QleanUP at a glance

What’s QleanUP about?

Europe’s urban water systems face mounting pressure from climate change, emerging pollutants like PFAS and microplastics, and the complexities of rapid urbanization. The EU-funded QleanUP project unites a multidisciplinary consortium of technology providers, research institutes, and water utilities to deliver a next-generation water quality management platform. By merging innovative hardware sensors with AI-driven digital twins and inclusive stakeholder engagement, QleanUP is transforming urban water management from reactive monitoring to proactive, risk-based resilience.

What’s QleanUP about?
What are the challenges?

What are the challenges?

  • A lack of real-time tools to detect both traditional and emerging pollutants.

  • Digital models often exist in “silos,” making it difficult to predict how pollution spreads across the entire urban water chain.

  • There is no unified space where monitoring tools, predictive models, and management plans come together to support evidence-based decisions.

Objectives of QleanUP

What are the challenges?

Catching Pollution 10x Faster

1 • Catching Pollution 10x Faster

Our new, low-cost sensors find harmful chemicals and bacteria ten times faster and 25% cheaper than traditional labs, keeping your water safer for less.

Catching Pollution 10x Faster

2 • Spotting “Invisible” Threats 24/7

We use smart AI to track hidden risks like chemical residues and germs in real-time, providing constant protection without waiting days for lab results. We use predictive AI to help cities spot and stop water risks early, ensuring a reliable water supply for the long term.

Catching Pollution 10x Faster

3 • An Emergency “Command Center”

We provide water managers with a single, clear digital dashboard. This “all-in-one” view allows them to make instant decisions to protect the public during emergencies. By involving students and local groups in our planning, we create transparent water safety plans that every citizen can understand and trust.

The project’s approach

Next-Gen Sensing

Next-Gen Sensing:

We are validating innovative, real-time “hard” sensors for heavy metals and nutrients, alongside specialized techniques to quantify microplastics and PFAS.

AI & Soft-Sensing

AI & Soft-Sensing:

Where physical sensors are too costly or technically difficult, QleanUP uses Digital Twins and “soft-sensors” (AI-driven models) to estimate pollutant levels and simulate “what-if” scenarios.

Proactive Risk Management:

Proactive Risk Management:

By combining real-time data with predictive analytics, the platform enables water utilities to respond up to five times faster to contamination events.

Inclusive Co-Creation

Inclusive Co-Creation

Through Multi-Stakeholder Forums and Citizen Science, we ensure that technical solutions are grounded in social reality and embraced by the communities they protect.