As part of the first day of the event, we offer you participation in a selected workshop block run by the best experts and specialists in a given field. It is possible to participate only in one of the topics of the workshops offered (blocks of practical classes are conducted  at the same time). To register your participation in practical classes, indicate the title of the selected block in the online registration form. The number of places in the workshops is limited. We encourage you to participate and early registration!

The workshop consists of two workshops – Workshop A and Workshop B.

ORGANIZERS

The organizer of the workshop “Dry flooding  – a workshop on crisis management” (workshop A) is the municipal company Gdańskie Wody, responsible for the maintenance and development of the Gdańsk drainage system. The meeting will be held at the Municipal Flood Warehouse at ul. Kaczeńce 33 in Gdańsk.

Workshop B is organized by the RETENCJAPL company in the form of a showroom and will take place at ul. Równa 2 in Gdansk.

PARTICIPANTS:

Persons responsible for the city management process, especially for flood control, crisis management and for investments related to rainwater management in cities and in rural and urban-rural communes. Dry flood – crisis management workshop.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF WORKSHOPS:

Downpours changing the streets of Polish cities into streams, broken branches of trees making it difficult to undertake a rescue operation. Problems with public transport, electricity supply and functioning of urban infrastructure. Intensification of violent weather events is not only an investment challenge for local governments, but also changes in city crisis management.

During this part of the workshop you will learn:

✅ what a comprehensive approach to managing rainwater looks like in Gdańsk

✅ why it is good to plan actions during a flood

✅ how to prepare a good Crisis Management Plan

✅ how to prepare a scenario for flood control exercises

The first part of the meeting will be held in the Municipal Flood Warehouse, where over 900 meters of equipment is stored to protect Gdańsk against floods.

Workshop B

Acquainted with modern and innovative products used in rainwater management with particular emphasis on the possibilities of flood protection.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF WORKSHOPS:

Rainwater is both a valuable resource that is used and recycled, and a threat to cities and municipalities resulting from climate change. This fact makes rainwater management a great challenge for local governments and results in the search for the best solutions for flood protection.
Workshop participants will experience the operation of the latest, innovative products and cooperating device systems presented in the show room, the use of which allows to minimize the catastrophic effects of heavy rains and also guarantees the use of rainwater.

This is an interactive meeting in which we will demonstrate technology related to rainwater retention. Workshop participants will learn about the practical use of rainwater and flood protection. Dialogue, exchange of views and experiences with specialists will be an opportunity to receive valuable tips emphasizing the desirability of choosing and applying specific solutions.

Discussing the local specificity and performance conditions will allow the selection of equipment and technologies that give the greatest efficiency.

We cordially invite you to participate in the workshop.

AGENDA

11:30 Meeting at the ECS building [parking lot in front of the summer entrance]. Transfer  to the City Flood Storage

12.00 Workshop A “Dry flood – a workshop on crisis management”

13.45 Lunch

14.15 Bus transfer to the second workshop

14.30 Workshop B “Showroom – interactive meeting: technology demonstration and meetings with specialists

17.00 End of the workshop. Transfer  to ECS.

PARTICIPANTS:

The employees of waterworks companies or municipal departments responsible for the process of issuing technical requirements for connection or rainwater discharge into a receiver.

AIM OF THE WORKSHOP:

To get acquainted with modern tools aiding determination of technical requirements for connection to stormwater drainage system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE WORKSHOP:

–  How to calculate maximum runoff and what parameters to take?

– What tools need to be used in order to facilitate every day’s work in determining technical requirements for a particular connection?

– What are they used for and how do runoff regulators work? How to select the appropriate one?

– The standards of determination of technical requirements for a connection – what are they? What procedures need to be implemented in a waterworks company?

– Requirements for large investments. How to approach this issue? Practical examples.

– Do we feel safe issuing technical requirements? Applications: calculators based on PANDa atlas, GIShub and Rainbrain; can they help us?

– Examples, experiences, questions to the practitioners.

At the beginning of the workshop we would like to show a practical way of calculating maximum permissible stormwater runoff from areas to be developed. By means of practical exercised we want to prove that what is often a subjective or “expert” estimation of stormwater reception, on the accuracy level of single liters or tens of liters per second, can be supported with objective and unquestionable calculations. We also want to draw your attention to the need of organising and codifying the rules of adopting relevant parameters such as runoff coefficient, surface runoff time and categories of area use. Such methodology will be a real shield for the operator in cases of undermining stormwater reception assurance.

We do not want to focus only on the phase of issuing technical requirements. We believe practical approach is about having relevant knowledge and tools in order to appropriately verify these requirements. That is why we would like to present the calculation method of retention basin capacity sufficient for stormwater retention and infiltration. We would like to draw your attention to the practice of underestimating the necessary retention capacities done by investors by manipulating with runoff coefficients, runoff time, watershed categories and the local precipitation model. As participants, you will be able to verify necessary retention capacity for particular developments using electronic calculators based on actual and reliable precipitation models featured in PANDa atlas (Polish Atlas of Rainfall Intensities).

The third part of the workshop will focus on demonstrating technical solutions used to provide effective methods of throttling stormwater runoff from private plots flowing into a collective dewatering system. Various types of hydraulic regulators will be presented in this section together with design requirements that must be met for the correct operation of the whole system. Here we will also focus on the reprehensible practice of their deinstallation once the final inspection of the investment is carried out. New IT systems for remote programming of stormwater outflow from retention basins will also be presented (outflow reduction and its time delay).

The fourth part will focus on particular examples of issuing technical requirements for large-format facilities. Here you will be acquainted with dedicated computed simulations followed up be correct interpretation of the results.

At the end of the workshop we would like to focus on long-term benefits stemming from the appropriate method of preparing technical requirements. By using a user-friendly and easily accessible internet tool such as GISHub application we would like to show you how you can manage information about the terrain in order to calculate the actual charge for draining stormwater from the area.

The workshop will be conducted by engineers with years of experience in calculating and modelling drainage systems, who have prepared a complete methodology for issuing technical requirements in large cities across Poland. Practitioners, such as operators, who have already implemented or are currently implementing these standards of issuing and verifying technical requirements for stormwater drainage from cities of various sizes will also take part in the workshop. The issue of runoff throttling will be discussed by a designer and an experienced researcher into hydraulic regulators.

We cordially invite you to participate in this workshop. It will not be an unproductive time. On the contrary, it is time to actively shape retention around us following the motto: One may not catch all the rain in one pipe!

The conference will take place in the auditorium of the European Solidarity Center at Plac Solidarności 1 in Gdańsk (entrance from the parking lot and Nowomiejska Street). Please go to the conference reception at the Auditorium.

During registration you will receive an ID allowing you to enter the lecture room.

In order to ensure the highest comfort of participation in the conference, the organizer provides simultaneous translation of lectures. Please let us know during the registration that you would like use the translation.

We would like climate changes and the necessity to adapt to them to be the focal point for our meeting. The occurrence of such changes is evident. We have no intention to frighten anyone with this statement nor discuss it only in theory. We want to initiate and promote particular actions, which we must undertake together in order to stop this unfavourable trend and adapt to its resonance. That is why the first panel of our conference is called: This is what we have to do for our children. We deeply believe that this is the mission of our community. We realise that knowledge, appropriate tools and financing are needed here. The opening session will be conducted by scientists and experts who will lecture on the way in which particular increase in surface air temperature translates into changes in hydrological cycle, how Poland is already adapting to these changes compared with Europe and the world, where to find financing for the adaptation of dewatering systems to climate changes and what engineering and managerial tools can be used in order to prepare better adaptive strategies. This panel will also demonstrate how the strategy of greenhouse gases reduction and adaptation of dewatering systems to climate changes are already implemented in particular cities and even companies that introduce solutions for water and sewage industry.

Impermeable surfaces in the cities generate floods, heat island, reduces ground water recharge and high water loss from the city. Furthermore, if green surfaces in the urban landscape are reduced it has a negative influence on citizens’ physical health but also their psychical wellbeing.

Considering that, there is a necessity to change urban stormwater management paradigm. Up till now the mechanistic paradigm which has been dominating urban stormwater management, reduces not only the threats such as floods (not necessarily efficiently), but also opportunities for sustainable future of the city. Because of the complexity of natural phenomenon and interactions between geomorphology, climate, ecosystems and human activities which especially in urban areas are becoming more complex, it is necessary to change the paradigm from mechanistic to evolutionary-ecosystemic. This means that urban catchment should be considered a superorganism, where hydrological pulses have to stimulate biocenosis to generate ecosystem services. The new paradigm should consider every city as a heterotrophic super-ecosystem which is a unique combination of geomorphology, climate, plethora of various forms of human activities, and where water cycle should be considered not only for infrastructure security perspective but also for health and quality of life. This can be considered as a goal for enhancement of city sustainability potential which from ecohydrologic perspective identify 5 parameters to be improved in every management practices, such as Water, Biodiversity, Ecosystem Services, Resilience, Culture and Education, WBSRC.

This approach is based on a new algorithm for methodology of environmental sciences which will be introduced during the conference.

Stop drought! – Plan against the effects of drought (PPSS) Drought, next to floods, is one of the most severe natural phenomena affecting society, the environment and the economy. Drought has permanently become part of the economic problems of our country, and the results of climate change scenarios indicate that the occurrence of droughts will be even more intense and more frequent. To effectively take care of water resources (surface and groundwater, including soil water) so that in the future we do not run out of water, not only during drought, but also on a daily basis, we must now introduce proactive solutions to counteract the effects of drought. A nationwide strategic document is currently being prepared to plan and coordinate actions for proactive drought prevention – the drought prevention plan (PPSS). This is the first planning document of national rank addressing the topic of drought. The document will include catalog of actions, the implementation of which will allow to effectively counteract the effects of drought. The preparation of the document results from the provisions of EU directives and guidelines, as well as the provisions of national law (Article 184 of the Water Law Act). The plan to counteract the effects of drought will have the rank of an ordinance of the Minister competent for water management.

The theme of the presentation will be the presentation of NFEPWM activities in the field of adaptation to climate change, not only in terms of their financing, but also initiatives leading to the implementation of the national and EU strategy for adaptation to climate change. NFEPWM’s many years of experience in financing tasks in the field of water, air, land protection and ecological education allows for a multifaceted and interdisciplinary look at the problems that cities are currently facing in the face of rapid climate changes. The presentation will present the experiences of the NFEPWM  in financing from national and EU funds as well as such initiatives of the European Union as the Covenant of Mayors, whose NFEPWM is the national coordinator.

Forecasts for sea level rise are becoming more and more disturbing as we learn more about the processes of melting and decay of ice sheets in a warming world. An increase in sea level of 1 meter by the end of the century becomes a realistic possibility. Even worse, this increase could be even faster in the next century. In such a situation, it will be more and more difficult to defend against flooding of areas near the sea shore and near the mouths of rivers flowing into it. In particularly difficult situation Gdańsk may turn out, the historical part of which is built in low-lying areas over the Motława being part of the Vistula delta. Saving the historical part of Gdańsk will require more and more expenses and an increasingly complex technical infrastructure in the next decades. Are we ready for this challenge?

For a coffee break, we invite you to the Time Exhibition Hall (vis a vis Audytorium).

We should use proven, natural solutions as well as engineering solutions that imitate nature. The second panel of the conference entitled Inspired by rain is going to touch upon these issues. In this panel there will be space for brainstorming solutions and technologies from all over the world, including Poland, used for recreating retention loss and appropriate rainwater management. We would also like to look for inspirations that go beyond the default division into rainwater, underground waters and water flowing in flumes. We propose a thesis that water is one notion and is both a challenge and a resource for every dweller of a big city as well as a small town.

Water will determine India becomes wealthy or remains poor. The management of water is not simply about building more dams or pipelines bring water to cities and pipelines to flush from our homes. The management of water is about building relationship of society with its water, so that we can understand the value of each raindrop that unless we are prudent, indeed frugal, with our use of this precious resource, there will never be enough water for all.  In new India, the water imperative is that cities must begin to value their rainfall endowment. India is known for extraordinary wealth and ingenuity of its people living across different ecological systems to manage water. The keynote will present rise, fall and potential of rainwater harvesting in India. How, India has realised this tradition of yesterday has crucial relevance in today and tomorrow’s urban India including recent move by  Government of India –  setting up a key ministry with  a focused national flagship programme ‘Jal Shakti Mission’ to promote rainwater harvesting and revival of waterbodies.

The presentation contains solutions to support governments and specifiers to reduce the impacts of urbanisation and climate change. This solutions improve the chance new trees survive in urban environments; attenuate rainwater from new investments to reduce the risk of flooding’s; replenish groundwater levels safely, even in slow permeable soil conditions; combine safely attenuation tanks with tanks to reuse rainwater and also allow to filter effectively and at low costs rainwater from roads and parking areas before it is discharged into open waters.

The rapid deterioration of the ecological and chemical status of rivers in Poland, prompts us to look for the reasons for not implementing the Water Management Plan of 2016, which envisaged improving the quality of most rivers in Poland to achieve their good condition by 2021 at the latest. The paper presents the causes and effects of imbalance of river channels resulting from traditionally conceived regulatory works involving the development of riverbeds with longitudinal and transverse structures without taking into account the environmental effects of such activities, combined with the reduction of the functioning and aesthetics of built-up rivers in a limited space. Meanwhile, in the past and abroad, other principles were used to plan the course of rivers in civilized places, including in the planning of activities in the field of:

• architecture and spatial planning,
• water management and water engineering,
• landscaping,taking into account the possibilities of recreation and sports,
• ecological aspects.

On several examples of urban rivers of Krakow and suburban Raba, which as a result of historical history have lost most of the functions and possibilities of providing environmental services, will be presented measures that could lead to balancing the interests of various groups of users of space designated for the river in the urban area, in the aspect of simultaneous preservation of good ecological status / potential of the river, reduction of flood risk and ensuring dynamic balance of bottom sediment without the need for intensive maintenance.

Cleaning and washing the streets is one of the activities undertaken by the City of Krakow as part of the fight for clean air. Cooperation and research undertaken by Krakow-based MPO Sp. z o.o. together with the Cracow University of Technology and the Provincial Inspectorate of Environmental Protection in Krakow they indicate that collecting street waste and then washing it improves not only the standard of living of the inhabitants and the aesthetics of the city, but also has a positive effect on the quality of the urban environment. The amount of waste is significantly reduced, which also reduces secondary emissions in the cleaned areas of the city. Literature analysis also indicates an additional effect of this type of practice – it can be an element of monitoring and managing the quality of rainwater discharged into the sewage system from urbanized areas. The purpose of the article will be to present the results of street cleaning research on Krakow, along with an assessment of the quality of water flowing from the washing of traffic routes (streets, pavements and bicycle paths), as well as the improvement of air quality resulting from the conducted activities.

The presentation covers issues related to the negative effects of climate change. Consequently, they necessitate the use of innovative green roof technologies. System assumptions will be discussed, including retention roof, and examples of practical use.

For many years, the company has been involved in the activities of the city of Słupsk and several neighboring municipalities in the field of organizing the management of rainwater and snowmelt. Currently, it is a form of support for local governments in creating urban policy, providing access to GIS data and tools, and implementation of modern solutions in the field of rainwater and snowmelt management. Despite the desire to engage in comprehensive operations along with taking over responsibility for this area, we have not yet managed to develop an effective system that would be socially acceptable. In the presentation we indicate the result of our analyzes and actions taken, and define barriers that require solutions and compromises often independent of the Company.

Our city is not one of the largest, but nevertheless we try to match and even outdo the best. We have invested in the latest technologies and we derive real profits from it. Thanks to our own meteorological station, the PANDA atlas, and especially the 2050 precipitation forecast, we were able to introduce and defend one of the country’s harshest rainwater drainage conditions for new investments. We have also recently introduced a fee for the discharge of rainwater into the storm water drainage system. Its goal is not at all to raise new funds, it is focused on forcing disconnection from the network and implementation of activities in the field of green and blue infrastructure and ecology.

For lunch, we invite you to the Time Exhibition Hall (vis a vis Audytorium).

The second half of the 19^th century is the starting point of construction of first dewatering systems and the creation of classic workshop of tools for designing systems based on rational runoff formula and IDF (Intensity-Duration-Frequency) rainfall model. For decades this workshop has been used without any risks even with slight climate oscillations and dewatering systems have been designed using e.g. Błaszczyk model. However, since the beginning of this century the fact of climate change can be no longer undermined. Moreover, there is a trend that rainwater should not be driven away from the city as fast as possible but its runoff should be slowed down and retained. In the era of digital revolution we cannot achieve such effects without the use of digital tools as well as reliable and current rainfall atlases such as KOSTRA in Germany and PANDa in Poland. This is the inspiration for the third panel called „We’re digital”. The participants of the previous conference may now understand that this is the aftermath of the project presented in last year’s panel called „Going digital”. In fact, we want to demonstrate the newly-completed Polish Atlas of Rainfall Intensities PANDa and a whole range of internet tools which constitute Digital Designer Platform (DDP). Today we have to admit that this in not a sole project of Retencjapl but a whole group of companies that are unquestionable leaders on Polish and European rainwater technologies markets. Every DDP calculator uses PANDa atlas and unique knowledge to allow for selecting the appropriate design solutions in issues such as draining off surface runoffs, retaining rainwater or pretreating and infiltrating water into the ground. We would like to invite companies and experts on designing dewatering systems to take part in „We’re digital” panel in order to show us inspiring examples how computer modelling can be used in dealing with complicated engineering tasks. We believe that in the era of digital revolution the question is not should a dewatering system be modelled but how to make it smarter.

The climate is inevitably changing and in Denmark, the intensity of rainstorms have increased as have the frequency. Our first response to solve our stormwater challenges have been to build larger drainage structures and to manage water utilizing a multitude of structures to handle stormwater outside the usual sewer and drainage systems. In most Danish cities it has turned out that building retention space can be less costly compared to building drains and sewers. Inexpensive retention space can be found on parking lots, in roads and in the urban greenery and we have moved towards a system with thousands of small retention volumes distributed in the city. In order to maximize the value of the retention volumes it is necessary to build a new digital infrastructure to manage and operate these. This has forced the utilities to build a dense monitoring network and to share data across administrative boundaries. The presentation will tell the story about the need for digitalization in the Danish water industry and give examples new digital solutions.

In matching the appropriate and reliable drainage at the design stage, it is necessary to obtain data on the intensity of precipitation at a given location. The combination of information on precipitation rates throughout Poland – PANDA with a calculator for the selection of linear drainage systems makes work much easier, speeds up the design stage, but above all allows you to obtain the most reliable calculations. The first time it is possible to choose drainage taking into account the most current rainfall measurements from the PANDA system. An innovative project that combines the knowledge and experience of rainwater management experts with current and reliable data on the intensity of rainfall is a response to the growing need to provide digital solutions for designers. The Digital Designer Platform (CPP) created in this way allows for full recognition of rainwater management, from planning the drainage system to collecting rainwater, retention, pre-treatment and discharge to the natural environment. When designing drainage systems, we pay special attention to micro retention at the stage of rainwater collection. At HAURATON, we create systems that allow surface dehydration and simultaneous retention. We will show you a solution that will not only ensure quick collection of rainwater, but also withstand excess water until it drains completely. The system is distinguished by very high efficiency of drainage and storage of rainwater. Drainage channels with very large capacity allow the use of a minimum number of wells and connections. On the other hand, the construction of the ducts and inlet caps ensure load resistance up to class F900.

City governments are quickly realizing that enhancing resilience to floods is a key priority. Cities and their supporting ecosystems must deliver on housing and infrastructure needs while at the same time address quality of life, economic growth, safety and security, and resilience. Cities also need to mitigate flood risks and improve the protection of both citizens and assets. In this sense, it is imperative that preventive measures be taken to minimize the disruption of flooding with proactive actions to anticipate potentially catastrophic impacts.

The establishment of a digital twin for flood resilience in cities and critical infrastructure has great potential to provide solutions to the complex issues associated to floods in urban areas. A city digital twin is a live digital representation of the city and federates engineering, operational, and sensor data in a connected data environment, making accurate, complete, dynamic and verifiable information accessible by all stakeholders. Facing floods in urban areas is only possible with a holistic approach, combining and interconnecting different types of floods, processes and scales, and moving from a fragmented/disciplinary perception to a cross-discipline perception without forgetting how relevant is to effectively share the information and communicate the risk in an easily understandable way.

We will illustrate how to implement this strategy with existing technology, supported by a Connected Data Environment and digital collaborative workflows including integrated multi-scale flood modelling software; automated system operations handling multi-source data (such as flood simulation, geospatial, weather forecast, Internet of Things, and crowdsourcing); and through the integration of immersive 3D or 4D (3D + time) visualization, allowing users / stakeholders to visualize HD animations of virtual flood events from different perspectives.

Practical examples are shown in use cases involving critical infrastructures from oil & gas, municipalities, civil protection and water utilities.

Using digital twins for flood resilience following the philosophy described above provides decision-makers with real, actionable information toward anticipated early warnings and prompt responses and can be used in the emergency management cycle of preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation. Finally, the seamless integration of immersive visualization tools can improve risk communication and situational awareness to stakeholders.

During the presentation, the tools that are currently used in the Waterworks of the City of Krakow in a series of conceptual and design works will be discussed. The author will put special emphasis on the current project of extending the Integrated Designer Calculator to version 3.0 by the Systems Modeling Department, which will include new tools, including associated with the model rain database for the city of Krakow, as well as a powerful application for auto-design of drainage networks.

The subject of the paper will be a network approach to collecting and processing data, and then sharing engineering information. A practical illustration of this will be the design and implementation of the Polish Atlas of Rain Intensity PANDa as a digital source of information on authoritative rainfall rates and the basis of the drainage systems designer platform

Acquiring information on the intensity of authoritative rains throughout Poland is possible from the internet portal https://portal.atlaspanda.pl/, and the location selection is as simple as searching on the gogle.maps portal. However, the goal is not only to provide digital information on the intensity of authoritative rains. A more far-reaching goal is to connect PANDa with a network of people – i.e. designers who want to use the atlas to reliably and safely design real drainage systems. This is to be achieved by developing parallel with leading companies – suppliers of drainage systems technology, drainage systems designer platform. It is to be a node of innovation networks that respond to the challenges posed by drainage systems today and tomorrow in the light of the need to adapt to climate change.

The evening gala will take place at Radisson Hotel&Suites in Chmielna 10 street in Gdańsk.

Admission to the Gala only on presentation of the Gala participant ID (the identifier issued on the basis of the application in the registration form).

There are many wrong opinions about the lack of water in Africa. Regardless, this problem is of utmost importance and not only about the lives of individuals and entire communities, but also about the existence of states. Access to usable water allows us to solve many social problems such as crime, but also significantly support areas such as education, production or – of course – health. It helps to stop migration and stabilize the economy. A group of 7 people founded the Well of Hope Foundation in 2008 to enable people in Africa to access chemically or biologically unpolluted water. Covering all administrative costs of the operation, the Founders decided to allocate 100% of donated funds to the projects themselves, both regarding water supply and sanitation. The latter, often without building a new well, lead to the same effect. Our beneficiaries come from 12 countries, including: Cameroon, Madagascar, Zambia, Tanzania, but also Haiti, Papua New Guinea or Syria (Aleppo). These are mainly missions that support surrounding communities. They guarantee the use of the donated sums in accordance with the purpose. To date, the Foundation has implemented over 100 Projects.

A drop of rain that falls on the ground does not understand the notion of ownership nor borders; global warming is a global issue. We cannot effectively prevent global warming and introduce adaptive strategies from the perspective of only one stakeholder or country. It is good practice to see how others tackle with the same issues in a better way and to share experience. Having this in mind, our fourth panel is called: How do our neighbours do it? We would like to invite speakers from our neighbouring countries to tell us what rainwater management looks like in their countries, what challenges they meet, where their opportunities lie and what they are proud of. At this moment we want our conference to gain regional reach. We want to set the bar ever higher, we want this event to become a platform for integrating rainwater community not only in Poland but on the whole area of East-Central Europe.

Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania. Its original sewage network appeared in 1642 and was several hundred meters long. Over time, there was a strong expansion of the network, and in the meantime individual collector threads were in need of urgent repair.

Currently, a broader, multi-stage and multi-year project is planned in Vilnius for the reconstruction of the sewage system so that it meets the needs of both the current and the near future. One of the components of this project is designated for implementation in 2020: “Reconstruction of sewer networks in the streets of Narbuto-Saltoniskiu” – a rain collector, in which the pipeline will be made by mrotrothing using СС-GRP technology with a diameter of 1600 mm and a total length of 1200 m.

As part of the Vilnius project “Management of surface sewage treatment systems in Vilnius” are also envisaged:

1. Rainwater drainage system on the approaches of the Šeškinė complex

2. Reconstruction of the Gelezinis Vilkas rain collector with units for storage, purification and monitoring of pollution

3. Reconstruction of the Karoliniškės rainwater treatment plant

4. Inventory of the Vilnius city rainwater network, digitization and data recording

The total investment value of the planned project is almost EUR 26 million.

Bucharest is Romania’s capital, with over 2 millions of inhabitants served by the sewage collection system. Design of the existing sewage system started over 120 years ago and it was significantly improved in the 1970-980 after the floods occured in 1970.

In the last couple of decades (2005 – present) there were several historical rainfall events which started an extensive process of redesign/ adjustment to current needs. Main factors considered in this process were: climate change, extension of catchment area, changes in land use, number of inhabitants and availability of the exsting system during the construction phase.

The urgent measures taken were: rehabilitation of main collector (with a capacity over 90 m3/s), building of new CSOs (Combined Sewage Overflows) in the critical points, rehabilitation of secondary main collectors, extension of wastewater treatment plant, build of new drainage systems in lowland areas (inside the floodplain of Dambovita river). Further, in the Masterplan for the next 30 years return rainfall event. Moreover, sensitive areas, mainly located in the floodplains of Dambovita and Colentina valleys are equipped with separative sewage systems. On the other hand, the quality of water discharged into the rivers is planned to be trated mechanically in some wetlands located in the downstream of city’s area.

The estimated value for finished and ongoing works is over 500 millions EUR and the measures included in the MAsterplan for the sewage and drainage systems are estimated to 1,3 bilions in the next 30 years.

Under NOAH project “Protecting Baltic Sea Untreated Wastewater Spillages During Flood Events in Urban Areas”, financed by the Interreg Baltic Sea Region programme, six Baltic countries are working together to create tools for rainwater management. The goal is to prepare a holistic concept of planning and implementation of intelligent modelling systems of rainwater runoff from the cities. The essence of such planning is to combine rainwater management with spatial planning. This leads to the preparation of solutions that will make already existing objects and facilities resistant to climate changes and torrential rains in particular. In order to assess information level in smaller cities, Chamber of Commerce Polish Waterworks together with Estonian EVEL made a survey. It provided information on the needs of local authorities, their problems, organisational and technical abilities to design and manage rainwater infrastructure on urban areas. The detailed results of the survey will be presented at the conference.

The results of climate change such as more frequent torrential rains cause urban floods. In our last panel Urban floods we would like to present experiences of those who organised help during urban floods. We also want to show the potential of contemporary warning systems that warn us against extreme weather phenomena and technical solutions used for limiting the range and scope of damage resulting from urban floods. This panel will also touch upon the role of insurance companies in covering flood damage as well as initiating a debate on defining an objective line between the scope of responsibility of dewatering system operator and insurance company’s liability.

Climate change in Central Europe is a fact and has a huge impact on the functioning of water and sewage companies. Emerging more and more intense rainfall, long periods of drought and high temperatures require enterprises to take technical, organizational and long-term investment measures to ensure their proper functioning guaranteeing a high level of water supply, collection of sanitary sewage and rainwater. These activities should secure the protection of infrastructure both during periods of river floods and rapid urban floods resulting from rapid precipitation and during periods of drought. MPWiK S.A. in Wrocław, which was severely affected by the flood of the millennium in 1997, the flood in 2010 and the shortage of raw materials as a result of drought or ecological disasters, has undertaken and continues to undertake, alone and with the city of Wrocław, a number of organizational, technical and investment activities aimed at minimizing the effects of climate change on its functioning .

For more than 20 years, the SIAVB (Syndicat Intercommunal pour l’Assainissement de la Vallee de la Bievre) and Veolia develop and update an automated flood management system of the river Bievre, a tributary of the Seine located south of Paris. This solution makes it possible to protect the Upper Valley (200 000 inhabitants, 130km2, 35 km of watercourse) against flooding. In May and June 2016, very heavy rainfall caused extensive flooding in parts of Europe and particularly in the Paris region. In the Upper Bievre Valley, 130 mm fell between May the 22nd and June the 1st, which corresponds to fifth of the averange annual rainfall. While neighboring territories were severely affected by this event, both in human and material terms, the territory of the SIAVB was spared, largely thanks to the envolving technical infrastructure built around a tele-surveillance system, real-time control, a regulation software optimising the use of the storage basins of the river Bievre, and a 24-hour on-call service organisation. Drawing from a permanent data collection infrastructure and processing capabilities, a continuous eveluation of the hydraulic state of the river Bievree and its regulation system is made possible. The evoluation of the river levels is hence monitored in real time to instruct the storage basin regulation according to the hydraulic situation.

Extending extreme phenomena due to climate changes, in the form of very intense rainfall, but also prolonged periods of drought combined with high temperatures expose sewage systems of many cities in Poland to new risks. The effect of these changes is not only the expanding range of flow streams from extremely low to extremely high, but also clear changes in the composition of the transported medium. Climate change also significantly affects the deterioration of the geotechnical conditions of foundation of sewage networks and accompanying buildings. The experience of recent years shows that one of the most critical elements in this area is the connection of the sewage network with the sewage treatment plant. Due to location conditions in many Polish cities, the collector connecting the network with the sewage treatment plant runs in very difficult geotechnical conditions, and in addition it is necessary to change the flow regime from gravitational to pressure. This makes connecting sections particularly vulnerable to breakdowns due to interruptions in the work of the pumping station and unsealing of the pressure hoses themselves.

The real possibility of occurrence of this type of emergency events with potentially high losses for the natural environment makes you think about creating emergency scenarios. An important element of them should be ready plans for rapid emergency hydraulic bypass installations. To this end, one should think about providing adequate field reserves in the vicinity of critical infrastructure, having adequate material reserves and emergency readiness of assembly brigades. Perhaps this type of emergency systems should be created jointly by sewage system operators on a regional or even national scale due to their costs. The exchange of technical and organizational knowledge in the area of efficient implementation of emergency hydraulic bypasses is also very important. The main purpose of the paper is to present Uponor’s experience in this area. The presentation will discuss the experience gained at individual stages of the project implementation of laying an emergency pipeline on a pontoon bridge, transporting sewage from one of the country’s largest combined sewage systems to a sewage treatment plant located on the other side of a large river. The installation of the temporary pipeline was unusual due to the method of foundation and very short implementation time. Issues related to planning, effectiveness of implementation and proper coordination of works will be presented, including non-standard activities due to time pressure.

The subject of the presentation will be a discussion of ongoing works in the Ministry of Climate on programming EU support under the New Financial Perspective (NPF) 2021-2027 in the area of adaptation to climate change. In particular, work on programming support for NPF projects in the field of sustainable rainwater management systems will be discussed. In addition, other domestic and foreign financing sources for projects in the broadly understood scope of rainwater management will be discussed.

The Business for Climate discussion panel will be held together with experts from the Climate Manifesto and representatives of companies working in the water protection industry:

Ecol-Unicon – President of the Board Wojciech Falkowski,

Hauraton – President of the Board Maciej Siecla,

Wavin – Territory Head PL/BAL/UA Sławomir Borak,

Veolia Energia Polska –Director of Development Marek Przytulski,

Saur Polska – President of the Board Magdalena Markiewicz.

They will present action plans for adapting to climate change and together sign the declaration how to act in future.

The panel will be led through journalist Tomasz Galiński.