QualiSûre

Within the framework of two Interreg GR projects (Emisûre and CoMinGreat ), innovative technologies have already been developed to remove micro-pollutants from the effluent of wastewater treatment plants. It has been investigated at which wastewater treatment plants (on the Luxembourg side of the Sûre River as well as a catchment area in Saarland) these technologies could be most usefully applied, and an initial deployment strategy in the GR has been developed.

The project at a glance

Start date:

01 Feb 2024
Duration in months:

36
Funding:

Interreg Grande Région / Administration de gestion de l'eau
Principal Investigator(s):

Silvia VENDITTI

About

It is the year 2043: the Sûre is one of the cleanest rivers in the Greater Region (GR): It is a bathing water, has a high diversity of aquatic fauna and the almost extinct river pearl mussel has returned in large numbers. The Sûre feeds the Obersauer reservoir, which provides high-quality drinking water. Just utopic thinking? Maybe, but a group of Belgian, German and Luxembourgian wastewater specialists would like to make this vision become reality. Within the framework of two Interreg GR projects (Emisûre and CoMinGreat ), innovative technologies have already been developed to remove micro-pollutants from the effluent of wastewater treatment plants. It has been investigated at which wastewater treatment plants (on the Luxembourg side of the Sûre River as well as a catchment area in Saarland) these technologies could be most usefully applied, and an initial deployment strategy in the GR has been developed. Furthermore, a demonstration and information centre has been established. The planned QualiSûre project goes well beyond these approaches: hot-spots of emissions in the catchment area of the reservoir will be identified and sampled, existing structures will be operationally optimised, and at the identified hot spots – both at the existing wastewater treatment plants and at stormwater or combined sewer overflow structures – soil filters with locally produced special substrates will be installed on pilot scale and their effectiveness evaluated. In addition to micropollutants, other relevant parameters such as nutrients and bacteriological load will be considered. The results will be incorporated into a decision support tool that intelligently distributes wastewater loads within the catchment area and protects sensitive stretches of water. Finally, an action plan for transnational cooperation to keep the Sûre clean will be developed.

Organisation and Partners

Department of Engineering
Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine (FSTM)
Syndicat Intercommunal de Dépollution des Eaux résiduaires du Nord (SIDEN) (Luxembourg)
RTC4Water (Luxembourg)
Centre Belge d'Etude et de Documentation de l'Eau asbl (Cebedeau) (Belgium)
Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) (Luxembourg)
IDELUX Eau (Belgium)
Société Publique de Gestion de l'Eau (SPGE) (Belgium)
University of Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU) (Germany)

Project team

Silvia VENDITTI

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Elaheh FAGHIH NASIRI

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Paula NUNEZ TAFALLA

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Joachim HANSEN

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Jean-David Maennlein

Syndicat Intercommunal de Dépollution des Eaux residuaires du Nord (SIDEN)
Stéphane Nonet

Centre Belge d'Etude et de Documentation de l'Eau (Cebedeau)
Quentin Neulens

IDELUX Eau
Rosalie Pype

SPGE
Prof. Ulrich Dittmer

RTC4Water
Dr. Alex Cornelissen

RTC4Water
Tom Gallé, Lead R&T associate

LIST