Milan

Challenges and objectives

CAP, which is a large public company, owns and manages 60 small to large wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) serving about 2.5 million people in the peri-urban area of Milan. The WWTPs are often situated in agricultural areas. The current challenge is the high variability of water availability. Whilst two very large WWTPs in Milan’s central urban area (San Rocco and Nosedo) treat wastewater up to reuse standard, Peschiera and several other small to large WWTPs would need to be revamped in order to reach safe water reuse standard to promote reuse for irrigation purposes.

The objectives for Milan are to:

achieve safe water reuse for agricultural irrigation
improve management of the water-food-energy nexus

Activities

digital-water.city is developing in Milan the following digital solutions:

an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to monitor effects of water stress in the soil-plant-atmosphere system
an early warning system to prevent microbial and toxic contamination
the development of a WebGIS solution to improve urban data sharing and interoperability

Support

The activities in Milan are actively supported by the following associated partners:

Italian Ministry of the Environment and Protection of Land and Sea (Ministero dell’ambiente e della tutela del territorio e del mare)
Region of Lombardia
Water Authority of Metropolitan City of Milan (ATO Città Metropolitana di Milano)
European Centre of Employers and Enterprises providing Public Services and Services of general interest (CEEP)
Public agency for the management of irrigation and drainage in the metropolitan belt of Milan and further areas, e.g. Lodi, Monza, etc. (Est Ticino Villoresi)
National federation of Italian utilities providing public services in the sectors of environment, water and energy (Utilitalia)