The Consortium of the Hazitek CLEARDBP project visited the CATABB facilities on Friday, 5 December. This project, funded by the Department of Industry, Energy Transition and Sustainability of the Basque Government, involves four companies (ANSAREO SERVICIOS INTEGRALES S.L., DATUA IA, S.A., MICROELECTRONICA MASER S.L. and SMART CITIES SENSORS S.L.), and two technological centres from the Basque Network of Science, Technology and Innovation (GAIKER and TECNALIA). Furthermore, it has the support of the CONSORCIO DE AGUAS BILBAO BIZKAIA, which will provide data recorded at the CATABB.

The CLEARDBP project’s primary objective is to research an advanced decision-support tool that, through modelling the dynamics of the chlorination process in pre-oxidation and final stages, reagents and the formation of disinfection by-products, and employing both advanced data-based AI techniques and advanced water monitoring sensors based on innovative technologies such as radar technology, will provide water treatment plant operators with real-time operational strategies. This will enable the minimisation of disinfection by-product generation (THMs, HAAs, etc.), improve drinking water quality to ensure strict compliance with current legislation and, simultaneously, contribute to reducing energy consumption.

Its principal innovation lies in designing a scalable and replicable solution for other facilities at national and international level. Therefore, the CLEARDBP solution pursues a tool capable of generating flexible and adaptive models, able to adjust to different specific conditions for each water treatment plant. This is fundamental, as each facility treats water with distinct physicochemical characteristics (organic matter, turbidity, microbiological load, etc.), in addition to having particular hydraulic configurations and specific dosing and disinfection strategies, amongst other factors.