Project description

NIAGARA monitors and tackles drinking water pollution, promoting global health and sustainability

NIAGARA is a ground-breaking initiative aligned with HORIZON-CL6-2022-ZEROPOLLUTION-01 that addresses the monitoring of chemical and biological pollution in drinking water at the Drinking Water Treatment Plants (DWTPs) level, new technologies for their removal, their associated potential toxicological effects, and the prediction of their spread and human exposition. Moreover, it also develops a detailed characterization of these solutions and investigations of the overall toxicity, risks and sustainability associated with its future scaling. This way, NIAGARA is an answer to the challenges that DWTPs are facing in the fight against drinking water pollution.

NIAGARA joins the list of initiatives aimed at guaranteeing the safety and quality of the drinking water supply representing an advance in technological terms and a solid commitment to the health and well-being of the population.

Worker performing water quality analysis

Objectives

The overall NIAGARA’S objective is to develop innovative solutions to the challenges faced by DWTPs and integrate all of them into a comprehensive pilot demonstrator (TRL5) allowing DWTPs to: (1) monitor and (2) remove chemical and (3) biological pollution present in European drinking water, as well as (4) manage and minimize the risks associated with their presence.

Location

Cost-effective Manufacture Scheme for
Multi-analyte Biosensors (BWP)

Development of a manufacturing plan for Multi-analyte Biosensors (BWP) designed to monitor chemical and biological water pollutants, specifically targeting Bisphenol A (BPA), H. pylori, imazalil, and ibuprofen/paracetamol.

Eraser

Manufacturing of Immobilized Enzymatic
Degradation System (IEDS)

Design and development of a manufacturing scheme for an Immobilized Enzymatic Degradation System (IEDS) aimed at eliminating chemical pollutants and pathogens from drinking water targeting four emerging pollutants: BPA, H. pylori, imazalil, and ibuprofen/paracetamol.

Checkmark

Validating a Safe and Efficient
Water Disinfection Method

Validation of an efficient and safe disinfection method based on UV/TiO2 photocatalysis with comprehensive consideration of Disinfection By-Products (DBP) associated to our 4-analytes panel.

Company

NIAGARA’s
solutions Upscaling

Demonstrate our solutions at pilot level (TRL5) and their combined use in an innovative IEDS-UV/TiO2 tandem establishing Safety and Sustainability -by-design criteria.

Devices

Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH)
Hydraulic Model Development

Develop a fast and cost-effective hydraulic model based on Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH), utilizing quantifications from our BWP to predict the spread of pollutants and Un-regulated DBPs. This model will be deployed in a real-time preventive risk management strategy within the drinking water distribution network (DWDN) in Valencia, Spain.

Key project info

Calendar
48
Months
Euro
3,6
Millions €
Globe
5
Countries
People
11
Partners

NIAGARA Sustainability pillars

Sustainable development CO2 reduction
Globe Europe Africa

NIAGARA will assess the sustainability of all the processes proposed and all the activities foreseen during its execution through environmental Life Cycle Assessment and Life Cycle Costing.

Globe Europe Africa

The Safe- and Sustainable-by Design (SSbD) approach that will assess alignment with the Do Not Significant Harm Principle since the very beginning of the project until final pilot validation and beyond (commercial upscaling).

Project Workpackages

Project Progress
27%
WP1

Development and validation at lab scale of multi-analyte biosensor…

Leader: ICN2
Month: 1-35

37%
WP2

Development and validation at lab scale of remediation approaches

Leader: ITENE
Month: 1-30

43%
WP3

Technical upscaling and validation at pilot scale

Leader: EMIVASA
Month: 6-48

19%
WP4

Data treatment for real-time monitoring and risk assessment

Leader: AEGIR
Month: 1-36

36%
WP5

Dissemination, communication and exploitation

Leader: KNEIA
Month: 1-48

27%
WP6

Project management and coordination

Leader: ITENE
Month: 1-48

27%