The AH2ORA project, Water Footprint Analysis for Agricultural Irrigation Optimization, will study the application of water footprint calculation for efficient and sustainable water management in the agricultural sector.
Coordinated by the GAIA Cluster and co-financed through the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism’s (MINCOTUR) line of support for AEIs, the first phase of the project has a duration of 1 year.
The AH2ORA project aims to study the application of water footprint calculation for efficient and sustainable water management in the agricultural sector. During this industrial research project, the reduction of water consumption will be studied through the implementation of a tool capable of identifying and quantifying water wastage in the production process of the agricultural sector.
The first phase of the project is being developed for one year and is co-financed through the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism (MINCOTUR)’s line of support for AEIs. The project began in June, coordinated by Clúster GAIA. Also collaborating in the project are the companies Devol and AQUADAT, the technology center Fundación Tecnova and the Basque environmental industry cluster ACLIMA. These are entities related to the field of sustainability and digitalization, working essentially for industrial sectors.
With this project, the participating organizations highlight the importance of sustainability and the need to reduce water consumption through efficient use. The water footprint is aligned with the implementation and compliance strategies of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (UN) to the year 2030, specifically in Goal 6 on clean water and sanitation, and transversally with the other goals, especially Goal 3 (health and well-being) and Goal 12 (sustainable production and consumption). It is also aligned with the latest global risk reports from the World Economic Forum, which place the water crisis among the top three risks that could have the greatest impact on systems and countries in the next decade.
This project offers the opportunity to apply the knowledge of water footprint calculation to the sector that consumes the most water in the country, in order to quantify consumption in detail and thus be able to optimize root consumption through objective data.
The first advances made will be presented on November 29th at the 3rd BASQUE GREENTECH event, Forum for Environmental Innovation and Technology Transfer, organized by ACLIMA. In this intervention, Lander Berrueta, head of R&D projects of the GAIA Cluster, will emphasize the importance of the project and its impact. As a final result of the project, it is expected to determine data-based strategies for the reduction of water consumption in the agricultural sector.
