THE SMARTH2OTEL PROJECT WILL CREATE INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS FOR EFFICIENT WATER MANAGEMENT IN TOURIST ESTABLISHMENTS

The SMARTH2OTEL project aims to study digital and innovative solutions for the efficient and sustainable management of the water cycle of tourist establishments, also considering the energy component.

Although water consumption in the tourism sector represents 1% of global consumption, tourism is often a significant consumer of fresh water in areas where it is a scarce resource and aquifer renewal rates are limited. A tourist can consume between 300 and 800 liters a day according to the data managed by the National Institute of Statistics. While the national average expenditure is set at around 132 liters per person/day.

The management of the water resource becomes a key element not only in terms of quality, sustainability or costs, but also basic for the guarantee of supply itself. In this way, the possibility of optimizing the use of water, without increasing the pressure on the customer, but by looking for alternative sources of the resource and applying innovative technologies to enhance its reuse within the installation itself, it is presented as the best alternative to boost the sector and increase the sustainable economy of management.

In this context, the SMARTH2OTEL project arises, in the first phase of which its partners investigate digital and innovative solutions for the efficient and sustainable management of the water cycle in tourist establishments. Subsequently, two new phases are planned in which these solutions will be developed and implemented through pilot plants in several tourist establishments. The project will also contribute to promoting the circular economy based on the reuse of water and the recovery or generation of renewable energy.

The initiative is led by CWP (Catalan Water Partnership), and the GAIA Cluster, LEITAT, AERIS Tecnologias Ambientales, Lent Ingenieros and Ulbios are working on it. It is planned that the research phase will end in April 2023 and, in successive months, the solutions developed as part of the project will be developed and implemented in hotels and other tourist establishments.

The SMARTH2OTEL project is co-financed by the European Union and the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, as part of the call for Innovative Business Groups (AEI) in 2022 (2nd call).