In the framework of the symposium on sensors and hydro-environmental software
International Symposium and Exhibition on Hydro-environmental sensors and software (HYDROSENSOFT), held from February 26 to March 1 at the IFEMA-Feria de Madrid, closes its program visiting IMDEA Agua Institute. This symposium, organized by the International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR) brings together users, researchers and developers interested in hydro-environment software and sensors/instrumentation to acquire, analyse and use data for our better understanding of the hydro-environment.
In this context, a visit to the IMDEA Water Institute has been organized to know about some projects such as CIANOALERT, in which an early warning system is being developed to detect blooms of cyanobacteria through an online platform and mobile application, with which to offer a solution to the water sector allowing to alleviate the adverse effects caused by the massive growth of these cyanobacteria in water bodies.
The European project iMETland shows a new generation of microbial electrochemical wetlands for effective decentralized treatment of wastewater, in which a real-scale application of a device (a TIC remote control system ) has been built and validated for the treatment of urban wastewater in small communities with a zero cost in energy while obtaining water free of pathogens for irrigation.
FatePharM project is focused on the irrigation of crops with surface waters contaminated with drugs and trace metals, and it is oriented to determinate the processes of natural attenuation in the soil and the potential risk for food security and the environment, associated with the indirect reuse of polluted surface water in the irrigation of crops. Other project called Filver+ aims a regeneration of waters through a new concept of green filter, which addresses the development of a system that uses the soil as the main agent of secondary and tertiary treatments, to maximize the elimination of nutrients, pathogens and emerging contaminants.
To learn about these projects, pilot plants and some of the laboratories have been visited, such as Geomatic Lab, where methodological development and application of different tools to support water resources management are being carried out, including remote sensing, design and implementation of spatial databases or geodatabases, and hydrological and hydrogeological modelling.
