On the 7^th and 8^th of May 2015, the research group GENOCOV will host the 1^st  meeting of the ESSEM COST Action ES1403 NEREUS: New and emerging challenges and opportunities in wastewater reuse (http://www.nereus-cost.eu/). The event will be held at the School of Engineering.

Dr. María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda (@mesuarezojeda) and Dr. Julián Carrera (@juliancarrera9) from GENOCOV (@GENOCOV) research group will organize the meeting, where more than 85 researchers (49% female and 51% male) from 29 EU countries, Australia, United States of America, Tunisia and Israel will discuss about emerging challenges and opportunities in wastewater reuse. During these days, the management committee and the working groups will set-up the bases for collaborative working during the action.

The ESSEM COST Action ES1403 NEREUS (@NEREUS_WWreuse) is the biggest COST Action ever. NEREUS aims to answer critical questions through a European multidisciplinary network, structured in interactive Working Groups (WGs), to achieve: a) identification of the microbiome and mobile antibiotic resistome in treated wastewater, b) assessment of the potential for uptake/transmission of microcontaminant’s and ARB&Gs in crops, c) determination of effect-based bioassays required for wastewater reuse, d) identification of efficient/economically viable technologies able to meet the current challenges and, e) development of a relevant risk assessment and policy framework. Also, the action aims to establish criteria on technologies/assessment methods for wastewater treatment and suggest new effluent quality criteria to overcome current barriers and safeguard the reuse practice.

GENOCOV (@GENOCOV) stands for Research Group on Biological Treatment and Valorisation of Liquid and Gas Effluents. The research Group is leader by Dr. Javier Lafuente. The members of GENOCOV (@GENOCOV) research group are researchers of the Department of Chemical Engineering of the School of Engineering at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. GENOCOV (@GENOCOV) has been recognized by the Catalan University Quality System (AQU) as a reference research group (2009 and 2013 SGR). GENOCOV (@GENOCOV) activities are focused on Urban and Industrial Wastewater Treatment, Valorisation of Effluents, and Characterization and Treatment of Gaseous Effluents. These activities are presented in the following main research areas: i) Urban wastewater treatment, ii) Industrial wastewater treatment, iii) Recovery of biopolymers, iv) Fundamentals of bioelectrochemical systems and scaling-up, v) Conversion of chemical scrubbers into biotrickling filters, vi) Treatment of highly-loaded off-gases and vii) Characterization and biofiltration of odorous effluents.