Promotion of Water Reuse Applications: Development of a DST to Facilitate the Selection of the Best Purification Treatment

Limited water availability is a problem of high concern that could lead to severe social and economic crises. To mitigate it, alternative water sources like stormwater, rainwater, greywater, and wastewater effluents offer promising solutions for non-potable uses such as irrigation or service water. However, ensuring the safe reuse of these resources requires compliance with the emerging regulations and guidelines, such as the European Regulation 2020/741, which set strict quality standards. Purification technologies, including UV radiation, adsorption, natural based solutions or advanced oxidation processes are very powerful treatments able to achieve the required quality but it is necessary to explore their combination to find a suitable solution. The LëtzREUSE project aims to develop an innovative decision-support tool (DST) capable of aiding in the selection of the most appropriate technology (or combination) for each situation in a fast and effective way. The DST integrates (a) water characteristics, (b) the new regulatory requirements (c) micropollutants and pathogens as quality standards, d) technological effectiveness as well as e) final user preferences and f) applications to recommend the most suitable treatment methods. The DST development will be based on experiences with real waters from different sources in Luxembourg. The collaboration between the University of Luxembourg and TR-Engineering for this project will allow to evaluate other economical and practical aspects, as well as the user’s needs.