about Foreward
Our vision and goals
The FOREWARD project is structured around six key objectives designed to advance the transition to sustainable wastewater management (WWM):
To increase data availability
- To model WW flows spatially-explicitly under socioeconomic dynamics for WWM selection, prioritisation
- To develop prospective life-cycle inventories for newly-developed and best-available WWM options
To increase knowledge
- To identify determinants of urban-rural trade-offs/synergies given various WWM options
- To conduct meta-analyses on best-available domestic and livestock WWM technologies and systems
- To systematically develop portfolios of decentralised & centralised options in distinct case areas
To enrich green technologies
- To investigate organic directed conversion in wastewater and multi-microbial collaborative regulation
- To develop a list of the best available NH3 and GHG mitigation technologies for livestock WWM
To increase data availability
- To model WW flows spatially-explicitly under socioeconomic dynamics for WWM selection, prioritisation
- To develop prospective life-cycle inventories for newly-developed and best-available WWM options
To increase knowledge
- To identify determinants of urban-rural trade-offs/synergies given various WWM options
- To conduct meta-analyses on best-available domestic and livestock WWM technologies and systems
- To systematically develop portfolios of decentralised & centralised options in distinct case areas
To enrich green technologies
- To investigate organic directed conversion in wastewater and multi-microbial collaborative regulation
- To develop a list of the best available NH3 and GHG mitigation technologies for livestock WWM
To enrich modelling tools
- To develop a novel multiscale water quality modelling framework
- To develop prospective life-cycle impact assessment models
- To integrate WPs2-5 into a forward-looking model to assess WWM under co-created scenarios
To improve the vision of the future
- To assess WWM options given future technology scaling-up and socioeconomic and climatic changes
- To assess centralised vs decentralised WWM in distinct case studies using the forward-looking model
To enrich modelling tools
- To develop a novel multiscale water quality modelling framework
- To develop prospective life-cycle impact assessment models
- To integrate WPs2-5 into a forward-looking model to assess WWM under co-created scenarios
To improve the vision of the future
- To assess WWM options given future technology scaling-up and socioeconomic and climatic changes
- To assess centralised vs decentralised WWM in distinct case studies using the forward-looking model
Expected Impact
FOREWARD targets the pressing issue of water pollution caused by suboptimal WWM from humans and livestock, which has far-reaching impacts on health, ecosystems, and the economy. By improving WWM, we expect to achieve Cleaner Waters through better water quality and safe environments.
Our forward-looking assessments will identify options that are More Resilient to future climatic changes and rely less on energy and chemical inputs.
Furthermore, we aim to deliver Cost-Effective practices that make improved WWM affordable, particularly for less-affluent communities, ultimately improving public health and socioeconomic welfare.
Long Term Vision
Our vision is to achieve a “step-change” in forward-looking holistic wastewater management that accounts for synergies across space and with other development goals, such as climate change mitigation and adaptation. We envision three major long-term outcomes:
- Practitioner Insight: A shift in how practitioners view green WWM advantages, leading to the adoption of modelling approaches co-created in the project.
- Education and Awareness: A lasting change in education where data and knowledge from the project are implemented in university programs to train next-generation decision-makers.
- Strengthened Partnerships: A permanent enhancement in transdisciplinary learning between Sino-Dutch societal partners and knowledge institutes, fostering a lasting collaboration to offer solutions to broader markets.
How FOREWARD is structured
WP1: Project management and CDE
- Leiden University and Institute of Urban Environment at the Chinese Academy of Sciences
- This work package manages the project’s smooth implementation through regular meetings and coordinates communication, dissemination, and exploitation activities. It focuses on establishing the FOREWARD Stakeholder Platform and Knowledge Website to facilitate ongoing engagement and scenario co-creation with key stakeholders.
WP2: Multiscale water quality model
- Wageningen University (lead), Partners: Institute of Urban Environment
- This work package aims to estimate future wastewater flows and treatment (using nitrogen as the first model pollutant) in the case study areas under incumbent WWM systems; and investigate the interactions (synergies and trade-offs) between WWM systems for manure and sewage in the context of rural-urban environments.
WP3: Green domestic WWM Options
- Institute of Urban Environment (lead), Partners: Leiden University, Wageningen University, Institute of Genetics and Development Biology
- This work package aims to develop the organic directed conversion of industrial wastewater technology and multi-microbial collaborative regulation technology based on nature-based solutions (NBS) for domestic wastewater, including rural and urban areas.
WP4: Green livestock WWM Options
- Institute of Genetics and Development Biology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (lead), partners: Leiden University, Wageningen University, Institute of Urban Environment
- The aims of this is to reveal the regulation of nitrogen flow and quantify GHG emissions in livestock wastewater treatment and utilisation sectors in the case study areas; and to investigate the impact of current livestock wastewater treatment technologies on NH3 and GHG emissions on a farm scale.
WP5: Prospective life cycle environmental and economic assessment
- Leiden University (lead), Institute or Urban Environment and Institute of Genetics and Development Biology, at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
- This package will assess the life cycle environmental and economic impacts of the best available and newly developed WWM options (WPs3/4) compared to the incumbent WWM systems. Crucially, the impacts considering critical changes in the background system will be assessed, such as population, urbanisation, and energy mix specified in the state-of-the-art climate scenarios based on the shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs).
WP6: FOREWARD model and assessment framework
- Leiden University (lead), Wageningen University (lead), partners: Institute of Urban Environment, Institute of Genetics and Development Biology.
- This work package aims to create a forward-looking integrative WWM modelling framework and apply it to distinct case study areas to inform sustainable WWM transition concerning domestic and livestock WWM in rural and urban regions in China and the Netherlands.
