AquaEtreat is a European project that examines the feasibility of developing and implementing cost-effective systems for the treatment of aquaculture farm effluent and the valorisation and reuse of the products and by-products.

Introduction

Among the most pressing environmental needs of the European Union (EU), indeed for all countries of the world, is to obtain the improved sustainable use and more efficient management of the increasingly scarce water resources. Estimates suggest that 2 billion people will be added to the world' s  over the next 30 years. With regard to water, this means the necessity to provide efficient infrastructures and services for the effective management of clean water and to ensure an adequate water supply to all people in urban and rural areas.

To achieve this goal, water resources must be managed in an accountable, transparent, efficient, and environmentally and socially responsible manner, a process in which SMEs (Small and  size Enterprises) can give a relevant and concrete contribution to achieving the objectives established by National and International authorities.
Our ecosystems, which sustain life on earth and provide inestimable services to all natural populations, also need sufficient amounts of water to function properly. For this reason, the sustainable development and management of water is a must in the responsible equation. An integrated perspective on the use and maintenance of water resources must take into account social, economic, environmental and technical dimensions for their management and development.

Agroindustrial sectors that use large quantities of water are those that deserve primary and immediate attention in addressing the preparation of efficient management protocols on water use, and this project aims to contribute to resolve one of the major problems of modern intensive aquaculture: the management of the water used by  water cleaning and .

The minimisation of  and the optimisation of waste recovery, including its reuse and disposal, directly concerns all the aquaculture SMEs of the EU and is one of the objectives of the Collective Research Programme of the EU.