PCI2022_SAFE

Sustainable water reuse practices improving safety in agriculture, food and environment

PRIMA-SAFE “Sustainable water reuse practices to improve security in agriculture, food and environment”” (2022-2025) is a PRIMA project coordinated by the Università degli Studi della Basilicata (Italy), with other 11 partners (including ICRA) and a budget of almost 2.1 million euros (financed with 1.5 million euros).

PRIMA-SAFE focuses on smallholder agricultural holdings in Mediterranean areas affected by water scarcity, where these holdings provide between 60% and 80% of food and, due to the increasing world population , are under increasing pressure, especially in poor rural regions. PRIMA-SAFE will optimize innovative water reuse strategies, ensuring its safety both for the environment and for human health, and will promote more sustainable agricultural production systems through a comprehensive water perspective. PRIMA-SAFE will carry out the following actions: a) develop, validate and optimize new decentralized urban waste water treatment systems of low cost and low energy consumption; b) evaluate its impact on crop yield, using modern genomics and proteomics tools, and on local biodiversity; c) monitor emerging contaminants in water, soil and crops produced, and assess the safety of proposed approaches; d) minimize impacts and promote environmentally friendly practices, such as pest management using biofertilizers; e) promote the local acceptability of farmers.

ICRA, leading task 1.1, will characterize selected emerging contaminants in crops (such as tomatoes, oregano and lettuce) grown at the site (Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Greece). ICRA is leading WP2 and will also conduct environmental and human health risk assessments of irrigation practices based on water, soil and crop characterization.