ASSET project. Assessing SUDs Efficiency to Reduce Urban Runoff Water Contamination.

Due to the current global change, there is a need looking for improved urban water management. Especially in urban areas, where most of the population is concentrated. These high dense areas require improvements on water quantity and quality, and Barcelona city is not an exception. Barcelona City Council has been studying different water alternatives to achieve the scarcity of the city since 1994. Following these new strategies, groundwater of the city is currently applied for different purposes in the city. Even more, aquifers are strategic water bodies that can be used during scarcity events for water supply ensuring an enough water quality.

In addition, Barcelona City Council installed different green infrastructures called Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDs). These installations reduce the extreme runoff events by promoting and facilitating the recharge of the aquifers. The installation of these systems are increasing, but there is a lack of the knowledge and understanding of the quality of the water infiltrated in the aquifer and their effects on the state of the groundwater bodies of the city, which can reduce the current quality of groundwater.

ASSET is a project funded and awarded by the Barcelona council under the call “Scientific research awards Urban in the Barcelona city”. The goal of this project is to evaluate the SUDs implemented in the city of Barcelona and provide improvements so that these systems are more efficient and fulfil the purpose of said facilities and advance toward an efficient and sustainable use of water, improving the adaptation capacity of the city to the current Climate Change and promoting the use of green infrastructures in their urban plans.

ASSET project aims to define an approach and set of tools for an integrated urban water management that it will help in the new plans of uses and it will ensure the good state of these resources. ASSET key drivers are: (1) Improve our knowledge on the underlying mechanisms involved and controls on contaminants-water-air interactions in an urban setting, which is crucial to reduce the exposure of environmental receptors; (2) To reduce the impact of the floods due to torrential rains increasing the permeable surfaces in the cities and peak flows that eventually arrives at the network of collectors and consequently to the treatment plant or the receiver; (3) Optimize groundwater quality control by setting out a list of performance indicators; (4)        Promote the reuse of water stored during the rainy season for its use in periods of drought; (5) Provide improved quantitative, mechanistically robust modelling tools to (i)      optimize urban water management in the context of the wider environment in the short term; and (ii) enhance our ability to develop effective strategies to mitigate the potential effects that future climate change may have on urban resources; (6)          Develop a reactive transport model to model the effectiveness of the proposed materials for the retention of contaminants.