The DEPURANAT project : sustainable management of wastewater in rural areas

Abstract

The DEPURANATt project received co-financing from the European Union through its interregional cooperation programme, Interreg IIIB Atlantic Arc Programme. This project, coordinated by the Canary Islands Institute of Technology, allowed French, Portuguese and Spanish institutions to work together on sustainable management of wastewater in rural and protected areas. Within the framework of this project, twelve natural wastewater treatment systems have been built or adapted from pre-existing systems in Portugal, Andalusia and the Canary islands. In these systems, a shared ambitious protocol of physical-chemical and microbiological analyses was established, and several studies carried out with respect to the agronomical quality of the effluents and the physiology of the plants. These analytical campaigns also attempted to promote a positive image of these systems to, and in, the rural areas. Moreover, it is important for the target publics to value correctly the possibilities created by regenerated wastewater and vegetal biomass, and thus accept the same as integral methods which contribute to sustainable local development. Several studies relating to social integration were focused, to this end, on measuring people’s acceptance of these systems in their areas, whereas the environmental impact of the systems was determined using an adapted life cycle assessment methodology. The economic analysis of the systems focused on analysing the financial indicators, empirical cost functions, and the potential market for these technologies. Furthermore, maps of potential areas where natural wastewater treatment systems may be implemented have been created. Finally, a support tool for deciding upon the installation of conventional or natural wastewater treatment systems has been designed with the aim of informing at technicians about the most suitable technology to be applied in each situation.