CITIZEN CO-CREATION: SHAPING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE OF WASTEWATER TREATMENT IN SERBIA BY PIONEERING ENERGY-NEUTRAL & ZERO-WASTE APPROACH (DivSci)
from 31/01/2024 until 31/12/2025
In a growing number of local communities in Serbia, the EU candidate country, citizens have already raised their voices against the harmful discharge of untreated wastewater into the environment. Despite their growing participation in local urban planning, and endless efforts to help resolve environmental issues, citizens often lack sufficient knowledge to be able to define specific topics and efficiently search for appropriate solutions. On the other hand, although some of the WWTPs in Serbia are successfully operating, energy self-sufficiency and resource recovery are not yet on the official agenda but are among the priority research and scientific topics in the Serbian SROs. Research on the implementation of the existing water pollution control including a new paradigm of energy-neutral and zero-waste WW treatment will be conducted in the Divčibare Case Study. Divčibare is a popular mountain resort on Mt Maljen in Western Serbia. Despite recent galloping urbanization, its sanitary sewer infrastructure remains undeveloped. Consequently, untreated wastewaters are discharged from the sewer into mountain creeks while septic tanks often overflow. Drinking water from the water distribution system is used for snowmaking. Health and environmental hazards on the site have been repeatedly reported by citizens and their local associations.The core of the project is the co-participation of Divčibare and Valjevo local population and environmental activists guided by the researchers from Belgrade University in research for the BAT for Divčibare WWT under the new EU energy/resource recovery guidelines. Based on citizen science inputs, student-level WWT designs will be developed to include several energy/resource recovery scenarios in at least two MSc theses. The primary methodology focuses on a strong citizen science approach, and active involvement of the general public in scientific research through data collection, collaboration with researchers, other project team members and stakeholders, crowdsourcing, co-participative data validation, analyses and results interpretation, and public engagement to educate the wider population, including children and the youth. In addition to using project data and results to scale up innovative and sustainable (energy-neutral and zero-waste) WWT solutions in different communities in Serbia, the project will fully justify the citizen science concept: citizens, with first-hand insight into the issues, will be given the opportunity for greater public engagement and democratization of science, acknowledgment in project results and publications and the potential to influence policy for the benefit of the society while also raising awareness among young people about the environmental issues.
Aim
In numerous local communities in Serbia, the public is revolted by the harmful discharge of untreated wastewater into the environment. Self-organized, voluntarily, and through the existing legal mechanisms, citizens increasingly participate in local urban planning, influencing the transparency of decision-making. However, they often lack sufficient knowledge in the specific field to be able to articulate the right questions and map relevant stakeholders. The project aims to engage citizens through a co-creation process with academic institutions and major stakeholders in joint scientific research on the implementation of the EU wastewater management guidelines involving a new paradigm of energy self-sufficiency and resource recovery, for a popular tourist resort Divčibare, Serbia. Through the co-participative process, citizens will build their capacity to improve public utility services and policies, strengthening the liaisons with the existing and new stakeholders.
Needed equipment
For environmental observations, tracking biodiversity and environmental accidents mapping citizen scientists can use their own smartphones for: data collection, photography, data upload to DIVSCI project platform and GPS mapping. CitSci platform will hopefully be used to streamline the reporting process directly by the citizen scientists. https://citsci.org/projects/divsci-citizen-co-creation-shaping-a-sustainable-future-of-wastewater-treatment-in-serbia/
About funding
Funding bodies: The Center for the Promotion of Science (CPN)
About branding
Logo design by: https://www.divsci.rs/index.en.html
Created Sept. 21, 2024, 10:48 a.m.
Updated Sept. 25, 2024, 11:25 a.m.
