The Horizon 2020 funded project, NATURE, has been officially launched with the aim to assess different solutions inspired by nature to tackle water pollution in a sustainable way. Coordinated by the Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA-CSIC), NATURE will develop and assess several nature-based solutions, such as conventional and high-end constructed wetlands, river re-naturalization, and restoration of wetlands, to reduce antibiotics, pathogens and antimicrobial resistance.
Over the next 3 years, these nature-based solutions will cover the continuum from urban sources to coastal biota in estuaries to assess the fate of selected pollutants and improve water quality.
IDAEA will assess two state-of-the-art wastewater tertiary treatment constructed wetland configurations: horizontal flow and vertical flow, to evaluate the attenuation of contaminants. IDAEA researchers will also demonstrate that renaturing management of Spanish streams and rivers is of high relevance for reducing the presence of pollutants as well as their impact on aquatic ecosystems.
Overall, the NATURE project will encompass three interconnected phases:
- Experimental phase. Evaluation of the reduction of aquatic pollutants in nature-based solution sites, compared with reference sites.
- Data modelling phase. Identification of several diagnostic indicators for future monitoring.
- Risk assessment phase. Evaluation of the effect of aquatic pollutants on environment and human health, estimating its reduction due to nature-based solution implementation.
The close collaboration among the 6 partners and the unique combination of analytical chemistry, molecular microbiology and ecotoxicology techniques will allow NATURE to achieve its key objective of promoting sustainable and green attenuation of aquatic pollutants.
You can follow the project on Twitter (@Natureproject20) and website https://www.jpiamr.eu/projects/nature/
IDAEA-CSIC Communication
