A visit to the WATERSENS demo site in Lisbon

This summer, we had the opportunity to visit the WATERSENS demonstration site at Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, where our partner Prof. Ana Galvão guided us through the different activities taking place across the university campus.

During the tour, Ana presented the progress made on the green wall and green roofs being developed within WATERSENS. One of the main ambitions is to create agreen wall at the heart of the campus that will contribute to the treatment and reuse of greywater.

The different infrastructures are designed to work together as part of a circular water system, collecting rainwater and treating greywater so that it can bereused for non-potable purposes, such as irrigating campus gardens and maintaining the green infrastructure itself.

But the green wall is not only about water management. Located in a central area of theuniversity, it is also intended to become a green meeting point for students. As part of the project, its potential contribution to students' wellbeing and campus life will also be assessed.

Our visit continued in the laboratory, where Ana and her students showed us the preparation of the green wall modules and different substrate compositions that will be tested for use in the green wall. The research will explore their potential to improve water quality when green walls are used for greywater treatment.

We also visited the green roofs, where the irrigation system was still under construction at the time of our visit.

Finally, the tour took us to some of the other green spaces already present on campus, including a small urban forest that provides a green and cooling area during Lisbon's hot summer months, as well as a garden growing different plantsand vegetables.

The visit offered us a great opportunity to see how the different elements being developed and studied within WATERSENS can come together on a real university campus, connecting water reuse, green infrastructure and everyday campus life.

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