ICRA Projects

The recent EU Research and Innovation agenda for NBS recognizes that nature-based approaches are an essentialcomponent to achieving sustainable development in urban areas. Nature Based Solutions for Water Treatment (NBSWT) and Enhanced Natural Treatment Systems (ENTS) are decentralized approaches that can complement existing centralized infrastructure in urban environments. MULTISOURCE will enable stakeholders to identify multiple sources for local water reuse for a given urban area and promote increased uptake of ENTS and NBSWT and avoiding discharge of water that has not received adequate treatment. MULTISOURCE will demonstrate six recently constructed innovative ENTS pilots, each treating a different pollutant urban water stream. Policy-oriented risk assessment approaches based on intended water reuse will create a basis for the identification of best-fit technologies for a given context. MULTISOURCE will develop tools that enable urban water stakeholders to compare different city-wide scenarios for the increased uptake of ENTS and NBSWT in urban water cycles. The MULTISOURCE approach will be applicable to a wide variety of urban archetypes in order to provide customizable approaches and tailor-made solutions for the large-scale planning, financing, construction, and longterm operations and maintenance of ENTS and NBSWT in any urban water cycle worldwide. To increase urban water stakeholder engagement in planning and implementation of urban NBSWT, water stakeholders in Girona (ES), Lyon (FR), Milan (IT), and Oslo (NO) will co-design, test, and implement the MULTISOURCE approach. MULTISOURCE will generate increased investment in urban NBSWT through the creation of new water-stakeholder informed business models and strategies for leveraging public-private partnerships. MULTISOURCE will improve urban governance and policies for sustainable implementation of urban NBSWT by way of science-informed policy recommendations across different governance frameworks.