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/

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.

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.

On 22-23rd May 2017 stakeholders of Euroregion Baltic gathered in Elbląg, Poland for the second Executive Board meeting this year.

During the two days of official discussions, youth workshops and expert seminars, ERB partners touched upon a number of issues that are of importance to the organisation’s future work.

The event started with the joint meeting of the ERB Board with the Board of the Association of Polish Communes, one of important ERB member organisations and the host of the meeting. Gathered in historic roundtable hall in the Elbląg’s Old Town, the ERB politicians, civil servants and youth were welcomed by Mr Witold Wróblewski, Chair of Association’s Board and Mayor of Elbląg, who underlined the importance of ERB cross-border cooperation for municipalities and regions of the South Baltic Sea which since 1998 has been facilitating international cooperation, project implementation and trust building among the participating organisations.

The meeting was presided over jointly by Ms Akko Karlsson, ERB President and Vice Chair of Regional Council in Kalmar County, and Mr Wróblewski.

The Board discussed several important issues of ERB cooperation, among them preparations for the 20th anniversary of the organisation, as well as revision of strategic cooperation documents. Concerning the recently held Monitoring Committee meeting of the South Baltic Programme in Binz, the Board welcomed the approval of the Interconnect project and decided to commence work on the resubmission of the Umbrella project, which was rejected despite a very positive assessment by the external experts and Programme’s Joint Secretariat.

Discussing the draft ERB position on the future of EU Cohesion Policy, the Board decided to amend the final draft to better reflect the ERB priorities in the draft.

The Board also welcomed ERB’s participation in the recently approved Swedish Institute project in which together with the CPMR Baltic Sea Commission, it will engage in raising the awareness of Baltic stakeholder about the importance of the UN’s Agenda 2030 and Sustainable Development Goals.

Finally, the Board was informed about the activities of the ERB Youth Board which had submitted 4 projects to the last call for proposals in the Erasmus+ project and was actively participating in the preparation of joint conference and seminar at the EUSBSR Forum in Berlin on the issue of youth participation and empowerment.

On 23rd May ERB organised several parallel meetings with two very important concerning water and youth issues. The Water Core Group met to discuss a potential joint project in the South Baltic Programme that could be dedicated to the issues of improved management of existing water resources, while the ERB Youth Board discussed the future project with the Norwegian partners from Hedmark, as well as the organisation of the Berlin conference.The meeting was also attended by the youth from Warmia-Mazury who were selected within the Baltic Leaders project to build capacities of local youth leaders in the Baltic cooperation.

Full minutes of the ERB Executive Board meeting will soon be made available on ERB website.

Last week Euroregion Baltic was presented in Rzeczpospolita (The Republic), one of the leading Polish daily newspapers. (more…)

Between 8-9th June 2016 the ERB stakeholders met on the island of Bornholm to discuss current and upcoming cooperation initiatives within the organisation in the area of water management, youth policy development and capacity building for local and regional actors. (more…)