Water Innovation Europe 2020: Post-Conference Key Messages

Under the title ‘A Water-Smart Society For A Post-COVID19 Green Deal’, Water Innovation Europe 2020 concluded with success on the 26th of June. We have compiled the key messages of each session. Have a look at them below:

Session 1: A Water-Smart Society for a successful Post COVID19 Recovery Plan

1. We are all responsible for avoiding any future crises; hence, we all need to experiment, think out of the box, learn and embrace a forward-looking mindset.
2. Technological innovation is critical, if yet a means to an end. Social and financial innovation are also needed. We need new talent, new skills in the water sector, including a more integrated approach to policy design and implementation.

Session 2: A Water-Smart Industry for a Green Deal

1. We are at a stage where the industrial sector is reconsidering its priorities. In the past, water efficiency wasn’t among them but the challenges of water scarcity and the others we face make it necessary to become water efficient. We have now arrived at this point of maturity as a sector.
2. It’s been hundreds of years that we have been taking water for granted. Now we have an abundance of technologies, so what we also need is to share the best available knowledge. With training and education, we can reach much further from what we think it’s possible.

Session 3: A Water-Smart Society to provide healthy food for EU citizens

1. The COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated how vulnerable our food security is and has emphasized the need to make it resilient, considering the international dimension, the length of supply chains and cross-sectoral implications of single-sector actions. The Water – Energy – Food – Ecosystem nexus has become the Water – Energy – Food – Ecosystem – Health nexus showcasing the interdependencies and interlinkages of resources and economic sectors with health, along with the complexity of their interactions.
2. High-tech solutions for efficient food production exist but they are not often accessible by workers on the ground. The biggest part of workers in agriculture are women and they don’t always have access to modern technology. We need to translate these solutions to the right people for better and inclusive water management, rendering the involvement of people and the engagement of stakeholders an absolutely essential part of the process. This is not only about publishing information on a website but about entering into a dialogue, involving everyone, reaching out even to the ones that are not technology-savvy and making communications accessible.

Session 4: A Water-Smart Society for protecting aquatic biodiversity and habitats

1. We need three revolutions: a revolution in understanding, in planning (designing) and in financing. The EU Green Deal is a great opportunity that enables Europe to lead by example the fair and green transition we need. The trillion-dollar investments planned could create strong incentives for overdue public sector reforms and through blended finance bring in the private and financial sectors creativity to the table.
2. Nature-based solutions (NBS) must be part of the EU’s recovery agenda; serving as a bridge between a Water-Smart Society and nature restoration. Provided a well-designed strategy for market creation, besides restoring our ecosystems and increasing systemic resilience, their implementation at scale can generate significant business and employment opportunities. This will require cross-sectoral collaboration and innovative partnerships between public, private and civil society actors.

Session 5: A Water-Smart Society for excellent quality of water

1. Water quality is underestimated and its degradation is affecting society. It endangers economic growth, it harms public health, and it slows us down from reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
2. We need to encourage industries to use new technologies and circular processes. Assessment tools are also needed to evaluate the risks in the course of climate change. There is a need to show how the environment will change in the long run. We need better tools to reduce uncertainty brought by climate change.

Water, Environment and Business for Development launches new Social Network Analysis service

The Water, Environment and Business for Development (WE&B) has launched the Social Network Analysis (SNA) service. The service is focused on the Environmental sector.

Social Network Analysis is the practice of representing networks of people or organisations as graphs and then exploring and analysing these graphs. The resulting graph can reveal patterns of connection among these people or organisations.

According to WE&B, the SNA service can help to identify the key organisations that can lead companies to new business opportunities in different countries or sectors. It can also discover new influential partners, showcase who has the greatest control of information flow in a network of contacts, and gather insights into governance structures in relief situations. 

For more information, click here. 

Germany takes over Council presidency

Germany took over today the six-month presidency of the Council of the EU with the motto “Together for Europe’s recovery”. The German Government is putting the focus of its Presidency on overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic and also expressing its goal of making Europe stronger, more equitable, and more sustainable. 

The Strategic Agenda of the European Council of June 2019 and the European Commission’s adjusted Work Programme form cornerstones of Germany’s programme.

German priorities for the presidency are highlighted below: 

1. Overcoming Covid-19 pandemic; economic and social recovery
2. A stronger and more innovative Europe
3. A fair Europe
4. A sustainable Europe
5. A Europe of security and common values
6. A strong Europe in the world

Germany will work closely with Portugal and Slovenia, which take over the presidency on 1 January and 1 July 2021 respectively. This is the 13th time Germany has held the Council presidency. The last time was in 2007.

Click here to visit the official website. https://www.eu2020.de/eu2020-en

Find more information here.

WEBINAR: Disclosure – a critical foundation for smart water management

The webinar ‘Disclosure – a critical foundation for smart water management’ took place today during Water Innovation Europe 2020. Find below the key messages delivered by the speakers from CDP, Nadya Dedikova – Public Affairs Officer; Andreas Svennefjord – Account Manager Reporter Services; & Jerome Taraska – Account Manager Capital Markets Engagement. 

  45% of companies report that exposure to water-related risks can severely impact their business and almost half of them are anticipating the impact within the next 3 years. The financial value at risk is estimated to be between 188-425 billion US dollars. The analysis also indicates that less than half of respondents regularly meter and monitor the quality of their discharges, while just 12% have set a water pollution reduction goal or target.

 Companies in the food, textile, retail, energy, industrial, chemicals, pharmaceuticals & mining sectors have account for over 70% of the world’s water use and water pollution.

 Increased water stress, flooding and increased water scarcity are identified among the three top risk drivers.

 80% of a product’s impact is determined at the design phase and only 1% of the companies identify opportunities related to designing out pollution.

 The business case to tackle water pollution is clear. Investors and buyers should raise the ambition and tackle water pollution.

Water Innovation Europe Day 5: A Water-Smart Society for excellent quality of water 

The 2020 edition of Water Innovation Europe reached its final day. This year’s edition was held entirely virtually from the 22nd to the 26th of June. Over 400 registered participants attended sessions, meetings, and webinars.

Today’s session, A Water-Smart Society for excellent quality of water, was moderated by Cate Lamb, Global Director, Water Security at CDP. The panel had the participation of Anna-Stiina Heiskanen – President at EURAQUA; Olga Ferrer – Desalination and New Technologies Area Manager at ACCIONA Agua; and Giulio Mandruzzato – CTO Director R&D and Technical departments at SANTEX RIMAR GROUP.

Find the key messages from the session below:

  Water quality is underestimated and its degradation is affecting society. It endangers economic growth, it harms public health, and it slows us down from reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

 We need to encourage industries to use new technologies and circular processes. Assessment tools are also needed to evaluate the risks in the course of climate change. There is a need to show how the environment will change in the long run. We need better tools to reduce uncertainty brought by climate change.

 We don’t have an innovation when it can’t be used, when it can’t make a difference in people’s lives. We need to keep an eye for what’s really needed out there and what are the market needs.

 There is need to integrate new incentive mechanisms beyond the traditional. It’s not only about technological innovation but also about social innovation, policy, and financing.

 It has never been a better moment to tackle water pollution. Technologies are better and regulation is favourable. The European parliament has approved a reuse regulation that is a real move towards a circular economy. Everybody should be part of this transition and for this social aspects need to be considered, too.

Winner of the day: WeCo – Global Water Challenges Award

Last day for Water Innovation Europe 2020 conference and in the context of its fifth and last panel session dedicated to ‘A Water-Smart Society for excellent quality of Water’, Mathilde de Jongh from the European Junior Water Programme (EJWP) revealed the winner of the most innovative water initiative following the Sustainable Development goals.

WeCo is the winner for the Global Water Challenges Awards category. Cécile Dekeuwer, WeCo President received the award and spoke about WeCo’s expertise on recycling on-site the wastewater from public toilets. WeCo public toilets consume only 350 L of water per year, considering 100 daily users. The wastewater produced by toilets with the flush is treated on-site via a biological process and an electrochemical reactor killing the bacteria and clarifying the water, producing drinkable water quality for flushes or watering the plants or cleaning. This patented innovation is the first worldwide to treat and recycle onsite the black water within two hours and a reduced size technology of 2 m3, thus making it viable for a host of application scenarios. The potential savings are huge if one considers that standard public toilet uses around 156,000 litres of water per year

WeCo is a multidisciplinary team of sales, marketing, engineers and industry experts that is creating an innovative, sustainable and autonomous toilet, allowing toilets with a closed water loop to recycle the wastewater on-site. The final aim is to treat- recycle on-site all the waste from the toilets into resources. To learn more about their work, please click here.

Water Innovation Europe Day 4: A Water-Smart Society for protecting aquatic biodiversity and habitats

During the forth day of Water Innovation Europe, the session A Water-Smart Society for protecting aquatic biodiversity and habitats took place, moderated by Monica Altamirano, Program Manager Finance for Adaptive Planning at Deltares. In the panel, we had the participation of Eef Silver, Policy Officer Water and Rivers at Wetlands International; Daniela Galla, Chemical Engineer – Innovation Manager Innovation ENEL at Global Power Generation and Roby Biwer, Member of Bettembourg Municipal Council, European Committee of the Regions.

Read below the key messages discussed during the session:

  Nature-based solutions (NBS) must be part of the EU’s recovery agenda. They can be the bridge of a smart society and the natural world. Besides restoring our biodiversity and ecosystem, they also bring significant business and employment opportunities. NBS will help our resilience.
  The first priority is to avoid further degradation. Technologies are very important and have evolved significantly. What we also need is more knowledge and expertise available for the development of nature-based solutions, as well as to close the gaps between the high level and implementation on the ground.
  Cross-sectorial collaboration is critical. We require innovative collaborations, partnerships with public authorities & civil society. We need to understand what are the interests of different sectors & develop a community of practice.
  The trend of the private sector is to go to more consolidate and cost-effective solutions. There is a big potential for combining nature-based solutions to conventional solutions. It is a good idea to challenge and motivate the private sector to find integrations. It is the interest of everyone and humanity to preserve our environment, and it’s the interest of the private sector to improve efficiency.
  We need three revolutions: one in understanding, one in designing and one in financing. The EU Green Deal is a great opportunity that enables Europe to lead by example the fair and green transition we need.

Tomorrow is the last day of this year’s Water Innovation Europe 2020. Watch our dedicated video on the topic of session 5: A Water-Smart Society for excellent quality of water.

Winner of the day: Deltares- Digital Water Award

Today, we had the pleasure to announce the winner of the Digital Water Award during the Water Innovation Europe 2020 fourth panel session dedicated to ‘A Water-Smart Society for protecting aquatic biodiversity and habitats’. Loic Charpentier from Water Europe presented the winner of the most innovative solution providing digital value to water.

Deltares is the winner of the Digital Water Award for its free Deltares Nitrate App. Joachim Rozemeijer, in charge of subsurface and groundwater quality in Deltares received the award and presented the Nitrate App designed for smartphones so that everyone can measure nitrate levels and share the results. The app scans and analyses nitrate strips, displays the results immediately and gives users the option to share the data. The shared results are displayed immediately in the online Delta Data Viewer. The viewer can put together specific combinations of background maps, measurement information and area properties for each user group.

The Nitrate App makes it possible to analyse surface water and groundwater, to isolate nitrate sources and hot spots, and to test the impact of measures. The app is particularly welcomed by people working professionally with water quality such as farmers, water authorities and water companies. All viewers need is a reference map, nitrate test strips and a smartphone with the free Nitrate App installed. After taking a water sample with the test strip, they scan the result and, if desired, share it. If they have no Internet connection, the app will forward the measurement when they connect to Wi-Fi later.

Deltares is an independent non-profit institute for applied research in the field of water and subsurface. We are convinced that sharing knowledge benefits everybody’s innovative potential. The Deltares mission is as follows: Developing and applying top-level expertise in the area of water, subsurface and infrastructure for people, planet and prosperity. To learn more about its work, please click here.

Water Innovation Europe Day 3: Water-Smart Society to provide healthy food for EU citizens

The digital edition of Water Innovation Europe 2020 had its third day full of activities, from sessions, working group meetings, virtual networking chat rooms, and the Water Europe’s annual general meeting. Today’s session was about a Water-Smart Society to provide healthy food for EU citizens, which was moderated by Chrysi Laspidou, Professor, Alternate Department Head – Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Thessaly.

The panel consisted of Antonia Lorenzo, CEO and R&D Director at BIOAZUL SL; Lesha Witmer, Steering Committee member (advocacy lead) at Women for Water Partnership and Jan-Willem Vosmeer, Global Manager Corporate Social Responsibility at HEINEKEN.

Below, find the key points of the session:

  By 2050, the demand for food will increase by 60%. Currently, 30 and 50% of food is currently lost or wasted and when there is a loss or waste of food, there is loss and waste of water.

 The COVID19 crisis has demonstrated how vulnerable is our system and how we need to make it resilient. The Water-food-energy nexus has become water-food-energy-ecosystem health nexus.

 We need to make visible the amount of water used in agriculture. Consumers are often not aware of the amount of water needed for a product. We all need to be aware, including consumers, public administrators, farmers, companies, about the water needed for food production. Stakeholders’ engagement is an absolutely essential part of the discussion. This is not only about publishing information on a website but about entering into a dialogue, involving people, making the communications accessible.

 High-tech solutions exist but they are not often accessible to the workers of the ground. The biggest amount of workers in agriculture are women and they don’t always have access to modern technology. We need to translate these solutions to the right people for better water management.

 We are very much concerned with how we grow food but not how we process food, how we cook food. We could waste a lot less water. Changing people’s process and cooking habits is very important.

The programme continues tomorrows with the fourth session: A Water-Smart Society for protecting aquatic biodiversity and habitats. Watch the video: 

Winner of the day: Idrica – Water Technology & Infrastructure Award

The winner of the Water Technology & Infrastructure Award was revealed today during the Water Innovation Europe 2020 third panel session dedicated to ‘A Water-Smart Society to provide healthy Food for EU citizens’. Ingrid Keupers from the European Junior Water Proramme (EJWP) presented the winner of the most innovative technology related to all aspects of the water cycle.

Idrica is the winner of the Water Technology & Infrastructure Award for its technological solution GoAigua. Used by 400+ water utilities globally, GoAigua transforms utilities into smarter, more proactive and more resilient entities. GoAigua unifies all digital components of the water utility infrastructure – SCADA, GIS, ERP, AMI/AMR, CMMS, IoT Sensors – into a single utility. Using advanced AI/ML algorithms, GoAigua improves operations, maintenance, asset management, customer experience, and adaptability. The centralized intelligent management enables real-time sense and respond – prioritizing the most important activities.  This innovative solution can provide regulators and public health officials with a new and effective tool to establish social distancing guidelines or anticipate future spikes in hospitalization. By monitoring wastewater networks, water utilities can also implement a large-scale surveillance program.

Idrica is a leading international company that provides a unique differential value based on its experience and knowledge of the sector. Its technological solution GoAigua gathers the success of the digital transformation of Global Omnium, a Spanish company with more than 125 years of experience in water cycle management. To learn more about its work, please click here.

Stay tuned for the announcement of our tomorrow’s Awards winner.