Smartwater4Europe, an international project headed by Dutch drinking water company Vitens, has been distinguished by the Global Water Awards in the category ‘Water performance initiative of the year’.
The Smartwater4Europe research project is executed by a consortium made up of 4 smart grid demo sites and 21 organisations, including 12 small and medium-sized enterprises, 3 water companies and 3 knowledge institutes.
Once again, a project in which ACCIONA Agua is involved has been distinguished by GWI journal. “The Water performance Initiative of the year” award recognizes the project led by the Dutch company Vitens and participated by ACCIONA Agua. The project represents the most significant commitment to improve the long-term performance in the water services involving the general public.
José Díaz-Caneja, General Manager of the Spanish company ACCIONA Agua accepted the distinction on behalf of Smartwater4Europe: “I am grateful and happy that our project is recognized for its innovative character. I am convinced that our efforts and insights will make a huge impact on drinking supply systems all around the world”.
Global Water Intelligence is the international water industry’s leading journal and the winners of its annual awards are voted by more than 16,000 industry professionals and experts.
This is ACCIONA Agua’s seventh consecutive annual GWI recognition.
Smartwater4Europe
Every year the European drinking water network requires an estimated investment of 20 billion euros to keep the supply system up to date. Vitens hopes the demonstration project will provide new insight in the maintenance needed for the water network and the demand for and quality of drinking water. This project will bring us a step closer to an intelligent, proactive and real time monitored drinking water network.
The key participants in the consortium alongside Vitens and Acciona Agua are London water company Thames Water and the French University of Lille. By working together in the Smartwater4Europe consortium, the organisations perform tests and demonstrations using sensors and software in a joint mains network comprising no less than 35,000 kilometres, divided among four smart grid demo site areas. The entire European drinking water mains network is approximately 3.5 million kilometres. The research will take about 4 years and involves 12 million euros in total. The project has been awarded a European grant in the sum of 6 million euros as part of the FP7 Water Inno Demo Call.