Productive days in Granollers
Meeting Against the Odds
From 20 to 21 October, our DECIRE-WATER consortium gathered in Granollers, close to Barcelona, for its third consortium meeting and the second opportunity for project partners to meet in person. Despite challenging weather conditions with exceptionally heavy rainfalls in the days leading up to the event, the meeting brought together 49 participants from 15 partner organizations for two productive days. The unusual weather events served as a reminder of the challenges posed by climate change and the increasing need for resilient water systems, topics that lie at the core of the DECIRE-WATER project.
The meeting took place at the historic Roca Umbert Arts Factory, originally a textile manufacturing complex with significant water demands for Granollers and negative environmental impacts for the community. The site has undergone an important transformation. Today, the location is widely used for cultural events and community building and therefore provided an inspiring setting for discussions on sustainable and resilient water management.
Aligning Progress and Strengthening Collaboration
The meeting aimed to provide everyone an overview on project achievements to date, align partners on the current project status, and discuss upcoming activities and priorities, concretely the mid-term reporting and review meeting.
📅Day One: Technical Progress Across the Project
After the coordinators’ welcome remarks and the management overview, participants were taken on a journey through the six DECIRE-WATER demonstration sites, exploring ongoing work and key technologies being deployed across Europe. Among the highlights was the introduction of the innovative E. coli sensor, a portable flow cytometer presented through a demonstration video. The device is expected to begin testing at its first demonstration site in the near future. Updates were also provided on several advanced digital solutions currently undergoing testing and validation. The morning concluded with the presentation on sustainability and circularity assessments, offering valuable insights into how the consortium’s innovations are being evaluated from both environmental and socioeconomic perspectives.
As the weather improved and sunshine returned to Granollers, attendees continued their conversations over lunch, taking advantage of the opportunity to strengthen networking between tasks and work packages.
Visiting Demo Site 6 in Granollers
A highlight of the meeting was the visit to Demo Site 6 at Can Cabanyes, located along the Congost River. The visit began at the headquarters of our partner Consorci Besòs Tordera with an introduction to their role in regional water management and an overview of the demonstration site’s objectives and ongoing activities.
The partners then had the opportunity to visit the Can Cabanyes constructed wetlands, where they learned how the large-scale water regeneration system contributes to urban water resilience, ecosystem restoration and biodiversity enhancement along the Congost River. The site demonstrates how nature-based solutions can support sustainable water reuse while delivering additional environmental benefits.
The visit continued at the La Garriga Wastewater Treatment Plant, where partners explored an experimental agronomic platform established within the framework of DECIRE-WATER. Researchers are currently investigating the response of local crops, including beans and kohlrabi, to the use of reclaimed water under different drought scenarios. The objective is to better understand future agricultural water requirements and to assess the potential of reclaimed water to support agricultural production. Participants also visited the NatuREU experimental platform, a pilot facility consisting of three basins that replicate the functioning of constructed wetlands and currently supports additional research on innovative water reuse technologies.
📅Day Two: From Innovation to Impact
The second day focused on the project’s non-technical activities that aim to support the transfer of the developped solutions to the market. A major activity was the interactive exploitation workshop, led by our partner Steinbeis, dedicated to advancing four of the project’s Key Exploitable Results. Discussions were structured around the Value Proposition Canvas, to better understand potential user groups, customer needs and market opportunities.
Another session focused on stakeholder engagement activities. Our partner VDI/VDE invited the partners to share experiences from the first round of stakeholder workshops conducted across the demonstration sites. Furthermore, approaches and challenges for the next phase of engagement were discussed in this plenary session. The day concluded with valuable feedback from three attending members of the project’s Advisory Board, followed by a live demonstration of the DECIRE-WATER web application on urban drainage systems.
Looking Ahead
Beyond the formal agenda, the meeting was characterised by productive exchanges, inspiring discussions and a strong commitment to the project’s shared vision. A special thanks goes to the organising team and our hosts from CBT and UPC for the excellent preparation and warm welcome in Granollers.The consortium is already looking forward to seeing everyone again in just under a year, this time at our partner’s location in Greece.
Author: A. Erk, CBT