Decire-Water

Decentralized Solutions for a Circular and Efficient Water Management – from Demonstration to the Market

Programme: Horizon Europe

Action: Innovation Action (HORIZON-IA)

Duration: 1 June 2025 – 31 May 2028

Call: HORIZON-CL6-2024-CircBio-02-4-two-stage

Contact: doc. Jan Vlachý

Water scarcity and the increasing pressure on water resources due to climate change, population growth, and urbanisation pose significant challenges for sustainable water management. In many regions, particularly dry and urban areas, the traditional centralised water and wastewater treatment systems are no longer adequate to meet these challenges. Therefore, there is an urgent need to further develop and demonstrate co-created decentralised and integrated solutions prioritising sustainability and circularity to protect the environment and human well-being and comply with European regulations and sustainable development goals (SDGs).

DECIRE-WATER is a fast-track innovation action aimed at transforming the water sector by 2028. It seeks to provide water utilities with pioneering, affordable, and sustainable decentralised water systems predominantly based on Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) but also incorporating further technical solutions at TRL 7-8 at project completion, tailored to specific local conditions — geographic, climatic, and socio-economic. These systems, designed to operate independently or in conjunction with existing centralised infrastructure, will be further developed with advanced real-time monitoring and digital tools to ensure optimal performance, resilience and sustainability.

The project will promote circular water management practices, focusing on water and resource reuse, energy efficiency and stormwater management. Additionally, DECIRE-WATER aims to identify the most effective market introduction strategies for these solutions by enhancing stakeholder acceptance, providing policy decision-making frameworks, and testing public-private circular business models.

By 2028, DECIRE-WATER will deliver large-scale solutions (TRL 7-8) demonstrated across five European locations and one site in South Africa under various geographic, climatic and socio-economic conditions.