PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
As a result of the urbanisation process and the impacts of climate change, urban areas in Europe must cope with an increase in demand for drinking water and a rise in extreme weather events such as drought and/or flooding. The collection and re-use of cleaned rainwater for urban green areas replaces the use of drinking water for these purposes, helps prevent local floods and buffers the urban sewerage system, thus preventing harmful overflows.
LIFE GreenLED addresses the issue of drinking water shortages by providing an innovative circular approach to rainwater harvesting, storage, cleaning and application. The project designs, implements and monitors its circular approach in parts of two European cities: Alphen aan den Rijn City Centre (The Netherlands) and Parc Oeste in Madrid (Spain). As each of the demonstration sites has different requirements, regulatory aspects and climate related challenges, the project demonstrates two different scenarios.
LIFE GreenLED tests a combination of Bluebloqs and UltraViolet-C Light-Emitting Diode (UVC LED) technology. BlueBloqs is a nature-based biofiltration and aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) technology, already applied in several documented municipalities in The Netherlands. It will be integrated with a low energy and high efficiency UVC-LED disinfection technology to enhance the safety of the harvested rainwater. The UVC-LED technology has proven functional at laboratory scale and will be upgraded to the flow-level of the BlueBloqs within the project. Together, these technologies create an alternative source of high-quality water suitable for close contact applications in urban areas.
The integration of BlueBloqs and UVC-LED is the main innovation during the first year of the project, after which LIFE GreenLED has a demonstration period of two years, providing evidence for the technology in two different locations and scenarios. The knowledge gained during the project implementation is used to further develop the technology and bring it to market: LIFE GreenLED is potentially a Close to Market project.
OBJECTIVES
The objective of LIFE GreenLED is to implement a circular water management strategy for the harvesting and reuse of rainwater in cities. It aims to remove contaminants to make it the water safe for subsequent use in urban applications with a high risk of human contact (but where the water will not be intentionally ingested, and fit-for-use requirements fall short of those for drinking water).
The specific objectives of LIFE GreenLED are:
1. Prove the technical viability of the GreenLED integrated concept, combining biofiltration, ASR and UV-C LED to provide a safe and reliable source of water suitable for close-contact applications in urban areas.
2. Develop and validate the business case of the combined nature-based/UV-C LED solution for rainwater harvesting and reuse for two market applications with different technical and regulatory requirements at the demonstration sites.
3. Support the wider implementation of the GreenLED solution by developing a roadmap to market uptake, based on a sustainable business model, an optimised system and exploitation plan, considering the forecasts of climate adaptation growth and related markets.
RESULTS
LIFE GreenLED provides efficient rainwater treatment technologies to create a new source of fit-for-purpose water for urban applications, thus reducing potable water consumption and diffuse pollution while reducing flood risk by storing large volumes of rainwater locally. The project has derived benefits, such as additional green areas, increased CO2 sequestration and enhanced biodiversity.
Tangible expected outputs include:
1. Two demonstration sites proving that nature based treatment solutions enhanced by UV-C LED treatment provide a safe and reliable water source of water for urban purposes such as the irrigation of (new) green areas and parks. This includes:
a. The design, construction and operation of two full-scale pilot plants for two years.
b. Approximately 87,000 m3 of rainwater collected and treated for further reuse (40,000 m3 of which is specifically reused to recharge aquifers).
c. 49,500 m2 urban area de-coupled from the urban stormwater collection system and connected to BCWS collection (19,494m2 in Parque Oeste and an estimated 30,000 m2 in Alphen aan den Rijn).
d. Yielding 8,700 m3/year of water free of hydrocarbons, heavy metals, organic pollutants, micro-plastics and pathogens, thus complying with technical and regulatory requirements to replace potable water for irrigation or close-contact applications.
e. Aquifer recharging of 8,000 m3 (infiltration of 16,000 m3 annually).
f. Increased water efficiency (an estimated 20% reduction in drinking water consumption) by treating and storing 10,000 – 15,000 m3/year of rainwater at the demonstration sites.
g. 1,040 kg of added chemicals for disinfection purposes avoided (KPI figure, the text mentions 2,600 kg).
2. Two representative market applications of decentralised rainwater reuse solutions developed and presented.
3. Evidence of the environmental and economic benefits of the innovative process (biofiltration, ASR, UV-C LED) versus conventional water management practices on the demonstration sites collected and reported (through an LCA/LCC analysis).
