Abstract:

Two services that are essential to the well-being of people today are access to water and electricity. It must be taken into account that, in many cases, one depends on the other. As a result, there are two possible relationships:
- The water needed to obtain energy.
- The energy needed to obtain water.

This second option is addressed in this project. To this end, we analyze the energy needed to obtain water: both the treatment of drinking water and the treatment of wastewater and its discharge and return to the environment.

When treating surface water to obtain drinking water, it is customary to use gravity to transport the water. Nevertheless, in many cases pumping systems are needed to access elevated parts of cities and, on occasion, to transfer river water to treatment plants (WTP). Some impulse is also needed within the plant itself, especially if closed filters are used. When groundwater is used, the need for pumps is evident.

Wastewater is transferred to wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) using gravity. However, once there, different treatment processes need energy for correct operation. Although it is possible to try to prioritize the movement of water using gravity, part of the process will require mechanical and/or electromechanical equipment that consumes energy.

In this project, secondary schools are provided with materials including indications of the steps to follow. These take into account the two water treatment approaches and their energy requirements:
- Water enters the city to serve as drinking water.
- Water leaves cities and returns to rivers and streams.

Once schools have been presented with this task, the resulting data is collected using Google Forms; this data allows us to see each city’s circumstances and assess the water-energy nexus. As a result, we end up with the kWh needed for the treatment of each m3 of water (both drinking water and wastewater).

This project is intended for secondary and high school students aged 14-18, and uses the OPEN SCIENCE SCHOOLING method. As a result, the stakeholders are:
- The University
- The secondary school: teachers and students
- Families
- Water management companies
- Municipal administrations

This project is currently in the pilot phase to judge the feasibility of collecting the proposed data. Three townships of different dimensions and varied access to data are studied. In some towns, the necessary data is available on the website of the city council or water management company; if this is not the case, participants must contact the councilmember responsible for the environment and/or water management. It should be noted that, in some cases, different individuals are responsible for drinking water and wastewater treatment.

The final objective of this pilot test is to be able to prepare the documentation in such a way that it includes any cases that may be found in secondary schools in Catalonia so that it can be extrapolated and can thus become a CITIZEN SCIENCE PROJECT.

Keywords:

Water, energy, Secondary school, Open Science Schooling, WWTP, WTP, Water to treatment plants, Wastewater treatment plants.