Key water-smart challenges

The estimated increase in the resident population and a growing economy depend on distant freshwater resources with increasing climate challenges (e.g. droughts and floods). This demand must be balanced with the need to increase urban green areas to ensure the quality of life of citizens and the sustainability of urban life.

Key water-smart opportunities

• The Lisbon European Green Capital Award 2020 catalyzed the political will and investments to improve the city’s water-smartness as an enabler to the sustainable increase of green areas;
• The most recent national and EU legislation/regulation calls for sound guidelines/tools for risk management in water reuse;
• Lisbon’s Affordable Rent Program and the Municipal Housing Program is an opportunity to lead by example in the environmental sustainability of buildings;
• National plans for Circular Economy and Carbon Neutrality require ambitious urban responses.

Special Focus

• Development of tools & processes to facilitate safe water reuse;
• Improve water-energy-phosphorous efficiency in municipal non-potable water uses;
• Contribute to improving households and buildings’ climate readiness regarding water and energy with an assessment/certification tool developed locally but with an ambition for national/European adoption.

Current status and ambition

Lisbon has a smart management strategy for all key areas of urban management. Awarded the European Green Capital 2020 distinction, the city aims to provide a high quality of life to a growing population and a growing economy while facing the challenges of climate change based on a green-blue infrastructure. For water efficiency, Lisbon has been implementing new standards in municipal buildings, but there is no auditing/certification mechanism.

Ambition until the end of the project:

• Deliver algorithms and software for city water cycle components’ quantification and water-energy-phosphorous balance assessment, risk assessment of alternative water sources, performance-cost-risk based decision support tool for water-energy-P sustainable management, water-smart tools tested at city level and with multiple users (municipality, agriculture, beer industry, tourism);
• Develop a protocol for food-grade water production from treated wastewater demonstrated for the artisanal beer industry.
• Validate a climate-readiness index in pilot households and buildings, and deliver the subsequent auditing/certification mechanism for Climate Readiness for municipal (and replicated to private) buildings, new or renovated ones.
• To build trust in water reuse, and to deliver governance model(s) and ultimately a well-informed society, willing and ready to use the water-smart products developed.

Ambition beyond project (upscaling/transferability):

• An innovative urban water cycle observatory;
• New ‘water-smart for climate-ready’ building certificates, with associated financing mechanisms for water efficiency and circular economy, which will drive the creation of new business opportunities;
• Risk assessment tools and operational procedures in place, which will facilitate the adoption of water reuse by other follower cities in the region (already engaged), supporting the development and implementation of Portuguese and European related-policies and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to water use in cities.