A geographically defined testbed for a sustainable and circular management of water resources

Purpose and goal

The purpose of the prefeasibility study was to investigate the needs, obstacles and opportunities to establish an open test bed for development and verification of sustainable technologies for future water supply at Storsudret, Gotland. The result shows high interest from the stakeholders, academia and the environmental technology companies. The ownership and financing form has been decided and an overall business strategy has been developed. The basis for the systems that will constitute the infrastructure is identified and will be used in the planning and realization phase.

Expected results and effects

Based on the needs analysis and the great interest for the pre-feasibility study, the consortium has shown great opportunities to put Gotland on the map for sustainable solutions to severe water shortages. We see great potential to attract many research and development projects benefiting from strong collaboration between companies, academics and stakeholders ( VA companies, municipalities, etc.) in a real, full-scale test environment. This collaboration will shorten lead times for innovations, thus solving serious societal challenges and creating many new jobs.

Planned approach and implementation

The work with the feasibility study has been carried out in close cooperation between the members of the consortium. A background description has been obtained, financing and ownership forms as well as business strategy developed, infrastructure needs identified and local and national level anchoring implemented with positive results. In parallel, activities to put the testbed in an international context have been successfully carried out as the establishment of the test bed has been included as a case study in an EU application regarding the role of the water in the circular economy.