A circular water solution

A circular
water solution
Barcelona, Spain

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CASE STUDY

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Overview

The Club Natació Atlètic-Barceloneta (CNAB) is a municipal swimming  and sports centre between the beach and the port in Barcelona. The club’s showers use approximately 80 m3 of mains water a day, about 30,000 m3 annually. This grey water is then discarded. Across the road, MB92, one of the Mediterranean’s leading shipyards for repairing and refitting yachts, uses approximately 21,900 m3 of fresh mains water annually for cleaning and maintenance. In a pioneering, innovation, a project has been developed to treat and reuse the grey water from the showers at the CNAB for cleaning the yachts at MB92. A simple, circular, sustainable solution.

“What to do about the shower water in our facilities is a key issue we needed to address as a club. This partnership demonstrates that by looking beyond our own operations, we can turn what was traditionally a waste product of our activities into a valuable resource for other industries.”

Hector Cruz, Project Director, CNAB

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Points 
of interest

The grey water undergoes advanced treatment using state-of-the-art submerged flat ultrafiltration (UF) membranes.
The project also enhances the monitoring and control of water consumption across the facilities using a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system and a mobile application.
Additional potential uses for the grey water are being explored.

“The water footprint is a crucial factor in our organization’s environmental sustainability. This innovative project will drastically enhance our water management by transitioning from mains water to reclaimed water for our industrial processes, paving the way for self-sufficiency.”

Marc Hervás, Sustainability Manager, MB92

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Conclusions

This project exemplifies the transformative power of innovation and collaboration, demonstrating how circular solutions can address resource challenges while fostering environmental stewardship. By treating and reusing grey water, CNAB and MB92 pioneer a sustainable blueprint that benefits industry and community alike. The swimming pool industry can draw inspiration from this initiative, recognizing the potential to look beyond a pool’s immediate surroundings for similar partnerships. Such forward- thinking practices can redefine resource use, inspire change and contribute to a more sustainable, resilient and interconnected society.