The aim of the project is to show how the performance of the urban water cycle can be optimised with respect to the built environment. For that purpose five themes have been identified, two of which, flows and purification, deal with the efficiency of water cycles, while the rest of the themes ? water system, water management and society focus on how efficiency can be increased by means of achieving balance between the UWC and the environment. During the project each partner will carry out studies and concrete pilot projects where new purification and source control technologies as well as innovative uses for existing technologies will be tested.

The project aims at optimising the overall performance of the urban water cycle in the built environment in which it is embedded. Specific attention is paid to the organisational, legal and financial aspects of urban water cycle management in the North Sea region.

Expected Outcomes

A deepened understanding of the performance of the current urban water cycle will combine with new insights on purification technologies and source control measures. Enhanced knowledge of external factors (e.g. climate change) and a lasting international collaboration between urban water cycle managers will result as well.

Activities

The project will consist of five cross-cutting themes. These are flows, purification, water systems, management and society. While the first two focus on efficiency improvement of the water cycle, the other three focus on achieving a balance between the urban water cycle and its environment. Each partner will carry out studies and concrete pilot projects in which new purification and source control technologies as well as innovative uses for existing technologies will be tested within different components of the urban water system. These pilot projects are the building bricks to the optimisation process. The six included pilot projects are: - Ootmarsum (NL): reconstruction of a wastewater treatment plant which currently discharges into a stream with large ecological opportunities; - Hamburg (G): improvement of water quality in three catchments; - Bradford (UK): regeneration projects involving the amenity use of water within the city centre as well as achieving higher water standards and preventing flooding and pollution from combined sewer systems; - Karlebo (DK): construction of an ecological filter and stormwater purification systems, and implementation of alternative ways of handling stormwater; - Fryslân (NL): construction of a self-supporting water cycle on Chameleon Island; onstruction of a wetland zone in interaction with a wastewater treatment plant in Grou; and source control measures in Leeuwarden.

Reported Outcomes

The general aim of this project is to show in practise how to optimise the overall performance of the urban water cycle with respect to the built environment in which it is embedded. Specific attention is paid to the organisational, legal and financial aspects of urban water cycle management in the North Sea region. The work of the project partners has focused on optimisation of the urban water cycle in the different pilot regions. The Water board Regge and Dinkel has made first steps for the construction of a waste water treatment plant. On the building site a pilot installation of a membrane supplier technique has been installed in order to gain practical experience on how this method affects the treatment of the sewage water. A start has also been made with the design of an ecological filter for the plant and a webcam has been installed on-site in order to provide "on air" information on the progress of this activity. The final realisation of the ecological treatment step for the effluent will be in autumn 2007. The city of Hamburg has focused work on improvements of the Bille catchment area. For example, a feasibility study for realisation of a soil filter as a stormwater management solution was carried out and a concept to investigate long term soil filters next to a motorway was developed. For the Marienthal and Isebekkanal catchment areas stormwater disconnection maps were also prepared which will be further used for simulations and senario setups. In addition, Hamburg is looking for a so-called 'technical solution'. Hamburg is discussing a solution with technical filtration instead of a soil filter. The expectation is that technical filters are as efficient as soil filters and need less space, but they will also not be able to treat 100% of the water. To optimise the size respectively to raise the efficiency of a treatment plant discussion started to look for further retention and infiltration areas in catchment. After identifying the pilot test site, the city of Bradfors has also identified different treatment processes to be implemented. Furthermore, the the work regarding the pilot study plant was commissioned and a flood impact assessment has been carried out. A recent development was the decision of Yorkshire Water in 2006 to establish a long term strategic monitoring study of the sewer system within the pilot study plant and this work will complement the work initiated in UWC. The experience gained in UWC has shown that high quality amenity water should not be contaminated with urban run-off during extreme rainfall. In Ootmarsum (Waterboard Regge and Dinkel) the disconnection project was finished. This led immediately to less waste water i.e. rain water and more understanding of the water cycle at the involved inhabitants. The project has had its Final Conference together with the NORIS project on the 12-13th of September 2007 in Amsterdam.