Decentralized water and wastewater systems

The project aims to promote the development of future decentralized water and wastewater solutions that strengthen environmental and health protection, improve resource efficiency, and strengthen nutrient recovery, water circulation as well as society resilience.

The goal is to map the current situation from a system perspective and establish a common platform for relevant actors. Through trend and scenario analyses, as well as joint discussions on the future desired state, the project will contribute to a common future vision and action plan for decentralized systems.

The project's objective is to

• Reduce nutrient and pathogen discharges to lakes and rivers, and to develop control systems to ensure this.
• Lead to more sustainable water use through improved access to safe drinking water, development of water saving technologies and development of safe and environmentally friendly wastewater solutions.
• Increase nutrients recovery from sewage fractions.
• Improve risk management by complementing centralized systems with decentralized options, reducing the vulnerability of water and wastewater infrastructure.

Within the project, an environmental analysis and current situation description will be made from a system perspective, based on interviews and literature studies. Subsequently, three thematic workshops will be conducted, focusing on an overall trend analysis, a scenario analysis for the identification of possible future scenarios based on the current situation, and the formulation of a desired future situation. The results will be compiled in a final report.

This project is funded by Vinnova within the framework of Water Wise Societies. Project partners are Ecoloop, Ekologiska Lantbrukarna i Sverige, Kungsbacka municipality, Luleå University of Technology, MittSverige Vatten & Avfall, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden (project coordinator), Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Södertälje municipality, VA-guiden Sverige, Villaägarnas Riksförbund Villaägarna and WRS Water Revival Systems Uppsala.