Successful participation in the Technical Seminar Project Life + InSiTrate
The technical conference was held on April 7, 2016 in the Ilunion Hotel in Barcelona and the purpose of this meeting was to inform about new technologies that are being applied for the removal of nitrate groundwater as well to present the first results of the InSiTrate project.
The conference began in the morning with the presentation of Ms. Nuria Micola of the Catalan Water Agency. This presentation showed the latest data of the Catalan aquifers state in relation to nitrate pollution. After that, Dr. Jordi Guimerà, of the company Amphos 21 SL, a partner in the project, explained the behaviour of nitrates in groundwater and finally, Dr. Joan de Pablo, UPC professor, gave an overview of conventional technologies for the treatment of nitrates, emphasising their implementation and maintenance costs.
At the second part of the day, Dr. Joan Garcia of the UPC and IRTA Mr. Francesc Camps joined the conference. Dr. Joan Garcia, introduced different green filter configurations to remove ammonia and nitrates from the water. Mr. Francesc Camps explained the project LIFE Futur Agrari, it investigated the use of catch crops to reduce nitrate concentration in the soil. Finally Dr. Irene Jubany, of the Fundació CTM, informed about the InSiTrate project and she explained that the project had achieved a reduction of up to 70% in the nitrate concentration in the area of action until now.
Later, a discussion on sectoral tables let attendees participate and contribute with their views on the issues and the technology developed in the project InSiTrate.
Technical Day finished with a visit of the in-situ denitrification pilot plant at Sant Andreu de Llavaneres. The visit was attended by thirty participants accompanied by the Mayor, Joan Mora; Councillor water service, Albert Sala; the environmental technician, Hector Andino; the municipal engineer, Eduard Cot and the team of the project.
The conference was organized by the project Life + Insitrate partners: Fundació CTM, Amphos 21 and Catalana de Perforacions and with the collaboration of the Catalan Water Agency and Llavaneres Council Town.
Following the participation success, different media published some news about the project and the nitrate issues, for example the Technical Review on Environment RETEMA or the newspaper El País.
The conference program and the different presentations are available in PDF format in Catalan language here.
