On 28 October 2025, the first General Assembly of the Euroregion Baltic in its new formal structure as a European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) was held in Gdańsk. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Leszek Bonna, Deputy Marshal of the Pomorskie Voivodeship, and marked a significant step in strengthening cross-border cooperation across the Baltic […]
>Bornholm has used a feasibility study to examine a question that could turn the entire Baltic Sea Region into a major player in renewable energy: Could recycled water be used to produce the hydrogen needed to store wind energy? The answer is yes – and it is significantly more cost-effective than using desalinated seawater. But the right conditions have to be in place.
>In the Swedish municipality of Västervik, the initially simple idea of building rainwater retention ponds has evolved into the concept of “Mini Multi-dams”: making rainwater directly usable and creating many small basins wherever there are users for the water. This is because groundwater is at times scarce in this region, and such periods are becoming more frequent, while stormwater is not.
>In Saldus in Latvia, the simple wish for a fountain in the town centre has grown into a holistic concept that combines flood protection and water recycling with an upgrade of public space. The end result is a feasibility study ready for implementation – not only in Saldus, but potentially in many other places across the Baltic Sea Region.
>At first, the retention basin in Gargždai was planned with a single purpose in mind: preventing floods. But long-term climate projections suggest that Lithuania, too, will not only face more intense rainfall, but also longer dry periods. So the planners decided to think a step ahead and ask how the stored water could be used – and in doing so, they turned the town into a national pioneer in water recycling.
>In the past, the car park in front of the indoor swimming pool in Braniewo, Poland, was heavily sealed – an urban heat island in summer and, in spring, an exacerbating factor for flooding. Today, a rain garden stores water, cools the surroundings, and enhances the area. So simple, so important, so transferable across the entire Baltic Sea Region.
>It is astonishing, really, that recycling swimming‑pool water has never been systematically tested before. In this sense, the pilot in Braniewo – set up by the local municipal administration in cooperation with the Gdańsk University of Technology – is a true pioneering achievement, with encouraging results.
>A pilot project on Bornholm demonstrates how forward-looking water recycling for agricultural use can succeed with well-established technologies. Even more importantly, it has sparked significant momentum in Denmark’s national policy debate.
>After several droughts, it became clear that the municipality of Kalmar in Sweden urgently needed a new water strategy. The other important conclusion was that in order to develop it quickly, everyone should just get down to work and test out alternatives. Here is a report from a place where there is a lot going on and everything is flowing in the right direction.
>At the first of two WaterMan Roundtables in Brussels on 16 January 2025, the discussion flowed openly and directly: Do we need specific water-recycling regulations for Europe’s humid regions? And to which extent can the existing EU Water Reuse Regulation (2020/741) be stretched to support other use cases, beyond its agricultural focus? It was the beginning of a dialogue with ambitions reaching well beyond policy detail.
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