The AquaConSoil Barcelona 2013 expects more than 600 environmental technology professionals

By Biocat

After BIO-Europe Spring, Barcelona will host another major event related to biotechnology enviromental from 16 to 19 April, AquaConSoil 2013. It is the leading European conference on soil management, groundwater and contaminated sites. Approximately 600 delegates are expected to attend from all over the world, mainly research centers, governmental organizations, the chemical and environmental industries, consultancies and environmental engineers.

The AquaConSoil is held every three years since 1985 —Salzburg (2010), Milan (2008), Bordeaux (2005), among others— and its permanent organizers are the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) of Germany and Deltares from Netherlands, two of the world's most prestigious European research institutions in the field of environmental technology. In the Barcelona edition, institutions like the Catalan Waste Agency, the Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA) and the University of Barcelona (UB) have been involved closely. It also counts with the support of the Government of Catalonia and the Barcelona City Council. Biocat is one of the collaborating institutions.

Catalan Minister of Planning and Sustainability, Santi Vila, is expected to open the conference at the International Convention Centre (CCIB), on April 16th at 9.30 am. During AquaConSoil 2013 will be held six parallel sessions daily with more than 250 lectures, 17 special sessions —including three by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA—, an exhibition of 200 scientific posters, five scheduled technical visits and a trade fair area with booths from companies and organizations in the sector. Talks will cover wide-reaching areas: water management in arid and semiarid land, different land use depending on technology, such as geothermal, CO2 capture and storage, and the development and implementation of technologies for remediation of contaminated sites.

Several Catalan experts and scientists have been invited to chair the event and included in the program of events:

• Water resources management in water scarcity regions – Dr. Damià Barceló, the Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA)
• Polar polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) - Dr. Magdalena Grifoll, UB
• Characterization, isotope technology - Dr. Marc Viñas, IRTA
• Challenges and strategies in soil and water management in the Mediterranean Regions - Francesc Giró, the Waste Agency of Catalonia (ARC)
• Water scarcity in Iberian basins under global change, Dr. Damià Barceló and Dr. Alicia Navarro-Ortega, Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (CSIC-IDAEA)

Visits to leading facilities

In Catalonia there are several cases of good practices in soil management, groundwater and contaminated sites, which will be shown to AquaConSoil 2013 participants. There are technical visits organized to a real location contaminated with organochlorine compounds for use in bio-geochemical research, El Prat de Llobregat desalination plant, one of the most modern in Europe; to the Vall Baixa aquifer (river Llobregat) as a model for water reuse; to the Forum Area in Barcelona, for the successful development of an abandoned industrial zone, and also, to the Besòs river wastewater treatment plant, and the IRTA pilot plant in Cabrils (Barcelona) for the treatment of greenhouse leachates using evaporation ponds.

Registration for the conference is open until 5 April 2013.

Date: 16 to 19 April 2013
Venue: International Convention Centre (CCIB) • Rambla Prim 1-17 (Forum area) • Barcelona, Spain

Related news (14 June 2012)

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