The final information day of the Watercare project took place on Friday, December 10, in the University Library’s multimedia hall. Watercare’s field sampling results were presented, as well as the Split-Dalmatia’s pilot area - the river Cetina, and there was talk about the impact (this) sampling has on the microbiological quality of the bathing sea.
On behalf of the University of Split prof. Leandra Vranješ Markić Ph.D., Vice-Rector for Science and Innovation, congratulated everyone on another successfully completed project, which showed how scientific and professional work leads to quality results.
- The scientific sector’s cooperation with the local community, companies and associations, leads to new quality solutions addressing many challenges we are facing. Climate issues lead to higher rainfall and greater danger to the health of our fellow citizens, which you tried to solve with innovative solutions developed in this project - said Vice Rector Vranješ Markić.
Assoc. prof. Maja Krželj Ph.D., project manager from the University Department of Marine Studies, introduced WATERCARE, an international project that developed an integrated water quality monitoring system (WQIS) that will enable monitoring water quality in selected pilot areas. Its aim is developing an alert system that, in the event of microbiological water pollution in these areas, would serve as immediate warning to its users. The project has been running since January 2019, and its accepted total value is Euro 2,833,019.40, of which Euro 1,129,464.40 goes to Croatian partners, 85% of it being provided from EU funds.
A total of 10 partners (5 Croatian and 5 Italian) are participating in the project. The leading partner is the National Research Council - Institute of Marine Sciences (CNR-ISMAR) from Ancona. Croatian partners are the University Department of Marine Studies, University of Split, Split-Dalmatia County, Dubrovnik-Neretva County, Croatian Waters and the Istrian Polytechnic - Metris Centre. On the Italian side, the partnership also includes the regions Marche and Abruzzo, ‘Carlo Bo’ University of Urbino and ASET Spa.
Watercare is implemented within the cross-border program INTERREG Croatia - Italy (2014-2020). This project aims to reduce the impact of microbiological pollution in bathing waters, caused by heavy rainfall, in accordance with European Parliament and Council’s Directive 2006/7/EC, on bathing water quality management, and is one of common EU strategic priorities for improving quality of sea in coastal waters, using sustainable and innovative technologies and approaches.