On July 20th, we started the civil works needed to implement the second pilot (demonstrator) of the LIFE DrainRain system. This pilot is located in the hard shoulder in the main road RM 714 in Calasparra (Murcia).
This pilot plant, located in a Mediterranean area (high water stress and periodic heavy floods), has a dual objective: 1) to recover the water for different uses and particularly for irrigation, given that agriculture is amongst the most important economic activities in the region, and 2) to prevent the transfer of high pollutant loads to the natural environment, given that the area has long dry periods and when it does rain, contaminant concentrations in the runoff can be much higher. The photocatalytic porous pavement in this case will have a surface area of 150 m2.
The LIFE DrainRain Project, funded by the European Commission under the “LIFE 2015: Environment and Resource Efficiency” programme, proposes an innovative approach to mitigate the environmental impact of runoff in water bodies by means of the combination of a photocatalytic porous pavement and a water treatment system. The project consortium is led by PROYFE, S.L., and the other beneficiaries are the AUTORIDAD PORTUARIA DE FERROL SAN CIBRAO, COPASA, CETIM and CYE CONTROL Y ESTUDIOS, S.L.
