Project overview
Nature project will assess the effectiveness of using NBS to reduce aquatic pollutants.
The aim of the NATURE project is to provide scientific evidence about the use of nature-based solutions for water treatment at the catchment scale. These solutions are useful for reducing pollutants in aquatic ecosystems, so they will be implement ed to attenuate the ecotoxicological effect of anthropogenically-impacted water. This project will address, for the first time, a holistic assessment of several conventional and novel nature-based solutions to reduce the impact of antibiotics, antimicrobial resistance and pathogens, on water quality.
An array of nature-based solutions, including conventional and highend constructed wetlands, river re-naturalization, and restoration of wetlands will cover the aquatic ecosystems from urban sources to coastal biota in e stuaries. It is by enabling technologies and providing scientific knowledge that the NATURE project will contribute to the European Green Deal. The NATURE project will encompass three interconnected phases:
1. Experimental phase.
Evaluation of the reduction of aquatic pollutants in nature-based solution sites, compared with reference sites.
2. Data modelling phase.
Identification some diagnostic indicators, which are parameters of the first phase, for future monitoring.
3. Risk assessment phase.
Evaluation of the effect of aquatic pollutants on environment and human health, estimating their reduction due to the implementation of naturebased solutions.
Objectives
The NATURE project establishes six specific objectives
1. Optimize and evaluate secondary and tertiary wastewater treatment nature-based solutions to reduce selected aquatic pollutants.
2. Assess different water management nature-based solutions in river basins to reduce aquatic pollutants.
3. Monitor the transformation by-products of selected pollutants, scarcely studied so far in nature-based solutions.
4. Develop and apply modelling tools that integrate and evaluate data generated from the assessment of nature-based solutions with the aim to obtain diagnostic indicators.
5. Estimate the reduction of the impact of selected pollutants on the environment and human health due to nature-based solution implementation.
6. Develop communication and education measures to highlight the potential of nature-based solutions.
