Projectes de l'ICRA

Urban areas are growing throughout the world, with important consequences on surrounding natural ecosystems and on the global biodiversity and climate. In addition to domestic and industrial wastewater, runoff from impervious urban surfaces alters local hydrology and can contribute a diverse array of pollutants, whose effects on receiving river ecosystems are poorly known, but likely to increase as a consequence of ongoing climate change. CityPoll addresses this information gap by means of multidisciplinary research combining hydrology, environmental chemistry, ecotoxicology and ecology, in 2 contrasting case studies. To that aim, it will first create a hydrological model of both case studies, integrating the sewer and the receiving river systems, to jointly analyze and monitor the path of water and contaminants between urban areas and receiving rivers during rainfall events. Second, it will combine automatic sampling of natural rain events with the follow-up of experimental rainfall and with the most advanced analytical tools to monitor the chemical characteristics of urban runoff, including suspended materials, nutrients, regulated and emerging microcontaminants, and microplastics. It will prioritize the contaminants according to their occurrence and toxicity, and associate specific pollutants with specific types of urban areas. Third, by means of micro- and mesocosm studies, it will study the ecotoxicological effects of these runoffs on a range of organisms, from microbes to invertebrates. It will also analyze the ecological effects of urban runoff by measuring the structural and functional response of receiving rivers looking at biofilm, invertebrates, as well as at a range of ecosystem processes, from nutrient dynamics to greenhouse gas emissions. With this information, CityPoll will produce multimetric indices of the ecological impact of urban runoff. Fourth, it will assess the capacity of buffer zones (urban parks, riparian vegetation, etc.) to mitigate the pollution derived from urban runoff, thus pointing to the most adequate Nature-Based Solutions to that end. Finally, CityPoll will devote a large effort to the transfer and dissemination of the multi-layered evidence collected to a wide range of targets, from urban and water managers to scientists and to the general public, by producing guidelines, protocols, scientific papers, press releases and a video documentary. These guidelines and protocols will be of use beyond the specific case studies of CityPoll. Also, it will contribute to the development of new digital solutions for runoff monitoring, strengthening the European industry once new procedures and strategies become transposed into worldwide standards. CityPoll combines 3 subprojects: subproject 1 (ICRA) focuses on hydrology, chemistry and their effects on biofilms; subproject 2 (UB) focuses on ecotoxicological effects on invertebrates and on the emission of greenhouse gases; subproject 3 (EHU) focuses on ecosystem functioning and on the mitigating effects by buffer areas.