The I-ReWater project consortium, coordinated by Prof. Javier J. Cancela, will organise the next edition 2026 of the Euro-Mediterranean Conference on Wastewater Reuse (REUSE EUROMED 2026). This scientific event is dedicated to the reuse of reclaimed urban water in the Mediterranean and Europe, focusing on the multiple uses related to the reuse of treated wastewater and non-conventional water at various scales. The initial plan is for the event to take place in mid-2026 at a location to be announced in the coming weeks.
REUSE EUROMED 2026 will again bring together researchers, water professionals, policy makers and experts to share experiences and views on water reuse in Europe, including success stories, failure analysis, perspectives and methodological approaches related to the design, implementation and evaluation of reuse projects.
The application to be the new hosts of the forum was formally made during the last edition held in Montpellier (France), which was attended by the I-ReWater consortium to advance the results of the first ten months of work of this applied research. During the presentation, Javier J. Cancela presented the methodology for the elaboration of the future ‘Strategy for the Use of Regenerated Water in Irrigation for the SUDOE area’ and explained the tests carried out in several of the fifteen pilots located in Spain, Portugal and France, accompanied by several partners. In addition, the poster with the results of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study of the pilot carried out in La Rioja received the award for best poster of REUSE EUROMED 2024.
‘The commissioning of the I-ReWater consortium to organise REUSE EUROMED demonstrates the relevance of the work we have done in 2024. This event in two years‘ time will also allow us to present the main milestones and results we will obtain, as well as the presentation of the I-ReWater Hub at national and European level,’ said Javier J. Cancela.
Water management adapted to climate change
The objective of the project ‘I-ReWater. Sustainable management of water resources in irrigated agriculture in the SUDOE area’ is to integrate the use of reclaimed urban water in agricultural crops, taking into account environmental aspects that ensure its proper use due to the current climate crisis. It was approved during the first Interreg SUDOE 2021-2027 call for proposals and has a budget of more than €2.2M, 75% financed by the ERDF Fund.
ICT plays an important role in this research. In the 15 pilot actions planned in woody crops (hops, olive, vineyard and almond) and horticultural crops (tomato and watermelon), all fertigation systems will incorporate low-cost sensors at soil and plant level that will allow real-time interpretation of parameters such as climatic conditions, temperature, amount of water in the soil or plant nutrients.
This decision support system (DSS) will be replicated at user level, allowing the farmer to know when and how much to irrigate and, at the same time, to move towards a more efficient and sustainable agriculture in line with the circular economy. In addition, awareness-raising and open days will be organised in all the pilots, among other dissemination actions, to promote knowledge of I-ReWater’s research and the advantages of using reclaimed water in agriculture.
In parallel to the implementation of the pilot actions, the I-ReWater consortium is analysing the current state of water resources in the SUDOE area, with a special focus on the use of reclaimed water in irrigated agriculture, as well as the effects on crop production and quality, in order to promote resilience and water security.
In the final part of this research, the ‘Strategy for the Use of Reclaimed Water in Irrigation for the SUDOE area’ will be presented and the overall results obtained will be available in a freely accessible Knowledge Hub.
Consortium
The I-ReWater consortium is made up of 16 leading entities in their sector in the SUDOE area, as the region formed by the Iberian Peninsula, the Principality of Andorra and the South of France is called.
The Polytechnic School of Engineering of the Campus Terra of the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), leads this project, in which also participate: HOPEN – Terre de Houblon; Instituto de Ciencias de la Vid y el Vino (ICVV); Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e Veterinária (INIAV, IP); Fundación Juana de Vega; Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro; Instituto Politécnico de Bragança; IRTA (Instituto de Investigación y Tecnología Agroalimentarias de Cataluña); Universidad de Córdoba (UCO), Águas do Norte, S. A., INRAE (French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment); Andalusian Environment and Water Agency (AMAYA); GESTAGUA, Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona (AMB), Oficina del Regant del Departament d’Acció Climàtica i Agenda Rural de la Generalitat de Catalunya (OdR) and the Government of Andorra. The coordinator is the professor at the EPS of Lugo of the USC, the researcher of the Projects and Planning group (PROePLA), Javier J. Cancela Barrio.
