Funding tool: Infrastructures
Project-ID: FTI23-I-001
Project start: 17. Dezember 2024
Project end: 31. Dezember 2029
Funding amount: € 150.452,00

Brief summary:
Water is a valuable resource that can’t be replaced. Several issues regarding humanity such as increasing numbers of inhabitants, on-going trend to urbanization, emerging prosperity etc. contribute to an ever-increasing need for fresh water and rising amounts of waste water to be treated properly. Supply with water from primary sources, e.g. from clean ground water, is already nowadays not secured in many areas worldwide – in terms of quantity as well as water quality. A transition from linear to circular water usage, i.e. upgrading of secondary water streams to drinking water quality, will contribute considerably to solve water scarcity issues. However, considerable technological know-how is needed to build water treatment plants delivering healthy water that is free from any harmful contaminant. The University of Applied Sciences Wr. Neustadt installed the new study program „Cleaner Production & Circular Economies“ that specifically targets the utilization of scarce resources and the transition of our society to a sustainable circular economy. The equipment to be purchased comprises a water treatment facility in pilot plant scale, featuring various treatment steps as necessary when supplying drinking water. It is to be mainly used in courses for teaching, but will be set up modular in order to be flexible enough for application in scientific research tasks, thus deepening collaboration with regional cooperation partners and supporting network activities. The third field of application will be a popular-scientific use case, addressing the background of water scarcity and demonstrating how to obtain potable water from secondary water sources. These activities aim at increasing the awareness in the general public to water-supply topics and also to rise the acceptance of reused water as drinking water. Through innovation, research and education, the University of Applied Sciences in Wr. Neustadt hopes to contribute to the creation of a sustainable future.

Keywords:
Trinkwasserversorgung, Wasser, Kreislaufwirtschaft, Aufbereitung