On September 18th, 2024, in celebration of World Water Monitoring Day, the WATERUN project, in collaboration with D4RUNOFF and STOP UP with the support of the Horizon Results Booster hosted a highly successful webinar on urban water runoff management across Europe.
The event brought together more than 100 participants, including representatives from the European Commission, universities, and relevant institutions, highlighting the growing importance of managing urban water runoff in the context of climate change and urbanization.
The webinar featured presentations from key experts working on cutting-edge solutions in urban water management:
• Luz Herrero Castilla, project coordinator of WATERUN (AIMEN), presented innovative methodologies and findings from the project, emphasizing its contributions to improving water quality and mitigating pollution.
• Uffe Gangelhof from VandCenterSyd introduced the groundbreaking work of D4RUNOFF, focusing on the management of urban water runoff.
• Max Born from RWTH Aachen, representing STOPUP, showcased solutions to protect aquatic environments from the adverse effects of urban runoff.
The expert presentations delved deeper into advanced technologies and methodologies for monitoring water quality:
• Caoilte O'Rourke O'Cuirrin from Dublin City University highlighted the development of advanced sensors for on-site analysis of PAHs, demonstrating their crucial role in enhancing water monitoring.
• Thomas Malte Molnár Karlsson from the University of Copenhagen explored non-target analysis and chemical fingerprinting, explaining how these techniques are used to monitor environmental pollutants.
• Arnout Roukaerts from Fluves presented the use of IoT-based sensors to monitor key water parameters, such as conductivity, turbidity, and water levels.
Figure 1: DCU presentation
The success of the webinar demonstrated the value of cross-project collaboration, and the insightful discussions reaffirmed the critical need for continued innovation in managing urban water runoff.
Following the positive feedback, we are excited to announce that we are now working on a joint policy brief to address urban water runoff challenges. This policy brief, supported by HRB, will provide actionable recommendations to policymakers and stakeholders, building on the research and innovations from our projects.
Stay tuned for more updates on the progress of our joint policy brief and future collaborative efforts aimed at creating a more sustainable water future.
Authors: Marie-Paule ADDE, WATERUN project, Office International de l’Eau, mp.adde@oieau.fr -09/09/2024