LIFE4ZOO – short intro
We found strong theme in saving drinking water consumption through ZOO gardens and parks all over the Europe especially during their main season, since spring till autumn. These subjects are all dependent on consumption of a huge amount of water and in the same time they discharge the waste water into the sewage systems or into environment after some pre-treatment. Nowadays the cost of water, namely drinking water, is still rising which undermine the application of modern passive cost-effective technologies such as engineered natural wetlands for its treatment and reuse. The ZOO gardens and wildlife parks are specific with different needs of water quality, which is suitable for the feeding, bathing, and splashing of animals and washing of their surrounding environment. From that reason it is crucial the complex knowledge of this environment together with complex solution for the utilisation of different technologies under various conditions (not only instalment of one demonstration technology).
The project addresses sustainable utilization of different water resources (including drinking water) via Circular Water Management (CWM) in closed, zoo-type, self-sustaining visitor attractions. These are large scale locations with a high degree of decentralization of water consumption and with different demands on its quality while producing wastewater with a different grade of pollution.
The basic objective is to reduce drinking water consumption by reusing of less polluted (grey) wastewater in a closed cycle. Outputs of water from the treatment of grey water are than stabilized in the local surface water body. Surface, rain and ground water is used to ensure a balance between consumption, evaporation and any losses of water, and to balance a salinity of the circular system.
The CWM uses also an advanced treatment and reuse of grey water and demonstrates an alternative method of supplying water to visitor attractions, thus enabling its reuse and recovery of resources.
The example of the zoo will demonstrate the use of water of varying quality (recycled wastewater and treated surface water) for the production of utility water according to its use (irrigation, fountains, showers, rinsing, pools, paddling pools and watering holes) in animal husbandry. This will save on the consumption of drinking water and reduce operating costs of the visitor attractions.
The secondary objective is the general saving of water consumption impacting also an retention in urban and rural areas in surrounding of visitor attractions which will increase the accumulation of water in the countryside. The applied treatment will use natural processes or near-nature processes, thus contributing to the objectives of the Water Framework Directive and the Floods Directive and drought management in regions with water scarcity.
The primary objective will be achieved by demonstration of the treatment by a combination of near-nature processes (ground filters and wetland systems) for the preparation of utility water for the animal husbandry enclosures and modern membrane filter systems for the treatment of stabilized surface water to the quality of water for power and social amenities. The application of membrane filters with biostatic modification is the innovative contribution of TUL for mitigation of filters clogging and an increase of their durability. This technology will treat pre-treated grey water, stabilised in surface water body.
The basic prerequisite is the use of less polluted wastewater after the treatment to the quality corresponding to the specific needs of zoos, i.e. water treatment only to the level strictly necessary for animal husbandry. This so-called Fit4Use concept, already utilised in many industrial sectors will be originally implemented in two types of ZOO.
Based on the advice of experts from National contact point LIFE and on the review of successful similar projects from the database of LIFE projects we decided to include our project into the programme LIFE. This should help us to demonstrate CWM under specific conditions of visitor attractions, in whole complex areas and not only in their individual parts. In the same time we would not be time or cost dependent and in comparison with national projects programme LIFE does not require concrete type of applicant, i.e. public subject or NGO etc, also it fits to our personnel cost necessary for the project.