SUEZ Aquadvanced Urban Drainage is Instrumental in Environmental Project in France and Spain

SUEZ is proud to be a long-term partner of the European Commission’s LIFE program, a co-funded scheme for environmental and climate action managed by the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency.

Recent studies on European rivers highlight that significant work is needed to reduce overflows from sewage networks, particularly spills during rainfall events. SUEZ Aquadvanced Urban Drainage is instrumental in the European Commission’s ‘LIFE RUBIES’ program to support urban drainage and mitigate sewage overflow.

LIFE RUBIES comprises of eight partners including private companies, public research centers and metropolitan areas, with a collective aim to develop new concepts for wastewater drainage and overflow, as well as reducing the impact of urban wastewater on the natural environment by controlling pollution. The program is operational in two pilot sites: the Metropolis of Lille (France) and the city of Madrid (Spain). 

This specialized project is aimed at demonstrating the benefits of deploying Real Time Control (RTC) strategies to mitigate urban drainage impacts on the receiving aquatic ecosystems. LIFE RUBIES seeks to combine both hydraulic and quality based RTC concepts to enhance environmental benefits.

“… The objective is to improve the biodiversity around the rivers by reoxygenating, reducing nitrogen (toxic) and nitrates which have the effect of eutrophicating the rivers. The repopulation and improvement of the quality of waterways will also benefit various uses such as fishing, swimming, or making other nautical activities possible. Finally, LIFE RUBIES participates in the protection of Europe’s water resources and in securing the supply of drinking water to citizens.” – LIFE RUBIES.eu

SUEZ, with its smart solutions and research teams, is supporting the project with the integration of Aquadvanced Urban Drainage. This solution for flood prevention, bathing water quality and monitoring, and environmental protection also helps optimize wastewater operations and asset performance. Aquadvanced Urban Drainage predicts when an event, such as flooding, will occur and assesses the best strategy for minimizing its effects while maximizing capacity.

The LIFE RUBIES pilots in Lille and Madrid started in October 2021 following the LIFE EFFIDRAIN project (responsible for developing the concepts) that ran from 2014-2019 and is due to be completed in September 2025.

The chemical and ecological status of receiving rivers in France and Spain were noted to be poor due to spillages that impacted tens of kilometers downstream. In the Metropolis of Lille, Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO) volumes were reported as higher than the regulation threshold.

The project ambitiously aims to decrease surface water pollution from sewerage systems discharges during rainfall events. It adopts an alternative approach to concrete-based sanitation infrastructure, complying with the upcoming new European Water Framework Directive, which addresses the issue of sewer direct discharges into natural bodies of water. The project is innovative not only for its quality-based optimization approach, but also for the methodology applied to assess the impact of urban drainage systems on natural bodies. The solution includes rainfall forecast, quality sensor installation in sewerages and receiving waters, and the development of algorithms to identify the best network management solution. These components are deployed and integrated into a digital solution for task scheduling, and the results are clearly display within a dashboard. 

The pilot sites and storage units were equipped with hydraulics and quality sensors making it possible to calculate pollutant fluxes. The rivers are also equipped with high-frequency online quality monitoring stations including turbidity, conductivity, ammonia, and oxygen sensors.

LIFE RUBIES integrates LIFE EFFIDRAIN methods with Aquadvanced Urban Drainage, dedicated to real-time data management, system monitoring and remote control in connection with a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA). 

Aquadvanced Urban Drainage plays a key role as project coordinator and integrator in the LIFE RUBIES project, providing digital models and real-time applications to increase control over the whole urban drainage system. If remote control is enabled, Aquadvanced Urban Drainage operates the system automatically without human input.

Read more about Aquadvanced Urban Drainage here: Aquadvanced Urban Drainage: optimise your wastewater and rainwater management systems - SUEZ Group