Reusing Wastewater

 Reusing Wastewater 

"Horizon: the EU research and innovation magazine" had an article on 4 July 2024 by Hellen Massey-Beresford about water reuse and conservation. The title is: "Every last drop: zero-waste water builds water resilience: Reusing wastewater could be the solution to Europe’s growing water scarcity problem." (LINK) the article begins with a discussion about a floating farm that is part of an EU funded project "to investigate ways to address the increasing stress on Europe’s water systems." The author goes on to explain various features of the grant, such as: "experimenting with a low-energy technique to desalinate water from the port for use on the farm, and even a method of purifying the cows’ urine so it can be reused as pure water for the cows to drink and for irrigation and cleaning." 

A number of other European projects involved wastewater including one in Portugal: "In a case study in the Portuguese city of Faro, for instance, the wastewater treatment process recovered impressive amounts of Kaumera, a high-value biopolymer that has good potential for use as a fire retardant for building materials and for soil improvement in agriculture." 

Circularity is one of the principles that the author discusses, and she gives several examples: "The farm is testing out the concept of circularity on a more general level, too. The cows eat grass from Rotterdam’s football stadium and orange peels from supermarket juicing machines and the milk and yoghurts produced are sold to Rotterdam residents. "

Reusing waste water may not be something that most members of the parish can help with on their own, but it is part of a broader effort to improve the environment and to protect God's creation.



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