The STURDI-Water project is one of the three projects that has received funding from the NWO. STURDI stands for Storage, Upgrade, Reuse, and Distribution of water in regional collaborative networks. The HZ is leading the consortium of knowledge institutions, private, and public partners executing the project.
Representing HZ are, among others, Hans Cappon and Emma McAteer from the Water Technology research group, and Teun Terpstra and Jean-Marie Buijs from Resilient Deltas.
Due to more extreme weather and salinization, freshwater availability is under pressure in delta regions such as Zeeland. A robust freshwater system is essential for agriculture, industry, nature, and tourism. Only then can the delta remain livable. Many technical solutions have been successfully tested on a pilot scale, but if you want to actually implement the solutions, there are still challenges, such as a lack of appropriate policy instruments, legal policy frameworks, financial and economic incentives, and a governance framework for managing freshwater demand and supply.
Water Bank
The goal of STURDI-Water is to achieve integrated freshwater management through a central, regional water bank to align demand and supply, storage, and water treatment. The funding is awarded within the KIC Mission Call 'Realization, acceleration, and scaling of mission-driven innovation'.
The NWO develops innovation programs within the Knowledge and Innovation Covenant (KIC) aimed at the societal challenges of the Netherlands to realize impact for the economy, people, and society.