The kick-off meeting of the research program AUGEIAS (Intelligent IoT management platform for treated wastewater reuse for agricultural use) was hosted online on the 20th of May 2021.

In the AUGEIA program, which is coordinated by the Associate Professor of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the University of Western Macedonia, Mrs. Malamati Louta, in which also participate the Municipal Water Supply and Sewerage Company of Kozani (DEYAK) and the Ανώνυμη Εταιρία έρευνας και ανάπτυξης δικτυακών εφαρμογών Agrosense Α.ΕThis research project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union and Greek national funds through the Operational Program Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, under the call RESEARCH - CREATE - INNOVATE (project code: T2EDK-04211), with a total budget of 522.450€ and duration 30 months.

The object of the AUGEIA project is the successful use of the reclaimed water from the biological treatment output, in a safe and efficient way, in Precision Agriculture, initially utilizing Internet of Things (IoT) and Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technologies for real time data collection, integrating it with reliaple open source data and other data (e.g. meteorologixal data or soil quality data), using advanced machine learning and forecasting techniques to support decision making for optimized use of reclaimed water of biological treatment output for irrigation.

The benefits of the AUGEIA ecosystem are manifold, both environmental and economic and social. It is foreseen:

  • Promoting the utilization of treated wastewater in a safe and efficient way
  • Saving water resources through: a) reuse (direct or indirect) of reclaimed wastewater for irrigation under Precision Agriculture, b) estimation of water resources needs for irrigation of crops and c) detection of leaks and immediate information to responsible managers and producers, making a significant contribution to tackling the effects of water scarcity and drought in the Mediterranean region, especially in the light of climate change.
  • Reduce the use of chemical ingredients in the context of Agriculture Precision through the reuse of reclaimed water of biological treatment
  • Increase of producers' profit through a) estimation of water resources for crop irrigation, b) leak detection and c) use of reclaimed water of biological treatment with dynamic pricing
  • Increase profits of managers in biological treatment with reuse and dynamic pricing of reclaimed water of biological treatment
  • Promotion of new innovative products in the market
  • Creating new jobs and increasing employment in high-tech and innovation positions.