On October 28th 2022, the partner organizations of the two scientific EU-funded projects “Wastewater-Based Epidemiology (WBE-COVID)” and the “Sustainable Water Reuse Practices Improving Safety in Agriculture, Food and Environment (SAFE)” got together for a joint kick-off meeting held at Villa Giulia in Verbania, Italy.
The event was inaugurated by the CEO of Idea-Re S.r.l Alberto Garinei, the Major of Verbania Silvia Merchionini, the ADG INTERREG Programme Elena Recchia and the Project Officer at PRIMA Foundation Nur Eda Demir who participated virtually.
The audience consisted mainly of a group of experts involved in the implementation of the projects as well as a number of specialists and scientists interested in the topics.
Various panels were held to technically showcase their different aspects during which Marcello Marconi (Idea-Re S.r.l), Alberto Garinei (Idea-Re S.r.l), Mario Canziani (Sapra S.r.l) and Germano Cominardi (HCS Electronic SA) presented WBE, whereas Monica Brienza (UNIBAS) and Antonio Zuorro (UNIROMA, La Sapienza) presented SAFE.
The kick-off meeting was preceded on October 27 by a series of coordination sessions held simultaneously by WBE and SAFE consortium members dedicated to discuss the work packages and the distribution of tasks.
WBE-COVID is an INTERREG project which focuses on the development of an integrated system for the monitoring of sewage networks and epidemiological surveillance based on wastewater analysis, while SAFE is a PRIMA project that concentrates on sustainable water reuse practices that improve safety in agriculture, food and environment in the Mediterranean.