Another WaterMan project partner meeting – Interreg BSR

On 31st March 2021 WaterMan project partners and associated parties related to the works of ERB Water Core Group met together to discuss the works on the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Seed Money Facility project “WaterMan”.

PROBLEMS & OPPORTUNITIES TO BE ADDRESSED in WaterMan Project

Reducing the outflows of nutrients & hazardous substances to surface water, groundwater and the Baltic Sea, in particular, is the main concern of water management in the BSR and will remain its foremost task in the future. At the same time, the effects of climate change pose new challenges to water supply: Droughts limit in certain periods the quantity of water for various uses (e.g. drinking water, agriculture). Floods impair the quality of drinking water – and thus indirectly its quantity, too. Studies (e.g. by SMHI) predict that problems linked to water shortage will become even more severe in the future.

The two mentioned tasks cannot be addressed as a question of either / or. The ambition must be both to meet environmental goals with regard to outflows of nutrient & hazardous substances at a high level as well as to secure water supply at the same time.

Possible synergies between them, however, were hitherto not widely addressed despite obvious potentials: If effluent water is retained, re-circulated & re-used, water supply will not only be more secure & climate-resilient. At the same go, this will be an effective way to reduce outflows of nutrients & hazardous substances.

OBJECTIVES & SPECIFIC FOCUS OF THE PROJECT

WaterMan seeks to develop and promote new circular approaches to reduce outflows of nutrients & hazardous substances to surface water, groundwater and the Baltic Sea, which contribute to the climate-resilient water supply at the same time. The project will thereby focus on opportunities & perspectives that are not sufficiently addressed yet:

 Decreasing outflows of nutrients & hazardous substances and climate-resilient water supply are still tackled separately, in most cases. WaterMan strives for integrating these fields of action and approaches that address both challenges at the same go.

 Circular approaches do exist already in this field. However, they focus merely on the re-use of sludge & nutrients. WaterMan will go further and seeks to add to them ways to recirculate & re-use the effluent water itself.

 In the centre of attention will thereby be measures & techniques to re-use water from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and the retention of water before flowing into the Baltic Sea. Thus, fewer groundwater resources are needed and the water supply becomes more climate-resilient.

 The geographic focus will be on those parts of the BSR, where droughts & floods challenge water supply to a particular extent – and that hence may outstandingly benefit from re-circulation & re-use of water (e.g. coastal tourism hotspots = high drinking water demand in times potentially scarce supply, river deltas with intensive agriculture, coastal cities etc.).

 WaterMan addresses the local level. The primary target groups are municipalities & water companies. The aim is to develop concrete if possible low-cost approaches that they can implement with existing resources – so that replication is likely. A specific focus is on wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), many of which need reconstruction in the
near future to meet revised national EU Directive thresholds of nitrate & phosphate.

 Consequently, WaterMan does not remain on the level of studies & concepts but strives for developing approaches and solutions to a “ready-to-use” level by concrete pilot actions & investments.

About the ERB Water Core Group

WCG Work Plan 2020-2022

List of ERB WCG members: https://www.eurobalt.org/category/water-core-group-board/

You can find information on our Interreg Baltic Sea Region Seed Money project on the Programme website in the projects library now. The project is the flagship activity of the Euroregion Baltic Water Core Group led by our ERB Member – Region Kalmar County from Sweden.

https://projects.interreg-baltic.eu/projects/waterman-seed-232.html

Climate-resilient wastewater and groundwater management by circular approaches that reduce outflows of nutrients and hazardous substances – WaterMan project

Reducing the outflows of nutrients & hazardous substances to surface water, groundwater and the Baltic Sea, in particular, is the primary concern of water management in the BSR and will remain its foremost task in the future. At the same time, the effects of climate change pose new challenges to water supply: Droughts limit in specific periods the quantity of water for various uses (e.g. drinking water, agriculture). Floods impair the

quality of drinking water – and thus indirectly its quantity, too. SMHI has predicted that problems linked to water shortage will become even more severe in the future.

The two mentioned tasks cannot be addressed as a question of either/or. The ambition must be to meet environmental goals at a high level and to secure water supply. Possible synergies between them, however, were hitherto not widely addressed: If effluent water is retained, re-circulated & re-used, water supply will not only be more secure & climate-resilient. At the same go, this will be an effective way to reduce outflows of

nutrients & hazardous substances.

WaterMan develops and promotes circular approaches to reduce outflows of nutrients & hazardous substances to surface water, groundwater and the Baltic Sea in particular, which at the same time contribute to the climate-resilient water supply. Its centre of attention is measures & techniques to re-use water from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and the retention of water before flowing into the Baltic Sea. Thus, less

groundwater resources will be needed for drinking water production & other uses, and water supply becomes more climate-resilient.

The project focusses thereby on measures at the local level and on areas in the BSR, where the water supply may be significantly affected by climate change. Primary target group are, consequently, municipalities & water companies that are responsible for local water management.

WaterMan explicitly addresses this by developing circular approaches for local actors. Partnership and work plan will ensure that innovative solutions emerge and will disseminate them effectively to potential further users in the BSR:

– The project initiates a BSR-wide peer learning process among local authorities & water companies, which have experiences and a high level of proficiency. Thus, pre-work from different parts of the BSR can be transferred, combined and advanced. This will make local approaches more effective while decreasing individual efforts for development.

– The dissemination of “ready-to-use” solutions to be developed and tested is not regarded as “altruistic obligation”, but is a crucial concern of WaterMan.

Consequently, the partnership will include both, “hand-on partners” that develop & test new solutions (municipalities, water companies), and umbrella organisations (e.g. associations of local authorities) with a genuine interest in spreading the knowledge to their members.

WaterMan Interreg Baltic Sea Region Seed Money Facility project kicked off on 28th October 2020.
Our #ERB Water Core Group & project partners from Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Lithuania and Russia will be very busy next 12 months preparing the main project concept.
WaterMan project received the support from EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region  #PANutri coordinators and we will work on the “Climate-resilient wastewater and groundwater management by circular approaches that reduce outflows of nutrients and hazardous substances”.

Project summary

Climate resilient wastewater and groundwater management by circular approaches that reduce outflows of nutrients and hazardous substances – WaterMan project

Reducing the outflows of nutrients & hazardous substances to surface water, groundwater and the Baltic Sea, in particular, is the primary concern of water management in the BSR and will remain its foremost task in the future. At the same time, the effects of climate change pose new challenges to water supply: Droughts limit in specific periods the quantity of water for various uses (e.g. drinking water, agriculture). Floods impair the

quality of drinking water – and thus indirectly its quantity, too. SMHI has predicted that problems linked to water shortage will become even more severe in the future.

The two mentioned tasks cannot be addressed as a question of either/or. The ambition must be to meet environmental goals at a high level and to secure water supply. Possible synergies between them, however, were hitherto not widely addressed: If effluent water is retained, re-circulated & re-used, water supply will not only be more secure & climate-resilient. At the same go, this will be an effective way to reduce outflows of

nutrients & hazardous substances.

WaterMan develops and promotes circular approaches to reduce outflows of nutrients & hazardous substances to surface water, groundwater and the Baltic Sea in particular, which at the same time contribute to the climate-resilient water supply. Its centre of attention is measures & techniques to re-use water from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and the retention of water before flowing into the Baltic Sea. Thus, less

groundwater resources will be needed for drinking water production & other uses, and water supply becomes more climate-resilient.

The project focusses thereby on measures at the local level and on areas in the BSR, where the water supply may be significantly affected by climate change. Primary target group are, consequently, municipalities & water companies that are responsible for local water management.

WaterMan explicitly addresses this by developing circular approaches for local actors. Partnership and work plan will ensure that innovative solutions emerge and will disseminate them effectively to potential further users in the BSR:

– The project initiates a BSR-wide peer learning process among local authorities & water companies, which have experiences and a high level of proficiency. Thus, pre-work from different parts of the BSR can be transferred, combined and advanced. This will make local approaches more effective while decreasing individual efforts for development.

– The dissemination of “ready-to-use” solutions to be developed and tested is not regarded as “altruistic obligation”, but is a crucial concern of WaterMan.

Consequently, the partnership will include both, “hand-on partners” that develop & test new solutions (municipalities, water companies), and umbrella organisations (e.g. associations of local authorities) with a genuine interest in spreading the knowledge to their members.

Seed Money is funding provided by Interreg Baltic Sea Region to support the preparation of projects in line with the Action Plan of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. With Seed Money support, projects can be prepared for any funding source available in the region.

The Seed Money application procedure consists of two steps. In step one, an applicant submits a draft application to Policy Area and Horizontal Action Coordinators who preselect draft applications (typically six weeks after submission). In step two, authors of preselected draft applications are invited to submit full applications to the Managing Authority/Joint Secretariat (typically within six-eight weeks after preselection). The Monitoring Committee selects Seed Money projects for funding typically three months after submission.

Our application is the result of work undergoing in Water Core Group since May 2019. ECG submitted the concept note in Dec 2019 that was positively assessed by PA NUTRI Coordinators and we were invited to submit the full application. On 23rd March we have sent the file and we await the information from the JS. The results are expected in June 2020.

What is the project about?

Reducing the outflows of nutrients & hazardous substances to surface water, groundwater and the Baltic Sea, in particular, is the main concern of water management in the BSR and will remain its foremost task in the future. At the same time, the effects of climate change pose new challenges to water supply: Droughts limit in certain periods the quantity of water for various uses (e.g. drinking water, agriculture). Floods impair the quality of drinking water – and thus indirectly its quantity, too. SMHI has predicted that problems linked to water shortage will become even more severe in the future.
The two mentioned tasks cannot be addressed as a question of either/or. The ambition must be to meet environmental goals at a high level and to secure water supply. Possible synergies between them, however,
were hitherto not widely addressed: If effluent water is retained, re-circulated & re-used, water supply will not only be more secure & climate-resilient. At the same go, this will be an effective way to reduce outflows of nutrients & hazardous substances.

WaterMan develops and promotes circular approaches to reduce outflows of nutrients & hazardous substances to surface water, groundwater and the Baltic Sea in particular, which at the same time contribute to the climate-resilient water supply. Its centre of attention is measures & techniques to re-use water from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and the retention of water before flowing into the Baltic Sea. Thus, less
groundwater resources will be needed for drinking water production & other uses and water supply becomes more climate-resilient.
The project focusses thereby on measures at the local level and on areas in the BSR, where the water supply may be particularly affected by climate change. Main target group are, consequently, municipalities & water
companies that are responsible for local water management.

Dear ERB Water Core Group Members, 

Please see the information we’ve received from the Swedish Institute. This year they are organizing another Baltic Leadership Programme (BLP) on Per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). They are very contaminated fluorochemicals, with a significant threat to the drinking water and water systems. Fire foams, all kind of sprays,  even takeaway boxes (e.g. pizza packages) or skivaxs often contain PFAS. Municipalities and regions have a tremendous responsibility in the direct implementation/usage of such substance. However, there is deficient awareness of that. I enclose the concept note of BLP on  PFAS. 

Conditions to apply and participate are similar to previous BLP programmes, only this time only specific target audience has been informed about the programme, including our Water Core Group.

SI BLP programmes enable the formation of expert-networks and provide great experts and knowledge. SI covers all costs of the modules, accommodation, food, etc.. However, SI expect that participants pay their travel to the physical modules.

For full module concept and programme please contact Magda from the IPS: magda.rzucidlo@euroregionbaltic.eu

IMPORTANT: SI they expect all applications form no later than 15 August attached with a CV written in English and then the final participants will be chosen.