EXAMPLES OF CURRENT PROJECTS
Project |01
Project | 01 Sponge City approach
Water management in urban areas is confronted with numerous challenges, whether climatic, environmental or economic. This project proposes to develop a hybrid water management solution for the blueFACTORY district in Fribourg.
The objective of the project is in fact to re-establish a water cycle on the site that is as natural as possible, while valorizing the local "water" resource in multiple ways.
The impacts on the direct environment are thus reduced (discharges to the Sarine river, impacts on the WWTP) and the living environment is significantly improved: mitigation of extreme climatic events, increase in biodiversity, reduction of the urban heat island, better insulation of buildings, local production of foodstuffs, etc. The creation of this decentralized water management district also contributes to limiting the need to build new water drainage infrastructures on a larger scale.
This development will take place through targeted actions according to the Sponge City principle:
- Rehabilitation of an old spring (Source des Pilettes)
- Recovery of old industrial infrastructures (silo, detention pond...)
- Recovery of wastewater (production of fertilizer, compost, energy)
- Recovery of runoff water (reuse, micro-turbine) and grey water (phytodepuration)
- Intensive vegetation (roofs, urban ponds, etc.)
- Plant and animal production (aquaponics)
All of the developments planned in this project will create a particularly innovative and sustainable neighborhood in terms of water management, resilient to climate change. It will also position the blueFACTORY site as a reference and technological model on a 1:1 scale of innovative water management possibilities for potential investors. Such developments will also build bridges between water professionals, research institutes and political actors.
Finally, this project should offer future blueFACTORY residents an innovative solution in a pleasant and sustainable working and living environment.
© blueFACTORY
Project |02
Project | 02 Integrated Water Management
Integrated water resources management (IWRM) or GIRE (gestion intégrée des eaux) in French is at the heart of the activities of the Swiss Water Protection Association (VSA). Integrated water resources management is a priority area of development for the VSA. Clean, living water is essential for the provision of drinking water, irrigation, livestock farming and recreation. In order to achieve this goal, a holistic view of the water cycle is needed, including several disciplines.
In the framework of this IWRM VSA project, the objective is focused on the integrated and dynamic management of the sanitation system. This system specifically includes the sewerage system (R), the wastewater treatment plant (W) and the receiving environment (M). It is also referred to as RSM optimization. These three areas are an integral part of the activities of the VSA's Competence Centers (CC).
This dynamic and integrated management takes into account all sectors of water management at the most coherent spatial and organizational scale possible. This is referred to as the functional scale, which ideally occupies the whole of a hydrological catchment area.
Different examples of integrated RSM, presented on this site, represent a first step. In a second step, tools to promote this integrated management will be proposed through a VSA directive. The PASST-CH tool also allows you to test the potential of a watershed to be managed with a dynamic water management system.
SOME OLD PROJECTS
Project |03
Project | 03 Non-contact measurement techniques for
flow and water quality in sewer system
Flow measurements in sewer systems are particularly difficult to conduct. In fact, the characteristics of the medium (toilet papers and other debris in the flow, important variations during rain events, etc.) requires specifically adapted equipment able to work under difficult conditions (permanent humidity of 100%, corrosive gases, amongst others). Classical flow-measurement devices have been developed and are currently used, but they only are able to provide information on one point, i.e. where the probe is located. In the event of non-standard hydraulic behaviours, which do happen often during rain events in sewer systems, such devices are unable to supply adequate and/or reliable information. Therefore, and in order to avoid such limitations, we propose a video acquisition system to better estimate flow. The Hydropix Monitoring system aims at automating water level and flow measurements based on image analysis.
This project in collaboration with the EPFL-LIB (Biomedical Imaging Group), ETRINEX SA (commercial partner of the project), EAWAG (experimental site) and the City of Lausanne is funded by a 225 KFrs CTI grant. The first application is being applied to combined sewer overflows, which represents a main pollution for our environment. A measuring system for flow measurement has been proposed also for rivers.
Pollutant measurements in sewer systems are also particularly difficult to conduct due to a very harsh environment. “Classical” approaches with autosampler are conventionally used for pollutant identification, but suffer from a lack of resolution in time, delays to get the results and need regular maintenance. New on-line non-contact approaches, HydroSpec, is proposed, as unique solution to solve the actual water quality measurements problems.
The proposed solution has been further developped within the HYDRO-MONITORING start-up.
Developments on the non-contact measruement techniques are on-going (2021)
Project |04
Project | 04 Sources of micropollutants in urban areas
FNS Project Leman21
Mid-sized lakes exemplify several key challenges for sustainable freshwater management during the next century. Increasing population will heighten both drinking water demands and pressure on wastewater treatment, both in terms of emerging micropollutants and with respect to treatment capacity. Expected increases in average temperature and changing precipitation patterns linked to climate change may alter physical, chemical and biological dynamics of the lake and could thus affect future water quality in ways that are still unknown. Increasing recreational use of the lake, changes in catchment land use, the use of thermal energy from the lake and other developments will also impact water quality. The ecosystem and human inhabitants will bear the consequences of these increasing pressures on the lake. Key needed insights into the physical, chemical, microbiological, and ecological dynamics of mid-sized lakes would enable us to anticipate and manage properly these risks.
In this ProDoc, nine research groups, representing four major Swiss research centers, join together in a collaborative proposal to investigate the pollutant dynamics of a mid-sized lake system, Lake Geneva. On a global scale, Lake Geneva is an important case study of a difficult class of mid-sized lakes. Such systems frequently disobey modelling assumptions commonly applied to either smaller lakes or very large water bodies (e.g., oceans or great lakes). By interrogating deeply the (Module 1) water and sedimentation dynamics, (Module 2) catchment micropollutant inputs, (Module 3) micropollutant behavior, and (Module 4) resulting microbial and ecological impacts on Lake Geneva, this project aims to provide the scientific basis that will broadly redefine strategies for risk identification and sustainable management of this class of lakes.
Website of the project Leman21
Published book (see also publications)
Project |05
Project | 05 Removal of micropollutants in wastewater
treatment plant effluents using
Engineered Constructed wetlands (ECW)
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) typically located at the end of the urban water cycle, are designed to eliminate conventional wastes such as dissolved organic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus. Wastewaters are indeed polluted by numerous anthropogenic contaminants, such as pharmaceuticals (anti-inflammatory, anti-epileptics, anti-cancer, X-ray products) and biocides (herbicides, algaecides, wood preservatives), collectively referred to as micropollutants. Anthropogenic contaminants can potentially have adverse effects on the ecosystems of receiving waters even at very low concentrations. Traditional WWTPs are often not able to efficiently degrade micropollutants and result in a small elimination rates. To tackle this problem, we setup a research project aimed at developing alternative methods for wastewater treatment. This research focuses on a promising and innovative technology for supplemental treatment of wastewater, namely engineered subsurface constructed wetlands (ECW).
Classical constructed wetlands (CW) have so far been used for urban wastewater treatment, industrial and storm-water discharges, agricultural nutrients, etc. Thus these are simple systems, using passive natural processes for the degradation of these substances of interest. After the initial installation, constructed wetlands require low-maintenance and low-overhead operations. However, the reliability and efficiency of such systems are not guaranteed to remain stable on a long-term basis. Hence, the classical design approach should be to use over-conservative standards. In this project, we aim at developing a different design paradigm, i.e., to combine into a single ECW both natural processes (as in CW’s) and targeted treatment processes. ECW designed using such an approach will likely to be more efficient and reliable while keeping low maintenance and low operational costs. However, there is still a fundamental lack of detailed knowledge of the factors influencing micropollutant degradation and, ipso facto, the ability to optimize conditions for their effective elimination.
The project through which we are developing a sustainable and modular ECW (i.e., composed of natural and engineered components) for micropollutant elimination, is aimed at (i) improve the understanding of the bio-chemical and physical controls on micropollutant degradation, (ii) develop a detailed, process-based numerical model suitable to account for all the leading chemical, physical and biological processes. Insights gained thereafter are then used to (iii) optimize processes in the ECW for efficient removal of micropollutants.
Such a solution has been proposed (2018) for the City of La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, to treat combined sewer overflows
Project |06
Project | 06 STORM project - Urban wet-weather
impact assessment
The STORM project is dedicated to the management of urban wet-weather discharges. Its objectives are (1) the definition of wet-weather water quality standards, (2) the development of a new procedure for planning protection measures, (3) the definition of new Swiss guidelines and (4) development of a software tool to support the new planning procedure.
A new stochastic model for TSS (Totally Suspended Solids) is proposed to support the conceptual approach (REBEKA II).
The results of the STORM project have been summarized and published by the VSA (Swiss Water Pollution Control Association) as new Swiss guidelines. Research activities aiming at refining the already published guidelines are still going on.
A new technical guideline, including the STORM approach, has been published in 2019 by the Swiss water association, VSA
Project |07
Project | 07 Wat-Urb ? The interaction between architecture
design, urban planning and stormwater in
sustainable urban development
This research project proposes to analyze the influences and consequences of both urban (morphological density) and architectural (exterior building surfaces) choices in relation to urban stormwater flows.
Gathering data in this area would lead to the elaboration of strategies that aim to improve urban quality by integrating water as an important factor at the start of urban planning, as well as establishing key criteria for this process. In turn, these strategies would allow for a reduction in both qualitative and quantitative impacts of urban stormwater in receiving areas. In this way and through an in-depth study of the link between different architectural concepts and the processes of runoff water in an urban context, it will be possible to define sustainable solutions to limit the pollution of stormwater and the risks of flooding, all the while contributing to a quantifiable improvement in the quality of urban areas.
Collaborations with partners to find a potential financial support in this topic, that link environmental and architectural studies, is still active.
NEWS (2021): The VSA has decided to make the Sponge City concept a priority for the coming years. The ideas/themes of the URBIC project will be promoted in this new project.
EXAMPLES OF OLDER PROJECTS
Project | 08 URBIC
The URBIC Project (URban BIocidal produCts) determines and evaluates the sources, pathways and fate of biocidal products in urban areas in order to reduce their environmental impacts
Project | 09 NOVAQUATIS - At-source separation of urine
The NoMix toilets (at-source separation of urine) research project comprises transition scenarios, which allow the integration of the NoMix technology into the current urban wastewater management system although requiring only slight changes in the system.
NEWS (2021): The VUNA technology (urine recovery as fertilizer) will be implemented in the blueFACTORY project !
Project | 10 Water Protection along Railway Tracks
The “Water Protection along Railway Tracks” Project investigates the environmental behaviour of emitted substances by regular train activities to help predict their environmental risks