Project Steering Board Meeting at KWR premises

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19 May, 2014 to 20 May, 2014
KWR premises, Niewegein, the Netherlands

The second annual Project Steering Board meeting of the FP7 project DEMEAU took place on May 19th and 20th at the premises of KWR Watercycle Research Institute in Nieuwegein, the Netherlands. Project coordinator Theo van den Hoven welcomed the DEMEAU project members with a brief introduction of KWR, its services and activities and the scope and objectives of DEMEAU. Subsequently, the Work Area (WA) leaders had the opportunity to give a summarising overview of their work progress. As the project deals with different technologies, the goal of this meeting was also to encourage further exchange of knowledge and experiences, and to search for collaboration opportunities.

Following the introduction of Theo van den Hoven, appointed speakers from the work areas (WAs) gave detailed input on the conducted tasks:

  • Mariona Miret and Ester Vilanova (both Amphos 21) presented the work of WA 1 on Managed Aquifer Recharge with focus on the development of a decision matrix for assessment of trace organics' removal in the subsurface. The decision matrix supports the selection of a system design when a new Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) system is installed. Christoph Sprenger (KWB) presented the influence of MAR application on native groundwater quality, with experiences from Berlin.
  • WA 2 on Hybrid Ceramic Membranes was represented by Andreas Nahrstedt (IWW). He presented work on Artificial Neural net Control System (ANCS). The system is currently trained at the WAG Nordeifel with the purpose to automate the decision for the use of the fourth treatment step.
  • For WA 3 on Advanced Oxidation Processes, Marc Bourgin (Eawag) shed light into the elimination of micropollutants during ozone and ozone/H2O2 treatment of drinking water. He presented first results for the new pilot reactor installed at Zurich Waterworks and a comparison with results of a PROMIX reactor. Roberta Hofmann-Caris (KWR) presented research results on the creation of possible mutagenic byproducts for different UV and UV/H2O2 process conditions. Their occurrence was tested with the Ames fluctuation assay (for more information read the newsstory).
  • Research on bioassays in WA 4 and in particular on their regulatory acceptance was presented by Rosa Sjerps (KWR) and Cornelia Kienle (Eawag). They concluded that in vitro bioassays have been in use for prediction of human health hazards for food safety concerns or in chemical regulations. The approval for drinking water will be the next step. Bioassays are currently tested with samples from AOPs. These samples may contain compounds that result in oxidative stress in the used bioassays, as Merijn Schriks (KWR) reported.
  • For WA 5, Miranda Pieron (KWR) presented results from the analysis on drivers and barriers for technology implementation. For the assessment, relevant stakeholders for the different technologies and countries have been conducted (for more information read the newsstory).
  • Ulf Stein (Ecologic Institute) illustrated for WA 6 the external communication and dissemination of DEMEAU, which will play an important role in achieving the project’s overall goal. As an example he illustrated how social media can help to increase awareness and appreciation for the need, potential and effective fits of DEMEAU technologies in the water sector.

Visit to PWN SIX-ceramac® plant
During the afternoon, the DEMEAU project team visited the newly developed CeraMac® plant of water company PWN in Andijk. The development of this innovative technology and an introduction to the full scale ceramic membrane drinking water treatment system was given by Gilbert Galjaard, Director of R&D at PWN Technologies. Afterwards, a tour through the plant was organized and offered by PWN to the DEMEAU partners, giving them insight into the technologies developed and applied by PWN.

On the second day, firstly the Work Area leaders met to organise the follow-up of the meeting. In the plenary, Ruediger Wolter (German Federal Environment Agency) and Frederic Leusch (Griffith University) gave feedback to the project work in their function as members of the Project Advisory Committee (PAC). The PAC suggested emphasising the bigger picture of the project in order to improve communication to laypeople with a storyline that has been developed within the project. The 18 months report was approved without any objections by the plenary. Evelyn Lukat (Ecologic) presented the forthcoming dissemination activities for the project. She emphasised the importance of the utility events for the project.

After the plenary meeting, working group meetings were organised. As many WA’s do not regularly have the opportunity to have face to face meetings due to the geographic spread of the participants, many meetings within and across WAs took place. This is of special importance for WA 5 who elaborates on Life Cycle Costing and Analysis for the different technologies. This work will result in unique selling propositions for the DEMEAU technologies.

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Sites and Institutions: 

Ecologic Institute
KWR Watercycle Research Institute B.V. (Coordinator)
KWB – Kompetenzzentrum Wasser Berlin
IWW Water Center Muelheim Ruhr
CETaqua (Water Technology Center)
Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz (FHNW)
EAWAG: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology
Veolia Environnement Research & Innovation (VERI)
RWB Water Services
Van Remmen UV Techniek
AMPHOS 21 Consulting S.L.
SIGRIST PHOTOMETER AG (Sigrist)
BioDetection Systems b.v (BDS)
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PWN

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