IRIDRA

Nature-based solutions - Sustainable water management

Contact us

Mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Telephone 055.470729
Fax 055.475593
Address Via Alfonso la Marmora, 51 - 50121 - Florence

It is allowed the use of the website material provided that the website is properly referred, as specified at the end of the website page.

Select Language:

NICE

RZ NICE Logo 4C gradientHorizon2020 funded NICE (Innovative and enhanced nature-based
solutions for sustainable urban water cycle) aims to promote the use of nature-based solutions (NBS) for circular urban water management.
The project will generate knowledge for the design and implementation of NBS with the goal of closing urban water loops. The solutions will capture water, treat it and repurpose it for different uses, while mitigating pollution and runoff.
Building in an extensive analysis of existing NBS, NICE will develop and test new approaches in labs and 'Urban Real Labs' (URLs) located in Vigo, Talavera, Algeciras, Benalmadena, Madrid (all in Spain), Lyon (France), Turin (Italy), Aarhus (Denmark), Gdansk (Poland), Cairo (Egypt) and Pereira (Colombia). NICE NBS will address all facets of the urban water cycle: wastewater, greywater, river basins, stormwater and combined sewer overflow. NBS developed in NICE will include green walls, green roofs, rain gardens and hybrid subsurface wetlands, that will then be enhanced with tailored strategies such as bioaugmentation and development of innovative reactive media. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No.101003765.

IRIDRA is partner of NICE, principally following the use of green roofs and green walls as NBS for greywater treatment and reuse.

For more details: nice-nbs.eu

NICE CONCEPT

Horizon2020 funded NICE project aims to promote the use of nature-based solutions (NBS) for circular urban water management.
The project will generate knowledge for the design and implementation of NBS with the goal of closing urban water loops. The solutions will capture water, treat it and repurpose it for different uses, while mitigating pollution and runoff.
Building in an extensive analysis of existing NBS, NICE will develop and test new approaches in labs and 'Urban Real Labs' (URLs). NICE NBS will address all facets of the urban water cycle; wastewater, greywater, river basins, stormwater and combined sewer overflow. NBS developed in NICE will include green walls, green roofs, rain gardens and hybrid subsurface wetlands, that will then be enhanced with tailored strategies such as bioaugmentation and development of innovative reactive media. Furthermore, to contribute to the upscale and widespread of NBS, NICE will entail the development of an open-source modelling tool that can be used to test, for a given site, the performance of different NBS and select the most suitable technology for creating sustainable urban water loops.
The URL sites are Vigo, Talavera, Algeciras, Benalmadena, Madrid (all in Spain), Lyon (France), Turin (Italy), Aarhus (Denmark), Gdansk (Poland), Cairo (Egypt) and Pereira (Colombia). Furthermore, four fellow sites will also implement NICE NBS pilots for further testing, selected among the NICE fellow cities that are learning from the main URLs throughout the project; Ostrava (Czech Republic), Vienna (Austria), Copenhagen (Denmark), Tirana (Albania), Belgrade (Serbia), Quito (Ecuador) and Kunming (China).
To achieve sustainable circular urban water loops, the project will integrate research, private sector, citizens, policies and economy, providing the knowledge base for the integration of NBS in the urban context by:

  • Enabling the scaling-up of NBS across Europe through development of standards, guidelines and methodologies, based on results from R&D on innovative NBS at lab and URL scales and the review of existing NBS.
  • Creating new business and investment models for cost-effective solutions benefitting the environment, economy and society.
  • Identifying obstacles, barriers and opportunities in current regulatory frameworks to support the integration of NBS.
  • Raising awareness among the general public, by involving local stakeholders in co-creation of the URLs.

Coordinated by CETIM (Fundación Centro Tecnológico de Investigación Multisectorial), with the support of AQUALIA, and 13 other partners at the forefront of NBS research and implementation, NICE will help transform the European urban water landscape to a more sustainable source.

GREEN ROOFS

 

Madrid

 

Vigo

 

turin