Water2REturn was presented as one of the water initiatives at the SUWANU EUROPE & Water Europe joint workshop about the use of reclaimed water held on 11th December in Zaragoza.

This event, organised by the SUWANU EUROPE consortium, was one of the side events of the 5th EU Water Innovation Conference 2019 (EUWIC). The main focus of this edition was the accelerating action to tackle water pollution and enhance EU preparedness to water-related climate change impacts. This was an initiative organized by the European Commission (EC), with the cooperation of the Government of Aragon, whose purpose is to raise awareness among all water-related agents about the need to urgently face the challenges posed by water governance in the context of climate change.

The different actions carried out in the regions of Europe were presented with the aim of promoting the use of reclaimed water in Europe. Some of them were Andalusia (Spain), Po river basin (Italy), Occitanie (France) and Alentejo (Portugal).

In addition, four water initiatives were presented during the workshop such as FIT4REUSE project focused on innovative, sustainable and safe treatment technologies, and on the use of treated wastewater and desalinated water in agriculture and for aquifer recharge; HYDROUSA project which works to provide innovative solutions for decentralized water scarce areas in terms of water/wastewater treatment and management, which will close the water loops and will also boost their agricultural and energy profile and EIT Food platform, a pan-European consortium that focuses on entrepreneurship and innovation in the food sector.

The last one was Water2REturn presented by its general coordinator Pilar Zapata (Bioazul). She highlighted the technology developed for the wastewater treatment and reuse and how this technology contributes to circular economy.

The workshop finalized with a participatory session where the best strategies to promote the use of reclaimed water in agriculture were discussed. All the attendees could participate using the mentimeter app where everybody made questions to the rest of the audience to discuss. Furthemore, the results of a survey of consumers and the agri-food industry on their perception of the use of reclaimed water in crops were presented. The main conclusions were the consumers are more optimistic about the use of non conventional water resources ompared to the agri-food industry.