Mariana Figueira, LIFE INDESAL Technical Coordinator, ACCIONA Water Business, Sandra Martinez, Innovation Engineer, ACCIONA Water Business, discuss an innovative new circular project powering Europe’s water resilience.
From droughts to rising demand, Europe’s water systems are under pressure. That’s why the EU is embracing circular water solutions, positioning smarter, more resource‑efficient desalination at its heart for the first time.
Across the globe, water-related challenges, such as water scarcity and pollution, are escalating, putting our societies, economies, and the environment at risk.
Today, water scarcity already affects one-third of Europe. Globally, the number rises to 40%, and demand is expected to increase by 55% by 2050.
With only 1% of the world’s freshwater easily accessible, alternative sources are no longer a luxury but a necessity. However, outdated systems and unsustainable practices still impact water management.
Meanwhile, 97% of the Earth’s water is seawater. With the help of smart technologies, this vast resource can be tapped in ways that are economically viable and environmentally sound.
Meeting growing water challenges requires more than ambition. It demands innovation, and nowhere is this more evident than in desalination.
Instead of treating water as a one‑way, use‑and‑discard resource, Europe is shifting toward systems that recover, reuse, and recirculate water, along with the energy and materials tied to it. This marks a major step in strengthening long‑term water resilience across the continent.
Desalination, once seen as a last resort, is fast becoming a frontline solution to address water scarcity. Projects like LIFE INDESAL are rewriting the rules, striving to transform seawater into safe, affordable, and sustainable freshwater without compromising our climate goals.
By pioneering Low-Pressure Multi-Stage Reverse Osmosis (LMS RO), a novel integrated desalination system can reduce energy use, especially when paired with resource recovery technologies, such as Reverse Electrodialysis (RED) and Electrodialysis with Bipolar Membranes (EDBM).
By addressing water scarcity through this sustainable solution for producing safe freshwater, it is also possible to improve energy efficiency and optimise resource use.
Conventional desalination, while effective, faces two main challenges: reduction of energy consumption and sustainable brine valorisation. Addressing these challenges head-on through an integrated circular approach that relieves the pressure on high use of groundwater and surface water.
By incorporating the LMS RO technology, the system has the potential to reduce energy consumption compared to a conventional 2-pass desalination RO process while efficiently removing salts and other ions and molecules from the water, making it suitable for potable, agricultural and industrial uses.
LIFE INDESAL’s demonstration plant is operating under real conditions, offering a glimpse of a future where desalination is not just a technical fix, but a strategic investment in climate adaptation.
The demonstration plant is based at the Leading Experimental Accelerator in Desalination (LEAD®) at the San Pedro del Pinatar desalination plant in Murcia, one of Europe’s driest regions.
In this region, turning seawater into drinking water is essential for homes, farms, and local industries.
The demonstration plant integrates the project’s three core technologies (LMS RO, RED, and EDBM) into a single, fully interconnected process chain.
Rather than assessing each technology in isolation, the system was intentionally designed to operate as a continuous, side-by-side configuration, closely reflecting real conditions in desalination facilities.
By treating real water streams, the semi-industrial demo site provides essential information for the scaling up and further implementation of the technology on a larger scale.
The brine produced by LMS-RO technology is processed to become a resource: they flow into the RED unit, where the difference in salt concentration between two water streams is harnessed to produce renewable electricity.
The RED system is directly linked, both hydraulically and electrically, to the LMS RO process, creating a closed, circular flow of water and energy. The electricity generated from the brine’s salinity gradient feeds straight back into the desalination process, helping to offset part of the plant’s own power needs.
It’s a practical example of how circular design can turn desalination from a linear, resource‑consuming operation into a system that recovers value at every step.
The EDBM system closes another loop in the process by turning brine into something useful. Instead of relying on brought‑in chemicals, the demonstration plant was able to produce all the NaOH and HCl needed on site for cleaning the LMS RO membranes.
That shift makes the plant more self‑sufficient and cuts down on the transport, storage, and handling of external chemicals. This brine stream can be converted into valuable inputs that keep resources circulating within the plant rather than constantly bringing new ones in.
But this demonstration plant is just the beginning of the conversation, not the end. Europe needs a more circular and resilient development model aligned with its 2050 climate neutrality goals.
Recent advances, including the appointment of the first EU Commissioner for Water Resilience and the adoption of the Water Resilience Strategy, reflect growing political commitment to ‘an ambitious strategy for the EU to manage its water resources more efficiently and respond better to current water-related challenges’.
However, achieving real impact will depend on scaling up innovative solutions, such as LIFE INDESAL, and embedding them into national water policies. Europe cannot afford to wait until scarcity becomes a crisis.
Water is not just a natural resource; it is a critical infrastructure. Securing water future is not optional; it is essential. Investing in water resilience and circular approaches now is not only smart policy; it’s a practical way to guarantee a shared future.
