Perfilado de sección

  • SPAIN

    1. It is necessary to take into account that, although it is a fairly restrictive regulation, it will undoubtedly provide confidence to both the end user and the consumer; although it is also true that this greater security will require greater technological investment, since the reliability of the reclamation process will be essential;
    2. If we want to move forward and implement or adapt technologies capable of responding to the required water qualities, it is necessary to  promote R+D+I and, without a doubt, financing in the sector;
    3. It is necessary to draw lessons and share experiences to face other challenges, such as the implementation of the “Risk Management Plan” or the promotion of collaboration, interaction and understanding between the different stakeholders involved;
    4. The correct water reclamation must start from correct prior depuration. In this sense, the involvement of municipalities, control of discharges and control at source are fundamental issues;
    5. Collaboration and administrative simplification are essential for the sector and for the implementation of the new EU Regulation;
    6. Although the use of non-conventional water resources is essential to address water scarcity, it is necessary to continue working and making progress in optimizing water demand in irrigation;
    7. It is essential to carry out good water governance in relation to the different offers (fresh water, underground, desalinated, runoff, reclaimed water), which will imply an ordering of the different uses as well as the responsibilities of the stakeholders involved. Likewise, it is necessary to advance a comprehensive/holistic vision of water;
    8. Within the framework of wastewater depuration, another challenge has been posed with the updating of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (91/271) in which the European Union is currently immersed, not only for what it represents for the wastewater depuration, but for its connectivity with the water reclamation and reuse in agriculture. The modifications that are being proposed will also pose important challenges at the administrative, regulatory-legislative and technological levels; but these modifications must allow continued progress in the water reclamation and reuse in a priority sector, not only in Spain but throughout the Mediterranean area, such as agriculture.
    ITALY
    1. Innovation, research and development as key points in order to avoid the gap between the end of research projects and the development of products or solutions capable of reaching the market. Innovation must be developed in collaboration with companies from the conception stages of the research project proposals;
    2. The necessity to capitalise on the results of research and the transfer of technology to the market, valorising the asset through start-ups or other intermediary figures to obtain products that can be placed on the market (industrialisation of results through patents). The research and innovation ecosystem is aimed at this end: a proactive, interactive and multi-sectoral structure that becomes a system. It is necessary to change the paradigm of knowledge transfer into a constant and penetrating action of valorisation of research results and intellectual assets;
    3. Need to invest in infrastructures and the removal of bureaucratic or regulatory barriers: no market is divorced from the general operating context and the limits to the dissemination of valid research results often come from the too costly effort of 'tailoring' adaptation to infrastructural, regulatory and bureaucratic rigidities. New industrial-type governance and an extensive restructuring of existing infrastructures at the regional and national level are preconditions for achieving the levels of economic efficiency necessary for the development of new industries or the application of new technologies;
    4. There are no 'general' solutions, it is necessary to use several solutions and several water sources at the same time: invest in a broad and diversified portfolio of solutions, offers possibilities to create robust resilience linked to widespread spatial solutions and not simply tied to one major work or technology. It is necessary to increase the quantity and quality of data and guarantee a robust information flow capable of reaching all players in the complex water supply chain, thus avoiding duplication of effort and costs.
    5. It is necessary to decide and operate on the basis of scenarios and results of risk modelling and impacts on the different productive, social and environmental sectors, taking into account the costs/opportunities of NCW integrated to the use of conventional water considering the ecosystem benefits, offered by the environment to productive activities, as well as also those produced by sustainable production cycles while including those variables, which are not part of the simple cost/benefit calculation such as environmental accounting, proper socio-economic analysis and assessment of the resilience margins of all sectors, including the ecosystem itself.