GUARDIAN: The Re-Use of Water in the defence against Forest Fires

Authors

Javier Anguiano Aranzubia: Hidraqua

Jose Morales: Riba-roja de Túria Town Hall

Ferrán Dalmau Rovira: Medi XXI

Lydia Puchol Rodríguez: Medi XXI

Francesc Hernández Sancho: Valencia University

Carlos Echevarria Diez-Canedo: Cetaqua

Forest fires in the so-called Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) have become a growing risk for these areas, as has been shown recently, among others, by the high-fatality events in Greece and California, or in 2017 in Portugal and Spain (Galicia). The application of innovative technologies and strategies applied successfully in recent years and based on the rise in the availability of structural water in green firebreaks, and fire prevention/suppression irrigation confront the problem of the availability of the hydrological resources required. This barrier is especially significant in zones where the hydrological stress associated with climate change simultaneously raises the fire risk. The GUARDIAN project, developed in the Valencian towns of Riba-roja and Paterna, and supported by the European Union through the Urban Innovative Action Programme, seeks to meet this challenge through the use of regenerated water integrated in the implementation of the aforementioned solutions. The GUARDIAN project will also apply advanced treatment solutions that allow water flows with contaminated loads associated with the use of agricultural pesticides to be used for this purpose, fulfilling efficiency and sustainability criteria.

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