Technological Centre

HEATLAND seminar

On 22 April, coinciding with Earth Day, the CETIM Technology Centre participated in the webinar of the LIFE HEATLAND project.

A panel of experts analysed the three major climate challenges facing urban areas: heat, floods and pollution.

Invited by the organisation, Saínza Arufe, researcher in the ECO BIO Technologies area of CETIM Technology Centre, presented the paper “Sustainable urban drainage systems, an ecological solution to torrential rains”. This technological research, and subsequent application, is developed in the framework of the LIFE DrainRain project in which CETIM developed, in consortium with 4 other partners, a new treatment system to mitigate the environmental impact of runoff water.

Specifically, the general objective of this project, co-financed by the European Commission under the LIFE Programme, is to test the treatment of runoff water by means of a new integral system of permeable pavement and in situ treatment for its subsequent reuse in basic activities such as irrigation or washing. Currently, the team of researchers from the Centre is carrying out a technical feasibility demonstration in the Ferrol estuary (A Coruña) and in Calasparra (Murcia).

Cities against climate change
The LIFE HEATLAND project is a European initiative that addresses urban adaptation to the consequences of climate change. The aim is to minimise the urban heat island effect while contributing to climate change mitigation by reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions associated with typical technologies in the city ecosystem.