Submitted by Chloe Chavardes on 23 May 2023
Panoramic view of the Las Llamas Park. In the right, the east side with the Palacio de Deportes, at the left, the west side with the Arenas bridge.
Area characterisation: 

Warm and temperate, with comfortable and dry summers, while winters are long, cold, wet, and windy. The topography of the municipality of Santander, with an approximate surface area of 36 km², configures four well-differentiated watersheds, to which the main existing sewage systems in the city are associated: Sanitation of Santander Bay in the South basin, Sanitation of the trough of Las Llamas, Main collector Cueto – Monte, and General collector San Martín neighbourhood - 1º de Mayo - Ría de Raos.

Objective: 

The D4RUNOFF project’s goal is to create a novel framework for preventing and managing diffuse pollution from urban water runoff. This will be achieved by designing hybrid nature-based solutions (NbS) and a data-driven AI-platform to support policy and decision making.

The case studies have been identified for the implementation and validation of this approach in varying environments. The replicability of these results will then be assessed at five replication sites. The Las Llamas Park in Santander has been chosen as one of three case study sites as part of the D4RUNOFF project.

Potential impacts/benefits: 

1. Mitigate damage to treatment systems due to overflow incidents.

2. Novel detection methods for the characterisation of urban runoff pollutants.

3. Novel sensors for remote measurement of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) and new pollutants.

4. Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) framework for hybrid NbS design.

5. AI-Assisted urban runoff management platform.

NbS benefits 
  • Developing climate change adaptation; improving risk management and resilience
  • Developing climate change mitigation
  • Increase quality and quantity of green and blue infrastructures
  • Increased cultural richness and biodiversity
  • Enhancing sustainable urbanisation
  • Improve water quality
  • Increase awareness of NBS solution & their effectiveness and co benefits
  • Increase communities’ sense of ownership
  • Increase population & infrastructures protected by NBS
  • Increase stakeholder awareness & knowledge about NBS
  • Reduce costs for water treatments
  • Social learning about location & importance of NBS
  • Sustainable development of coastal regions
Transferability of the result: 

The methods and tools developed in the project (novel measurements methods, online sensors, risk mapping, etc,) will be implemented, tested and validated in Santander, one of the three demonstration sites of this project.

Replicability will be assessed in five sites: Pisa Sud (Italy), Algeciras (Spain), Ostrava (Czech Republic), Gdansk (Poland) and El Cairo (Egypt).

NbS classification 
  • Wetlands
  • Permeable car parks
Contacts: 

Nicolás Morales (Aqualia)

Jorge Rodríguez (UniCan)

Sustainable Development Goals 
  • 6. Clean Water and Sanitation
  • 9. Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
  • 11. Sustainable Cities and Communities