Who and what is BESSE?

Funding

The BESSE project is a knowledge brokering project funded by the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme 'Environment'.

The project involves a consortium of organisations composed of the following partners:

Department of Technology and Society Studies, Research Institute on Arts and Social Sciences, University of Maastricht (UMSTS), Netherlands;
Laboratorio di scienze della cittadinanza (LSC) (Laboratory of Citizenship Sciences), Italy;
Water, Engineering and Development Centre, Loughborough University (WEDC), UK;
Research Centre Regional and Global Development (REGLO), Bulgaria;
Comune di Castel S.Angelo di Rieti (CSA) (Municipality of Castel Saint’ Angelo of Rieti), Italy;
Water Board Company Limburg (WBL) Netherlands;
Pernik Municipality on behalf of the Water Supply and Sanitation (PNK), Bulgaria;
National Council for Research of Italy (CNR), Italy;
Italian Branch of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (AICCRE), Italy
International Water Association (IWA), Netherlands.

Wastewater treatment plant: discharge of purified wastewater from clarifier

The importance of the BESSE project

The BESSE project is important because notwithstanding the availability of new knowledge, most sanitation approaches in Europe are still based on technologies and management systems developed in the 19th and 20th centuries. These approaches and systems do not adequately respond to the sustainability or sustainable development needs and demands of the 21st century, being those concerning energy costs; the reduction of environmental impact of sanitation, etc.

There is thus an obvious gap between the processes linked to the production and transfer of knowledge and what knowledge is actually being transformed into applicable implementation models. The same applies to the knowledge produced in scientific research areas and the knowledge that is being employed.

The BESSE project will, over the next three years research the problem, identify the gaps and map the knowledge and technology options available in order to attain environmentally sustainable sanitation (ESS). The mapping will include the identification of the actors that possess the knowledge and the obstacles in the information / knowledge dissemination chain.

Wastewater treatment plant: Aeration tank

Wastewater treatment plant Maastricht Bosscherveld, aerial view

Wastewater treatment plant - Pernik, Bulgaria

Field experiments

Once the mechanisms of knowledge brokering had been identified, a series of experiments in the field of sanitation will be carried out by tackling different issues and by involving diverse actors according to the specificities of each case.
Three experimental pilot projects will be established in Northern (Netherlands), Eastern (Bulgaria) and Mediterranean Europe (Italy) and will address different problems connected to sanitation. In the Netherlands and Bulgaria, the pilot projects will be carried out in urban and industrial settings, while in Italy the pilot will be conducted in a rural area.

Part of the process is to take the results of the previous research and experimentation as the basis of a learning process: the data and information gathered will be interpreted and provisional policy guidelines – including a position paper – will be drafted on knowledge brokerage for the sanitation technology and knowledge dissemination geared towards ESS as a key component of sustainable development. The information will be shared through a series of awareness-raising initiatives.