit to SMEs by supporting the development of a local market of natural water treatment and storage technologies and by facilitating the local SMEs by organising training and capacity building workshops, as well as by ensuring the participation of local SMEs in the implementation phase of the project itself (learning by doing).

– To create an enabled institutional environment in order to allow the take-up in practice and mainstreaming of the results (e.g. align NaWaTech initiatives with existing urban water plans, strategies and policies).

This project has received funding from the European Union’s 7th Framework Programme under Grant Agreement No 308336. The sole responsibility for the content lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union.

Project Results

NaWaTech has allowed the exchange of knowledge, technologies, guidelines and tools for the implementation and application of natural water treatment systems as well as qualified service providers, SMEs, research associations and institutional environments that have made it possible to cope with water scarcity in urban areas of India.

RESULTS OBTAINED

The project finalised on December 2015, and very valuable results for the sector development in India have been obtained:

– Identification of NaWaTech technical, economical and environmental sustainability criteria, and the high-potential NaWaTechs based on them.

– Assessment of the potential of the NaWaTechs to be integrated in a multi-barrier water management systems for different urban water sources, including an analysis of their technical cost-effectiveness and adaptability according to local conditions and the Indian context.

– Design, implementation, operation and monitorisation of 6 water treatment systems.

– Creation and consolidation of a NaWaTech Community of Practice (NaWaTech CoP) bringing together key stakeholders of waster sector (academia and research, industry (including SMEs), end-users and decision makers (i.e. municipalities), etc.

– EU-India academic and cultural exchange and knowledge transfer by parenting students to carry out joint projects and establishing long-term research collaboration.

– Development of the NaWaKit, that includes all dissemination items produced within the project (project video, technical notes, case studies, policy briefs, etc.).

– Involvement of key stakeholders (SMEs and end-users) through participatory international workshops and seminars.

– Organisation of a Final Conference that took place on April, 21st – 23rd, 2016 in Pune, Maharashtra (India), in which the results from NaWaTech, as well as the other EU-India call projects, were presented.