The SANITAS network will train a generation of urban wastewater management system professionals through European-wide training platform. The project was developed to take into account predictions of dramatic situations related to climate change in the near future and water supply or purification problems. Network members form a critical mass of excellence and will provide the innovation necessary for the comprehensive management of water use and availability in the 21st century. Active cooperation between universities, industries and government officials is must lead to a strong commitment to the creation of new technologies and innovative means to comply with European Union water resource management demands.

The project will introduce innovative methods and appropriate tools and training to allow researchers to create the innovative technologies and policies the world needs to face environmental challenges related to the quality and quantity of available water, and to determine the energy required for and the economic savings of the sustainable management of wastewater.

This four-year European project, headed by LEQUIA and with Joaquim Comas as the principal investigator, has a budget of 3,500,000 euros. It brings together seven academic and research institutions from six European countries (Great Britain, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands), two companies from the wastewater sector, one Spanish (ACCIONA) and one Belgian (AQUAFIN), and an agency responsible for the management of the water in an Israeli watershed. It forms part of the Marie Curie Initial Training Networks (ITN) of the PEOPLE Programme of the 7the Framework Programme.