Early Assessment Meeting of the AquaLoops4Med project held in Athens

The AquaLoops4Med Early Assessment Meeting was successfully held in Athens, Greece, on 2 March 2026, organised by the Sanitary Engineering Laboratory (SEL) of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). The meeting brought together the AquaLoops4Med consortium and the project’s Project Officer, Milena Stoyanova (EISMEA), to review the progress achieved during the first 18 months of the project.

Prof. Simos Malamis (SEL, NTUA) opened the meeting by welcoming the participants and presenting the activities and research areas of SEL, NTUA. The Project Officer then outlined the objectives of the Early Assessment Meeting and highlighted the main aspects of the project to be discussed during the sessions.

Following this, the project coordinator, Dr Lucia Gusmaroli (CWP), presented an overview of the main achievements and progress of the project during the first 18 months of implementation.

Prof. Simos Malamis (SEL NTUA)

Milena Stoyanova (EISMEA)

Milena Stoyanova (EISMEA) and Dr Lucia Gusmaroli (CWP)

Presentations then focused on the development and implementation of the demonstration sites in Greece and Italy. HYDRASPIS presented the innovative rainwater harvesting system, which has been installed and is already fully operational at the premises of the Fresh Milk cattle farm in Thessaly, contributing to improved water circularity in livestock farming.

This was followed by a presentation from the SEL - NTUA team, which introduced the experimental work carried out to analyse livestock wastewater characteristics and evaluate optimal co-digestion strategies. These investigations supported the design of the anaerobic livestock wastewater treatment system developed by AERIS. Subsequently, AERIS presented the complete wastewater treatment train (AnMBR, SBR, sand filtration and UV disinfection), which has been successfully installed at the Fresh Milk facilities, hydraulically tested, and will be fully operational in early March.

The Italian demonstration site was presented by BIOINNOVA and UNIBAS, who introduced the microalgae-based treatment and filtration system implemented in Potenza, designed to treat and valorise dairy whey wastewater through microalgae cultivation and subsequent filtration processes, which has been installed at the demonstration site and will be operational in March.

In addition, the SEL - NTUA team presented the design and implementation of the AquaLoops4Med Open Call, including the development of the call documentation, evaluation framework and supporting materials required for its launch.

The progress of stakeholder mapping activities and the development of a Community of Practice to support investment and policy alignment for sustainable water management was presented by WE&B. Furthermore, UNIBAS and CWP presented the dissemination and communication activities carried out within the project.

Presentations and discussions during the AquaLoops4Med Early Assessment Meeting hosted by SEL-NTUA in Athens, Greece.

The meeting concluded with a discussion during which the Project Officer provided valuable feedback and comments on the progress of the project, as well as recommendations for the next steps of its implementation.