This project aims to strengthen the water sustainability of an industrial brewing operation located in the A Coruña region, through an integrated approach that combines the implementation of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) with water-efficient industrial technologies, digitization of water management systems, and monitoring and traceability mechanisms in line with international frameworks.
The intervention model is methodologically aligned with the VWBA 2.0 (Volumetric Water Benefit Accounting) framework to measure water benefits in terms of replenished or saved volume, and with the WQBA (Water Quality Benefit Accounting) framework to quantify improvements in water quality, particularly in receiving bodies affected by diffuse pollution.
The Cecebre reservoir basin, where the intervention will take place, is a sensitive and strategic hydrological environment under pressure from a combination of intensive agricultural activity, growing urbanization, and climate change-related effects, such as increased surface water temperature and reduced base flow. These pressures have disrupted natural purification cycles and have caused recurring episodes of eutrophication and algal blooms.
The project will address this situation through a multi-scale intervention that will act both within the industrial plant (point of demand and discharge) and in the basin (area of influence and mitigation). Artificial wetland systems will be designed as natural biofilters, industrial processes will be optimized to reduce specific water consumption, and a continuous monitoring system based on sensors, satellite imagery, and third-party audits will be deployed. The entire model will be focused on generating additional, permanent, and verifiable water benefits, with traceability through platforms such as Aqua Positive and compatibility with reporting standards like CDP, SBTs for Water, and ESRS E3.
The Cecebre reservoir is one of the main sources of potable water for the A Coruña metropolitan area and simultaneously acts as a receiving body exposed to various diffuse pressures linked to human activities. In recent years, it has experienced a progressive deterioration in water quality, associated with eutrophication phenomena caused by excessive levels of nitrogen and phosphorus from agriculture, untreated urban wastewater, and industrial discharges.
These conditions create a favorable environment for the proliferation of toxic algae and phytoplankton, directly impacting drinking water quality and requiring greater treatment efforts at potable water facilities. This dynamic threatens regional water security and increases the system’s operational costs.
In parallel, the brewing industrial operation in the area exhibits a high water demand, both in absolute volume and intensity (m³ per liter of product), and generates effluents with organic load, thermal load, and CIP (Cleaning-In-Place) process residues. Although these effluents undergo a pretreatment process, their management needs to be integrated into a broader water governance framework to avoid cumulative impacts and ensure alignment with the principles of circular economy and efficient resource use.
The convergence of these factors—deterioration in water quality, high industrial demand, seasonal water stress, and climate pressure—justifies and necessitates a strategic, measurable, and territorially contextualized intervention, such as the one proposed in this project.
The project will be based on three interrelated action lines, designed to generate combined benefits at both the industrial operations level and the environmental recovery level.
Firstly, a multi-compartment artificial wetland system will be implemented in the Viladesuso area, upstream of the Cecebre reservoir. This system will function as a natural biofilter capable of intercepting and treating diffuse loads of nutrients, suspended solids, and organic matter. The design will incorporate combined processes of sedimentation, adsorption onto selected substrates, and microbial transformation through the use of native vegetation (mainly Typha and Scirpus), all within a hydraulically modeled layout that maximizes Hydraulic Residence Time (HRT) and, therefore, its removal efficiency.
Secondly, a series of integrated technological improvements will be implemented in the brewing industrial plant to reduce the direct water footprint of the production process. Three specific operational blocks will be intervened: CIP systems, returnable bottle washing lines, and product cooling circuits. For the CIP system, rinse water recovery technologies will be installed using cyclonic separators and tangential membrane filters (UF type), as well as intermediate tanks for reusable water storage. In the bottle washing lines, dual-stage washing tunnels will be installed with high-pressure nozzles and automatic time/cycle control, built from stainless steel. Simultaneously, plate heat exchangers will be installed to maximize heat recovery and reduce hot water demand. The entire hydraulic network will be automated with motorized valves and digital pressure/flow sensors, enabling real-time consumption control. These measures will achieve a 20% to 30% reduction in specific water consumption per liter of final product, with direct impact on operational efficiency and reduction of organic load in the effluent.
Lastly, a real-time environmental and industrial monitoring network will be established, including multiparametric stations in the wetland and discharge points, flow and pressure sensors within the plant, and remote sensing tools such as Sentinel-2 imagery and NDVI indices to evaluate vegetation cover and the evolution of the restored ecological system. All data will be centralized in a SCADA system to ensure operational traceability, facilitating third-party audits and reporting under CDP Water Disclosure, Science-Based Targets for Water, and the European ESRS E3 standard.
The implementation of the water sustainability project for the brewing industry in A Coruña will be organized into three successive stages, each with clearly defined objectives, technologies, and actions, but all integrated within a unified operational logic based on the principles of additionality, traceability, and permanence of benefits as defined by the VWBA 2.0 and WQBA methodologies.
The first stage corresponds to the technical diagnosis and the establishment of the baseline. Over a four-month period, a comprehensive water audit will be conducted at the brewery to identify the points of highest water consumption, evaluate losses, and assess the performance of processes involving direct and indirect water use. This audit will be complemented by an environmental characterization of the Cecebre reservoir basin, including weekly water sampling for three months to determine baseline levels of nutrients (nitrates, phosphates), physicochemical parameters (pH, conductivity, temperature), and organic load (BOD₅, COD, total solids). During this phase, electromagnetic flow meters will be used to quantify internal flows, Keller pressure sensors will be installed on process lines, and portable multiparameter equipment will be used for in situ measurements at inflow and outflow points. All collected information will be systematized through the plant’s SCADA platform, and integrated into the quality (WQBA) and volume (VWBA) baselines, which will later be compared to the benefits generated.
The second stage, lasting six months, will involve the implementation of the technical solutions across three parallel fronts. First, a subsurface flow artificial wetland with a functional surface area of approximately 1,200 m² will be constructed. This wetland will include internal hydraulic compartmentalization with sedimentation zones, emergent macrophyte vegetation zones (Typha, Scirpus, Juncus), and polishing chambers. The system will use volcanic gravel and siliceous sand as filtration media, designed to maximize Hydraulic Residence Time (HRT) and promote nutrient biotransformation. In parallel, within the industrial plant, manual valves will be replaced with motorized proportional control valves (Belimo-type), plate heat exchangers (Alfa Laval) will be installed for heat recovery in CIP processes, and the returnable bottle washing systems will be upgraded with high-pressure, low-consumption modules. These interventions will significantly reduce the specific water consumption per liter of finished product.
The third line of action within this stage will involve the replacement of the natural gas boiler with a multifuel biomass boiler equipped with an automatic modulating control system. It will be fueled by a mix of dehydrated brewers’ spent grain and ENplus A1 certified pellets. This boiler will not only reduce emissions but also decrease water demand for cooling and provide thermal stability to the production process.
During this phase, ultrasonic level sensors (VEGA) will also be installed in the wetland compartments, along with weather stations for climate correlation and HOBO dataloggers to monitor temperature, humidity, and flow. Simultaneously, industrial sensors will continuously monitor flow and pressure in the plant, all integrated into the SCADA system to enable real-time traceability. The system will be designed so that both the wetland and the industrial technologies can be operated and optimized based on objective data.
The third stage, initially lasting six months but intended for permanent operation, will focus on result validation, operational optimization, and continuous monitoring. In this phase, the actual benefits achieved in terms of water consumption reduction and effluent quality improvement will be measured. YSI EXO2 multiparameter sensors with optical probes for dissolved oxygen, COD, pH, and nutrients will be used in the wetland and at the outlet of the treatment system. A post-intervention ecological assessment will also be conducted, including a biodiversity analysis focused on macroinvertebrate populations as indicators of aquatic habitat improvement.
Benefit validation will include the calculation of VWBs based on the difference between baseline and current flows, as well as the estimation of net pollutant reduction achieved through the wetland. The quality of this data will be ensured through external laboratory analysis under ISO 17025 accreditation, and through the use of Sentinel-2 satellite imagery and multispectral drones to assess vegetation cover and evapotranspiration (using NDVI and NDWI indices). Finally, the results will be verified by independent third parties (such as SCS Global), and reported annually through CDP Water Disclosure, ESRS E3, and the Aqua Positive platform to ensure alignment with international frameworks for transparency and accountability.
This project will represent a strategic water sustainability initiative by an industrial brewing plant located in the A Coruña region of Galicia. Its objective will be to reduce the water and ecological impact of its production processes through the application of nature-based solutions, operational efficiency technologies, and intelligent monitoring systems. The intervention will focus on improving water quality in the Cecebre reservoir basin, reducing internal water consumption, and generating measurable and verifiable benefits in terms of both volume (VWBA) and water quality (WQBA).
As a starting point, the project will include a detailed diagnosis of the hydrological status of the basin, particularly the Cecebre reservoir, which supplies both the plant and the A Coruña metropolitan area. Technical studies will have identified ongoing eutrophication processes caused by agricultural runoff, high nutrient levels (notably nitrogen and phosphorus), and climatic conditions conducive to algal and cyanobacterial proliferation. At the same time, the industrial operation will present a high water demand in the brewing, fermentation, cleaning, and packaging stages, also generating effluents with organic and thermal loads that must be managed under high environmental performance standards.
The project will be structured in three complementary technical phases, aimed at mitigating pressure on the resource, optimizing internal water management, and restoring key ecological functions in the surrounding area.
During the first phase, with an estimated duration of four months, a comprehensive plant water audit will be carried out, characterizing consumption per production line, identifying loss points, and highlighting opportunities for water recirculation. Simultaneously, a physico-chemical characterization of water from the reservoir and the plant’s discharge point will be performed, establishing a baseline with parameters such as nitrates, phosphates, BOD, COD, total solids, pH, and temperature. These measurements will be recorded in the plant’s SCADA system and complemented by accredited laboratory analysis. This phase will be essential to define the baseline for both volume and quality (VWBA/WQBA), which will then serve to quantify the benefits achieved.
The second phase, lasting six months, will involve the execution of the main technical interventions. At the basin level, a multi-compartment artificial wetland will be built in Viladesuso, designed as a subsurface passive treatment system. It will include three compartments: an initial sedimentation zone, a vegetated area with emergent macrophytes (Typha, Scirpus), and a final polishing chamber. Volcanic gravel and siliceous sand will be used as filtering substrates, and the hydraulic design will be optimized to maximize residence time and promote biological nutrient removal and water quality improvement.
Within the plant, proportional control motorized valves will be installed, plate heat exchangers will be integrated for heat recovery in CIP processes, and returnable bottle washing systems will be redesigned with high water-efficiency modules. These improvements will allow a significant reduction in specific water consumption per production unit.
A network of digital sensors will be deployed at critical points. Ultrasonic level sensors will be placed in the wetland compartments, pressure and flow dataloggers will be installed in industrial lines, and automatic weather stations will support climatic data correlation. This entire data infrastructure will be integrated into the SCADA system, enabling real-time monitoring, traceability, and automated operational reporting.
The third phase, launched after the commissioning of the solutions, will focus on technical validation of the benefits, operational fine-tuning, and continuous system operation. This phase will initially last six months, with long-term continuation under operational regime. Outcomes will be evaluated against the established baseline. VWBA benefits (m³ saved) will be calculated, and WQBA benefits will be assessed based on improvements in nutrient concentrations, organic load, and presence of critical pollutants. Aquatic biodiversity metrics will also be included, based on macroinvertebrate and vegetation monitoring.
The monitoring system will be complemented with remote sensing tools, including Sentinel-2 satellite imagery and multispectral drones to monitor wetland vegetation evolution, calculate NDVI/NDWI indices, and estimate effective evapotranspiration. The results obtained will be audited by independent entities under recognized frameworks such as CDP Water Disclosure, ESRS E3 (CSRD Directive), and Science-Based Targets for Water. Additionally, outcomes will be documented in the Aqua Positive platform, ensuring traceability, transparency, and visibility of the positive impacts generated.
© 2025 Aquapositive. All rights reserved. Further distribution is not permitted without authorization from Aquapositive.
