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Sabadell

Sabadell

Closing the urban water cycle: urban wastewater reclamation for urban uses

Sabadell

Sabadell

Closing the urban water cycle: urban wastewater reclamation for urban uses
Sabadell

Sabadell

Closing the urban water cycle: urban wastewater reclamation for urban uses

Sabadell

he Sabadell demo-site is located inside the metropolitan area of Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain) and is associated to the Riu Sec wastewater treatment plant, which was partially funded through European Structural Funds.

Regenerated wastewater is currently used for urban purposes in Sabadell, mainly street cleaning and public parks and gardens irrigation but an ambitious wastewater reuse program is planned in the zone. The scheme is to serve various urban uses in the city, commercial areas and golf courses in the region. Authorization for private garden irrigation is under review by the Catalan Water Agency. A separate distribution network has already been constructed.

The tertiary treatment plant has a design capacity of 2500 m3/h (21.9 hm3/yr) and features flat-sheet membrane bioreactors and a disinfection post-step based on UV irradiation and hypochlorite dosing.

Sabadell site will be a demonstration site to show that the reuse scheme is not a threat to public health and environment, and to increase the confidence, mainly of authorities but also of the general public in water reuse. Thus, the following main urban water reuse barriers will be addressed:

  • Human health risk management
  • Network maintenance
  • Environmental sustainability
  • Public perception
  • Governance issues in the urban sector.