📋 Tender Overview
A significant environmental problem in city zoos is excessive water consumption leading to excessive Waste Water treatment needs and impacts on surrounding surface water via runoff. Zoos consume a large amount of drinking water, which is associated with high operating costs. Moreover, zoos face particular challenges at times of water shortage, e.g. the recent drought in EU, and are not designed with water resilience in mind. LIFE4ZOO meets 2 challenges of suboptimal water-use and low resilience to water shortages that are faced by zoos. It takes to demonstration a structured and integrated approach to water management that supports local re-use cycles multiple times, lowers both WW treatment demand & surface water risks, and buffers water supply in engineered wetland. It is highly site specific, but built from an overarching central design concept and tool box of unit processes. The design is based on a diagnosis of opportunities for water re-use and how these cascades within the zoo environment. Its use of nature-based solution (NBS) and the integration of renewable energy reduces both energy demand and fossil C footprint for zoo water supply and treatment. The buffering and multiple cycles of water use vastly improve the climate change resilience of the zoos. WaterSave+ will be prototyped and demonstrated at 2 zoos in different climatic zones. In addition, there are wider benefits including improvements for animal welfare (water availability) and community well-being through the creation of green lungs in urban heat islands in the centres of EU cities. The location of this project at visitor attractions will be used to create a significant impact on the environmental education of the public. This project has wider importance as many ZOOs use water in a suboptimal way and are particularly vulnerable to changes in water supply, especially if sudden like the recent drought.LIFE4ZOO will also engage with these sectors so they can benefit from lessons learned as well
