BIO-UV Group has integrated its RW UV-C reactor into an advanced mobile water recycling unit developed under the EU-funded LIFE ReWa programme.

Led by the Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole Water Authority in partnership with DV2E and the European Membranes Institute at the University of Montpellier, the project aims to produce up to 110,000 cubic m of high-quality recycled water annually by converting treated wastewater into a sustainable urban resource.

The mobile treatment unit was engineered by Chemdoc Water Technologies and combines ultrafiltration with UV-C disinfection technology to produce four different water quality grades at flow rates of between 25 and 40 cubic m per hour.

Testing will take place across five wastewater treatment plants in the Montpellier metropolitan area — Lattes, Fabrègues, Cournonterral, Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone and Saint-Georges-d’Orques — to validate treatment processes for applications including road cleaning, irrigation, sewer flushing, fire protection, green space maintenance and industrial reuse.

At present, Montpellier’s 13 wastewater treatment plants discharge around 32 million cubic m of treated wastewater into the sea and waterways each year, with less than 0.01% currently being reused.

Laurent Emmanuel Migeon, chief executive officer of BIO-UV Group, said the project would provide valuable technical data to help define future treatment standards and water quality specifications for urban wastewater reuse applications across Europe.

Salvador Pérez, director of Chemdoc Water Technologies, described the mobile unit as a “fantastic demonstrator” of how advanced purification and disinfection technologies can support new urban wastewater reuse applications, including those requiring drinking water-level standards.

Co-funded by the EU, the Occitanie Region and the Rhône Méditerranée Corse Water Agency, the LIFE ReWa programme is considered one of France’s most ambitious water reuse initiatives and could serve as a model for other European cities.

The project will run until Sep 2026, with long-term plans to increase recycled water production in the region to 1 million cubic m annually by 2041 through the deployment of two additional mobile treatment units.

The initiative comes as water scarcity intensifies across Europe, with around 20% of the Mediterranean population already experiencing constant water stress — rising to 50% during summer months — and shortages expected to affect half of Europe’s catchment areas by 2030.