WEAM4i General Meeting in Lisbon

Europe is adding efforts on the rational use of water and energy: A smart network for the management of irrigation

Agriculture sector is accountable for 30% of the total water consumption in Europe, reaching up to 70% of total water consumption in several European southern countries. In recent years, most of the efforts have been focused on water efficiency, without taking into account energy aspects, resulting in some cases on a significant increase in energy consumption.

WEAM4i (Water and Energy Advanced Management for Irrigation) is a European project co-funded by the European Union under the 7th Framework Program for RTD with a budget of 7.6 M € over 42 months, which started on November 1st, 2013.The WEAM4i consortium is led by Meteosim and ADASA Sistemas companies, and is composed of 17 members from five European countries: Spain, Germany, Portugal, the Netherlands and France.

WEAM4i will respond to the aforementioned challenge through improving the efficiency of water use and reducing the costs of power irrigation systems.  It is planned to develop a smart network for the management of irrigation that will act interactively on the rational use of water and energy.

The obtained results will be tested and evaluated in three regions of the European Union covering a wide range of crops, water resources and energy markets: Aragon (Spain), Lower Saxony (Germany) and Alentejo (Portugal).

Between the 20th-22nd October 2014, WEAM4i consortium will hold a meeting in Lisbon, Portugal, where the participants will discuss the progress of the project and its planned activities with the presence of distinguished Portuguese guests:

• Pedro Teixeira – General Director of the Agriculture and Rural development Agency, DGADR,
• António Campeã da Mota – Director of Irrigation Services, DGADR,
• Manuela Matos – Vice President of the Portuguese Environmental Agency, APA,
• Manuel Bóia– Coordinator of Energy Agency, ADENE,
• João Paulo Calau – Director of Audits, Energy Agency, ADENE, and
• José Costa Gomes – Director of Water Economy of the Alqueva Development Firm, EDIA

In addition to the general meeting and work discussions, the participants will visit water user associations where they will have the chance to see their working systems, pump stations, perimeter and structures, talk to experts (engineers and technicians in person), and visit the dam. In parallel, they will get the opportunity to visit the Portuguese demo-sites in: ABORO (Ferreira do Alentejo) and ABRoxo (Montes Velhos).