Eliminating Micro-Pollutants from Effluents for REuse STrategies
EMPEREST
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EMPEREST

PROGRAMME 2021-2027
priority
2 Water-smart societies
objective
2.1 Sustainable waters
Project type
Implementation
January 2023 - December 2025
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EMPEREST

The project EMPEREST tests advanced treatment technology that helps water utilities and companies better remove organic micropollutants such as PFAS or pharmaceuticals from wastewater.
In the spotlight

The third EMPEREST newsletter is out! Never miss our PFAS news again: subscribe to follow our transnational work on eliminating micropollutants from wastewater effluent. This will ensure that you can join relevant events and benefit from project outputs!

Would you like to test our solutions locally? Contact the Lead partner (contact below on this page) if you are interested in mapping PFAS hotspots in your cities, getting more information about effective and cost-efficient advanced technologies for removing micropollutants from wastewater, or to learn more about addressing PFAS.

Project summary

The EMPEREST project supports local authorities, wastewater treatment operators, and the policy-making community in ensuring a safer water management cycle. The project focuses on the elimination of PFAS and other organic micropollutants from wastewater. The PFAS (Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) group, also known as “forever chemicals”, are currently one of the most pressing environmental challenges in the Baltic Sea region as identified in the latest holistic assessment of the Baltic Sea (HOLAS 3). Local level stakeholders lack knowledge and technological resources to tackle the problem, and the regional level needs a uniform approach to PFAS monitoring.

The EMPEREST project develops a comprehensive and versatile set of tools and recommendations to ensure a holistic approach to PFAS elimination. Among the solutions prepared in the project are regional strategies for monitoring and assessment, technological advances in wastewater treatment, risk management assessment for cities, and training materials for water experts.

  1. On the regional level, the EMPEREST partner HELCOM prepares methodological recommendations to monitor PFAS group in the aquatic environment, ensuring its relevance for the countries in BSR in a continuous science-policy dialogue.
  2. On the local level, EMPEREST equips municipalities with a framework for mapping PFAS risks in the urban environment, which will allow them to assess the potential PFAS hotspots and pollution sites in a dialogue with the local water ecosystems and propose relevant risk mitigation strategies.
  3. EMPEREST also works with the experts at the wastewater treatment plants, supporting them in making informed decisions about cost-effective technologies for micropollutant removal to unlock future large-scale investments. The project tests advanced treatment technologies with mobile pilot containers to demonstrate the efficient technologies to other water utilities in the region who are planning large-scale investments imposed by upcoming regulation changes.
  4. In support to these activities, EMPEREST builds the capacities of local authorities and public service providers with an interactive training package to inform them about the recent developments in the field and train them with tailored materials and tools.

All these activities are executed in a truly transnational spirit, made possible by the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme, to ensure the reliability and transferability of the project solutions. Every element is not only developed together with the 14 partners of the project, but is also engaging dozens of other stakeholders in the region. Would you like to learn more or test our solutions locally? Contact the Lead partner (contact below on this page) to get connected with experts who develop these innovative ideas and tools!

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Budgets

EMPEREST
in numbers.
  • 5.43
    Million
    Total
  • 4.35
    Million
    Erdf
  • 0.00
    Million
    Norway

Highlights from the project

News

EMPEREST and APRIORA share measures to tackle micropollutants at the EUSBSR Annual Forum
Most activities on the topic of hazardous substances end up divided into either “downstream” or ...

News

PFAS risks and how to manage them: EMPEREST workshop in Riga
What can cities do about PFAS to protect their citizens? Over 70 experts met in Riga on 10 October ...

News

Taking samples in Finland, Estonia and Germany to trace PFAS in water
One of the EMPEREST aims is to propose a methodology to develop a harmonized PFAS monitoring system ...

News

EMPEREST is testing PFAS solutions for practitioners, cities, and the region
Entering the midpoint of the project, it’s time to look around and reflect on what we have ...

News

Interview with Louise Floman, coordinator of EUSBSR PA Hazards
Louise Floman works at the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management, and she is the Lead ...

News

Interview with MEP Nils Torvalds on updating the Wastewater Treatment Directive
With the process of updating the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive ongoing, the UBC Sustainable ...

News

Why are PFAS a concern and how are they regulated?
You might have heard the term ‘forever chemicals’ or read the abbreviation PFAS, meaning per- ...
40 Benefitting organisations 3 Solution(s) in preparation 3 Solution(s) plannedfor use / upscale 4 Pilotactivities 22 Organisationsin the project

EMPEREST
in numbers.

  • 60.450661322.276476769601523
  • 60.167245124.9597605
  • 58.3670824526.692510929166655
  • 52.51094213.3287375
  • 60.448910322.2960629
  • 54.348501118.6056615
  • 53.430181814.5509623
  • 58.33990900000000626.734395995770676
  • 59.433452524.707581335013163
  • 54.898213923.9044817
  • 60.443115622.238092410201965
  • 52.116357711.6118868
  • 54.898623623.925300841787475
  • 56.94800329999999624.105344185015785

Project partners

Lead partnerUnion of the Baltic Cities Sustainable Cities Commission c/o City of Turku
  • Town
    Turku
  • Region
  • Country
    Finland
  • Region
    Varsinais-Suomi
Total partner budget
632,571.46
Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission - Helsinki Commission (HELCOM)
  • Town
    Helsinki
  • Region
  • Country
    Finland
  • Region
    Helsinki-Uusimaa
Total partner budget
431,311.00
University of Tartu
  • Town
    Tartu
  • Region
  • Country
    Estonia
  • Region
    Lõuna-Eesti
Total partner budget
374,731.00
Berlin University of Technology
  • Town
    Berlin
  • Region
  • Country
    Germany
  • Region
    Berlin
Total partner budget
603,551.19
Turku University of Applied Sciences (TUAS)
  • Town
    Turku
  • Region
  • Country
    Finland
  • Region
    Varsinais-Suomi
Total partner budget
332,274.60
Gdańsk Water Utilities
  • Town
    Gdańsk
  • Region
  • Country
    Poland
  • Region
    Gdański
Total partner budget
644,722.30
Water and Sewage Company Ltd. of Szczecin
  • Town
    Szczecin
  • Region
  • Country
    Poland
  • Region
    Miasto Szczecin
Total partner budget
305,632.55
Tartu Waterworks Ltd
  • Town
    Tartu
  • Region
  • Country
    Estonia
  • Region
    Lõuna-Eesti
Total partner budget
646,798.00
Tallinn Water Ltd
  • Town
    Tallinn
  • Region
  • Country
    Estonia
  • Region
    Põhja-Eesti
Total partner budget
340,344.80
"Kaunas water" Ltd.
  • Town
    Kaunas
  • Region
  • Country
    Lithuania
  • Region
    Kauno apskritis
Total partner budget
201,576.00
Turku Region Wastewater Treatment Plant
  • Town
    Turku
  • Region
  • Country
    Finland
  • Region
    Varsinais-Suomi
Total partner budget
354,785.60
DWA German Association for Water, Wastewater and Waste DWA Regional group North-East
  • Town
    Magdeburg
  • Region
  • Country
    Germany
  • Region
    Magdeburg, Kreisfreie Stadt
Total partner budget
164,543.60
Environmental Center for Administration and Technology
  • Town
    Kaunas
  • Region
  • Country
    Lithuania
  • Region
    Kauno apskritis
Total partner budget
149,318.40
City of Riga
  • Town
    Riga
  • Region
  • Country
    Latvia
  • Region
    Rīga
Total partner budget
249,883.20

Associated organisations

Contacts

News

Events

12-14
May
EMPEREST project 4th workshop in Szczecin
Project: EMPEREST
Physical Meeting
12. - 14. May 2025
    29-31
    October
    EMPEREST at the 15th Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region
    Project: EMPEREST
    Physical Meeting
    29. - 31. October 2024
    10-11
    October
    EMPEREST project 3rd workshop in Riga
    Project: EMPEREST
    Physical Meeting
    10. - 11. October 2024
    10-12
    June
    EMPEREST project 2nd workshop in Gdańsk
    Project: EMPEREST
    Physical Meeting
    10. - 12. June 2024
    26
    March
    UBC TALKS about mapping and monitoring PFAS in cities
    Project: EMPEREST
    Virtual Meeting
    26. March 2024
    09:30 - 11:00 (CET)
    04-08
    March
    European Ocean Days
    Project: EMPEREST
    Virtual Meeting & Physical Meeting
    04. - 08. March 2024
    12-14
    February
    EMPEREST project 1st workshop in Tartu
    Project: EMPEREST
    Physical Meeting
    12. - 14. February 2024
    30
    November
    EMPEREST Expert meeting on monitoring
    Project: EMPEREST
    Virtual Meeting & Physical Meeting
    30. November 2023
    (EET)
    05
    October
    EMPEREST at the 14th Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region
    Project: EMPEREST
    Physical Meeting
    05. October 2023
    25-26
    May
    EMPEREST workshop on PFAS risk assessment
    Project: EMPEREST
    Physical Meeting
    25. - 26. May 2023
    06-08
    February
    EMPEREST project Kick-off
    Project: EMPEREST
    Physical Meeting
    06. - 08. February 2023
    - (EET)

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