Talavera leads the way on water reusage projects
The latest of these aims to study the use of reclaimed water for agriculture
Speaking at a State of the City debate on 20 May, the mayor of Talavera de la Reina, Tita García Élez, announced that her Government team has managed to secure a new European project called ‘Life Phoenix’. It concerns the reuse of wastewater for agricultural purposes, and it was stated that it will once again place and consolidate Talavera at the forefront in water management and purification. The project counts with an investment of 3.3 million euros.
Water management projects designed for Mediterranean arid regions
The mayor reported that with this new project, led by Aqualia water supply company, Talavera is ahead of compliance with the European Directive on water management, as it is based on the study of “innovative and sustainable treatments” for the agricultural reuse of wastewater, through a process that recovers 90 percent of the nutrients.
The LIFE PHOENIX project’s main objective is to obtain reclaimed water from the secondary effluent of a treatment plant while eliminating microplastics (MPs) and contaminants of emerging concern (CECs).
Among its other stated general objectives are the development of a decision support system to ensure the adaptability of tertiary treatments to each specific case, ensuring water quality through online monitoring of certain parameters, reducing the costs of tertiary treatments and promoting the replication, transferability and market launch of technologies.
The mayor also referred to the fact that the construction of the facilities for the development of the ‘Life Intext’ project at the Talavera Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) is very advanced. And now this will be supplemented with the addition of ‘Life Phoenix’.
Talavera de la Reina participates in the second project together with the towns of Almería, Almonte and the neighbouring country of Portugal, which altogether represents “an investment in the city of 6 million euros in less than two years”, in the words of Tita García Élez.
She also stressed that this important project not only places the city on the map of sustainability and the circular economy, but it also represents an incentive for the generation of economy and employment.