The I-ReWater project is studying its 15 pilot projects using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. The aim is to compare the environmental impact of irrigation with water from natural sources with fertigation using reclaimed water, a nutrient-rich water resource that reduces the use of agrochemicals and promotes more efficient and sustainable agriculture.
After the first few months of work, inventory data has already been collected from several pilot projects in conventional settings such as the vineyard of the Institute of Vine and Wine Sciences, the hop crops of the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) and HOPEN, the olive groves managed by AMAYA and the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), and the almond grove of the Institute for Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA). This data allows the environmental impacts of each pilot to be established.
Results in the ICVV vineyard
The initial results of the LCA for the ICVV vineyard reveal that irrigation with reclaimed water has a lower environmental impact in all categories evaluated, reinforcing the project’s initial hypotheses.
This analysis compared the specific treatment of reclaimed water with conventional wastewater treatment, showing that the regeneration process itself is the component that contributes most to the overall environmental profile. This result highlights the close relationship between the energy consumption associated with the regeneration technology used and the final environmental impact.
The CRETUS team at the USC is responsible for carrying out the environmental sustainability analyses of the 15 I-ReWater pilot projects. Adrián Agraso Otero’s poster with the results of the LCA analysis for the ICVV vineyard pilot project was recognised as the best poster at the REUSE EUROMED 2024 conference.
Read the full scientific article here: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/15/5/536