SusChem at Malta Water Week!

On 25 March Antonia Morales Perez, Cefic innovation manager responsible for leading SusChem's contribution to the European Innovation Partnerships on Water and on Raw Materials took part in the Malta Water Week Conference where she presented the latest solutions that the chemical industry has to offer towards industrial symbiosis and in particular sustainable water management. The event happened just after World Water Day (22 March). 

SusChem supports water conservation, recycling and re-use as an innovation priority and water is featured in the new SusChem Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA). Water is a scarce resource and a critical element for the development of our society and economy. The chemical industry is a significant user of water, but also an important solution provider of innovative products, technologies and services which can enable more sustainable water and wastewater management.

Fit-for-purpose
Water symbiosis and delivery of ‘fit-for-purpose’ water flows are considered as key elements to ensure and enable optimal and integrated (re)use of water, not only for the chemical industry but for other sectors as well. Antonia's presentation to the conference focused on results coming out of the FP7 project E4Water in which SusChem participates. This includes six industry case studies that are developing new approaches to solve different challenges in water reuse and recycling to achieve a final goal of integration of the industrial-urban and agricultural sectors.

The conference kicked-off with a video message from Karmenu Vella, the European Commissioner for the Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries.

Malta Water Week takes the heart of the Mediterranean as its starting point, using a public-private focus to generate business, collaborations and partnerships looking at innovation in water management solutions, technology and practices. In particular, the conference will be addressing a variety of themes with a focus on best practices and innovative solutions to water challenges, highlighting examples and lessons among others, including:

• Smart Water Infrastructures
• Innovative Water Technologies
• Water Reuse
• Water Education
• Innovative Financial Solutions

What is Malta Water Week?
Malta Water Week is a leading Mediterranean water event featuring a number of activities centred around innovation in water-management solutions and technology, novel financing ideas in water, expert intervention, the bringing together of international businesses and investors, and the sharing of best practices amongst all participating entities while showcasing the opportunities brought forth by current and future challenges in water.

Malta Water Week is organised by Paragon Europe within the margins of the Water Efficiency in European Urban Areas project. The project is based on the ambition to create an open European platform for EU excellence in water efficiency in urban water management. This platform will enable participating clusters and regions to bring together knowledge and innovation potential through collaboration and mutually learning on a trans-national basis.

For more information about SusChem’s contribution to Malta Water Week, please contact Antonia Morales Perez.

World Water Day 2014 on 21 - 22 March!

Water and Energy for a more efficient and sustainable management of our water resources is the theme for the 2014 World Water Day. On March 21 and 22 the United Nations Organisation – working closely with its Member States and other relevant stakeholders – will highlight the issues around the water-energy nexus: a topic of major interest to SusChem, the chemical and other process industries. Water and energy are closely interlinked and interdependent.

Energy generation and transmission requires utilisation of water resources, particularly for hydroelectric, nuclear, and thermal energy sources. And innovation in water usage is essential for us to achieve a more efficient use of water and energy: saving energy is saving water and saving water is saving energy. Choices concerning the supply, distribution, price, and use of water and energy impact one another. The water- energy nexus is one of the major societal challenges facing Europe and the World.

The chemical industry as one of the biggest water consumers can lead the development of integrated water strategies through technologies that reduce water consumption, reduce use of fresh water resources (through cascade use of urban, industrial and rural areas), and optimise waste water management.

The industry is also one of the biggest providers of water treatment materials and technologies. Our experience will allow us to develop new approaches to improve other sectors’ water management and public sector water requirements.

WWD 2014
World Water Day 2014 aims to facilitate the development of policies and cross-cutting frameworks that bridge ministries and sectors, leading the way to energy security and sustainable water use in a green economy.

The main celebrations of World Water Day will be organised by United Nations University (UNU) and United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) on behalf of UN-Water on 20 and 21 March and will take place at the UNU Headquarters in Tokyo, Japan.

Boosting innovation in water management will contribute to overcoming these challenges by achieving sustainable use and treatment of water and developing future water policy. The chemical industry participates in projects for the development of integrated water strategies through technologies that reduce water consumption and the related energy, reduce use of fresh water resources and optimise waste water management. For example, the FP7 project E4Water that is building on state-of-the-art and new fundamental R&D concepts with the aim of achieving an expected reduction of 20-40% in water use, 30-70% in wastewater production, 15-40% in energy use and up to 60% direct economic benefits at its case study sites throughout the European chemical industry.

Water EIP Newsletter
SusChem and Cefic are heavily involved in the European Innovation Partnership on Water (EIP Water) and the UN World Water Day is one of many articles in the latest EIP Water Newsletter.

Water and Energy is one of EIP Water’s priority areas and in the newsletter you can get updates on the activities the  EIP Water Action Groups that are working in this field: Water4Energy Framework , Renewable Energy Desalination and Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor. You can subscribe to the newsletter via the EIP water website.

SusChem salutes WWD 2012

Today (March 22) is World Water Day 2012 and SusChem salutes all participants in this annual international event that highlights the importance of freshwater and advocates the sustainable management of freshwater resources: two objectives that SusChem fully supports. This international day to celebrate fresh water was first considered at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) and 22 March 1993 was designated as the first World Water Day by the United Nations General Assembly. The theme for 2012 is 'Water and Food Security'.


With over seven billion people to feed on the planet today and another two billion expected to join us by 2050 ensuring there is freshwater for all is a grand global challenge. We all need two to four litres of water to drink every day, however on top of this we also ‘drink’ significantly more through water used to produce the food we eat: for example it is estimated that to produce one kilo of beef consumes 15 000 litres of water, while one kilo of wheat ’drinks up’ 1 500 litres.

With one billion people in the world already living in chronic hunger and water resources under pressure, this is clearly a global problem. Coping with population growth and ensuring access to nutritious food for everyone calls for a series of actions we can all help with, including:

• follow a healthier, sustainable diet
• consume less water-intensive products
• reduce food wastage (30% of the food produced worldwide goes to waste!)
• produce more food, of better quality, with less water

At all steps of the supply chain, from producers to consumers, actions can be taken to save water and ensure food for all.

To find out more on the World Water Day 2012 campaign “Water and Food Security” you can visit the campaign website, become friends with WWD2012 on Facebook, follow them on Twitter or see event images on Flickr or watch their video stream on Youtube!

What is SusChem doing?
The chemical industry as one of the biggest water consumers can lead the development of integrated water strategies through technologies that reduce water consumption, reduce use of fresh water resources (through cascade use of urban, industrial and rural areas), and optimise waste water management.

The industry is also one of the biggest providers of water treatment materials and technologies. Our experience will allow us to develop new approaches to improve other sectors’ water management and public sector water requirements. But no one sector can tackle this challenge alone. Water is used intensively in agricultural and industrial sectors and for public use, so there is a need for integrated solutions within a symbiotic approach.

SusChem is working to boost innovation in water related topics to contribute to improved use and treatment of water and further develop a sustainable water policy.

To achieve these solutions SusChem is working with partners, including the Water Supply and Sanitation Technology Platform (WssTP), to develop the proposed European Innovation Partnership on Water. The Partnership has some ambitious objectives including reducing private water consumption and increasing water efficiency in irrigation.

SusChem is contributing to a new website on the chemical industry and sustainable water resources that is due to launch in early April. The launch will be covered by SusChem News.

For more information on SusChem activities and initiatives on water efficiency contact Antonia Morales Perez at Cefic.

SusChem animates for WWD2011

To further mark World Water Day 2011 (WWD2011) SusChem has launched a new animated feature on its website.

The SusChem World Water Day page features a graphic that vividly demonstrates how precious and scarce fresh water is as a resource for the world.

A powerpoint presentation outlining details of the collaboration between SusChem and the European Technology Platform on Water and Sanitation (WSSTP) can also be obtained on the SusChem website.

SusChem: innovating on water in Europe

SusChem is making water a major priority during 2011 and ‘Water’ is one of the main topics at SusChem’s Annual Stakeholder Conference that takes place in Amsterdam on 16 and 17 May.

SusChem marks World Water Day with a focus on value chain cooperation to achieve better water management systems and introduce new sustainable technologies. As the chemical industry is the critical basis for smart and sustainable growth across all sectors, it is uniquely positioned to contribute to European Innovation Partnerships (EIP) – including the proposed ‘Water Efficient Europe’ EIP.

SusChem's approach reflects the objective of World Water Day 2011 (WWD2011) with its focus on the impact of rapid urban population growth, industrialisation and uncertainties caused by climate change, conflicts and natural disasters on urban water systems. WWD2011's main theme is "Water for cities: responding to the urban challenge".


Responding to the challenge
For a number of years SusChem has been working closely with the European Water Sanitation and Supply Technology Platform (WSSTP) to develop breakthrough technologies and new water management systems. Both platforms have taken the initiative to revalue water as a precious raw material rather than a utility product.

Providing more efficient and ecologically sound water management systems is a prominent theme for the European Union’s 2020 Agenda for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. SusChem is determined to show leadership and make a significant contribution in this area by pursuing large-scale projects that can demonstrate a real impact for society.

SusChem is also planning to organise a dedicated event on Water and Sustainable Chemistry later in 2011 in Amsterdam. This event will examine the main challenges relating to water at both the European and global level and discuss possible solutions. The proposed conference will support both the International Year of Chemistry 2011 (IYC 2011) – a global UNESCO sponsored initiative that also has water as a major theme – and the European Union’s EU2020 Agenda for growth. SusChem thinking in action!