Having experience from last year’s conference we strongly believe that much can be learnt from others. Yet again we are inviting renowned foreign authorities
and practitioners in the field of stormwater, to give speeches during lectures and panel discussions. We would like their contribution to inspire and provoke you to indulge in the discussion without which no progress is possible.

We are convinced that keynote speakers we have invited to the conference will contribute to animating the discussion on the innovative technologies in stormwater,
the costs of climate change, stormwater in spatial planning, urban eco-hydrology
and management of overloaded dewatering systems.

Traditionally, one session of the conference will be dedicated to stormwater retention. We feel obliged to hold such a session not only because our web portal www.retencja.pl has the word “retention” in it but because we perceive the conference as an actual incentive to develop the idea of water retention, which is also one of the policies of the new Water Law in Poland.

We would also like to combine water retention with once unfashionable term of urban drainage. Having close contact with the subject of rainwater in Poland we are much concerned that a generation gap emerges in the profession of drainage specialists. Since a number of higher education lecturers will be attending the conference we would like to lobby for filling the gap and for experienced specialists to pass knowledge to younger generations of engineers.

However, we do not wish to centre this year’s edition of Stormwater Poland only around technical aspects and solutions applying only to urban areas. There will be separate sessions dedicated to communication dewatering  and stormwater consulting. The session regarding stormwater consulting will focus on organisational, economic
and legal aspects, which are equally important in water management.

We would also like to draw your attention to interrelated thematic blocks on the role
of Polish Waters in rainwater and meltwater management as well as maintenance standards and operation of stormwater drainage systems. Coming back to the main theme of our conference, which is a practical view on stormwater, we understand the need to gain knowledge about the operation of the new entity being Wody Polskie (Polish Waters) as well as stating and implementing operation standards for stormwater drainage systems that will comply with the regulations of New Water Law.