Background Water scarcity in Europe remains a problem, due to, amongst other things, population growth, urbanisation, and climate change. The Water Framework Directive (WFD) promotes measures for water reuse from treated wastewater as one option for helping avoid over exploitation of aquifers. In coastal and island areas this can be especially pertinent, as groundwater sources in these areas can also suffer from contamination by salt water. As an alternative water resource, treated wastewater can be reused for agricultural and landscape irrigation, industrial recycling and reuse, groundwater recharge, non-potable urban uses and indirect potable use. Using treated wastewater for these purposes reduces pressure on aquifers, especially those located in coastal areas. New technological solutions, like Forward Osmosis (FO) offer opportunities to improve the effectiveness of wastewater treatment systems and processes. Objectives The main objective of the LIFE OFREA project is to increase the amount of wastewater available for reuse in areas where the salinity of fresh water is a limiting factor. This will be achieved by demonstrating the feasibility of Forward Osmosis (FO) technology in the production of safe and high quality water from treated wastewater for reuse, at a reasonable cost. The project will also seek to ensure that the amount of energy consumed during the treatment process is 20 % lower than equivalent effluent treatment processes using reverse osmosis. The project also aims to show that FO treatment processes require 15% fewer chemicals for disinfection, pre-treatment and membrane treatment than reverse osmosis treatment processes. The project will thus seek to demonstrate a fully automated, robust and environmentally safe wastewater treatment process using FO technology. The results will be used to promote FO as a viable option for WFD stakeholders. Expected results: The main expected results of the LIFE OFREA project include: Producing high quality water with less than 1 mS/cm of electrical conductivity, which fulfils all the quality indicators of the Regulation for water reuse; 20% less energy used and 15% less chemical needed to produce water of the same quality as that from reverse osmosis treatments; A fully operational demonstration plant, which produces safe water for reuse (agricultural, urban or industrial uses) at a reasonable price. The plant will be equipped with properly tested controls and automation tools to further highlight the relevance and potential of FO as a cost effective technology for tackling Europe’s water stress.