Costa Brava (ES)

About

Costa Brava is a region in Catalonia, Spain, that provides water to 634 municipalities and 6.5 million people through a consortium called CACBGi, which manages the entire water cycle. The region is divided into two systems (north and south), and is affected by climate change, leading to severe droughts, temperature increases, and salinisation of aquifers. The population increases significantly in the summer due to tourism. CACBGi aims to transition to a circular-based economy in water cycle management and has been reclaiming treated effluents since 1989 for agricultural irrigation, urban services, and environmental uses. The region aims to extend the use of reclaimed water to more sensitive uses such as indirect potable reuse through aquifer recharge, as part of Catalonia's plan to triple the amount of reclaimed water in the next four years.

In Costa Brava, Spain, RECREATE will undertake:

• Monitoring and digitalisation of current wastewater reclamation plants to determine the risk associated for the right use proposed (irrigation, aquifer recharge for IPRS,
  urban uses) (ICRA). 
• Development and implementation of soft sensors for monitoring compounds not usually measured online (like THMs) which could be linked to higher risk perception by social actors (EUT). 
• Monitoring and evaluation of novel desalination process based on novel membrane systems for low-energy consumption at pilot scale with different configurations. 
• Simulation of desalination treatment systems for cost efficiency improvement based on historical data and bench scale tests (EUT). 
• Digitalisation and simulation of the water quantity and quality available from alternative sources.
• Consolidation of the current infrastructures used for AWR. 
• Tests and stress test of current infrastructures under climate change impact (based on SUGGEREIX initial data). 
• Implementation of strategies for stakeholder engagement.