Berlin and Brandenburg face a shared challenge: water is becoming a scarce resource across the region. At the same time, there are many starting points for making the region more resilient in the long term. Anyone seeking to advance water recycling as part of a future-proof water economy needs robust evidence, good examples and dialogue […]
>Braniewo in Poland shows the potential of small towns to take the lead in water recycling. Where distances are short, there is often greater room for flexibility. Committed local stakeholders can get started more easily and receive hands-on support from the administration – not least when it comes to making use of policy windows at […]
>Looking at Lithuania’s national climate data, one might assume that droughts and water scarcity are issues for the distant future, not for the present – especially in such a humid country. Yet the Klaipėda region chose to think ahead and act early. In numerous stakeholder dialogues, it became clear that farmers in the local area […]
>Because of recurring droughts and its already limited groundwater reserves, the question in Västervik, Sweden, is no longer whether water recycling is needed, but how best to do it. And even that question has now largely been answered. The municipality has made a clear strategic choice in favour of one resource: rainwater from retention ponds […]
>In Kalmar, Sweden, the water future of the Baltic Sea Region is already almost a reality. After experiencing several droughts in recent years, the question here is no longer whether water recycling is needed, but how it should be done. Successful pilot measures are pointing the way ahead, while a new wastewater treatment plant already […]
>From low-tech to high-tech. From the revival of tried-and-tested filtration techniques to refining the outputs of municipal wastewater treatment plants into ultra-pure water (UPW) for hydrogen production. With its model strategy for water recycling, the Danish Baltic Sea island of Bornholm maps out a broad spectrum of possibilities. And it does so in a remarkably […]
>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.
>