The fourth edition of the Hof Water Symposium, which is organized by the Institute for Sustainable Water Systems at Hof University of Applied Sciences (inwa), was held online this year. The topic of the event, which was attended by 30 experts from industry, municipalities, specialist authorities and research, was safeguarding water resources in times of drought.
This year’s Water Symposium was opened with a keynote speech by Prof. Günter Müller-Czygan.
Water management must be integrative
He posed the question “Why don’t we act with foresight?” One possible reason: after a rainy spring and summer and in view of the current flooding events in parts of Germany, Eastern Europe, Italy and Austria, the issue of drought seems to be taking a back seat. Instead, the focus is on flood and inundation protection measures.
“Even though it has rained a lot this year, the effects of long dry periods are still visible in low groundwater levels in many areas of Germany. In addition, rising air temperatures are also changing the temperature conditions in the soil, which affects groundwater quality due to changes in the activity of microorganisms. Therefore, measures for droughts and heavy rainfall events must be considered together in water management. Why do we not act holistically and integratively – even though the solutions are known and available? Is it because we are overwhelmed by the complexity of the issue? How can water resources be safeguarded with foresight in times of drought?” says Prof. Müller-Czygan. One promising approach to counteract this is holistic sponge concepts, the effectiveness of which can be evaluated using the Hof method of multi-level analysis. More information can be found on the website of the university’s Competence and Transfer Center for Sustainable Sponge City/Region.
Know-how transfer by the inwa
The Institute for Sustainable Water Systems provided information on several topics from a wide range of work and research areas: Andreas Aicher gave a presentation on “Soil as a water reservoir – how data can be collected and used efficiently and effectively”. Dr. Simon Mehling’s presentation focused on “Solar photocatalysis as a system for advanced wastewater treatment”. Prof. Dr. Manuela Wimmer and Anja Grabmeier, who also acted as moderators of the symposium, informed the participants about the certificate course “Planning and implementing sponge city projects with digital methods”. Finally, Dr. Harvey Harbach dedicated his presentation to the topic of “Multifunctional use of water reservoirs in urban areas: as a habitat or for irrigating crops”.
Companies provide information about innovations
Several companies also gave participants an insight into their innovative solutions during the event:
Browatech GmbH & Co KG: Detention Layer as the core technology of the Purple Roof System – a conventional green roof becomes a sponge instrument for heavy rain management (M. Browa)
Dehoust: Products for the storage and efficient use of energy, heat and water – including rainwater storage and use as well as the use of gray water (D. Ebisch)
Kunststoff Spranger: Development and production of practical aquaculture and aquarium equipment (J. Zimmermann).
Finally, Prof. Dr. Manuela Wimmer summarized the key messages and the collected findings:
Water management must always take into account the existing complexity of the issue and must try to utilize synergy effects.”
Prof. Günter Müller-Czygan added:
‘We must learn to think beyond system boundaries and work together on an interdisciplinary basis. It is our task to create an awareness of these requirements!”
You can find out more about the Institute for Sustainable Water Systems here.
