14 November saw the latest edition of the Danube Water Program's popular “KnowNow” webinar series,this time co-hosted by IAWD and Aqua Publica Europea. Once again, this event threw a spotlight on a burning topic with relevance for the water sector everywhere in the Danube region: Extreme weather events and wide-spread flooding disasters have made headlines all through the summer. Unmanaged stormwater can overwhelm drainage and sewer systems, pollute rivers, lakes and groundwater, and the related threats to water supply security are a growing headache for water sector professionals everywhere in the region.

The climate crisis and the accompanying increase in weather extremes lends extra urgency to understanding and applying effective stormwater management to mitigate flood and health risks and to support sustainable urban development. 

Therefore, the Danube Water Program had teamed up with Aqua Publica Europea (APE) to organize a webinar packed with insights into the latest trends related to stormwater management, with a strong focus on NBS - Nature-Based Solutions and a set of interesting and best-practice examples.

Moderators Milo Fiasconaro of Aqua Publica Europea, and IAWD's Katerina Schilling treated the audience to an introductory presentation on stormwater management by Dr. Florian Kretschmer, Senior Scientist at the Institute for Sanitary Engineering and Water Pollution Control at BOKU University in Vienna, followed by an overview of the Early Flood Warning System of the municipality Istanbul, presented by Ms. Cemre Erbil of the Research and Development Branch at the Istanbul Water and Sewerage Administration.

Next, Ms. Tatjana Uzelac walked the audience through Pula’s Rain Gardens, a best practice example of NBS in stormwater management, followed by Franck Perru presenting the NBS-based urban and rural water management approach of SDEA, the Syndicat des Eaux et de l’Assainissement Alsace-Moselle in France.

A lively Q&A session ensued, proving the strong interest in the water management topic and the value of the KnowNow webinars as an agile, always up-to-date, low-threshold platform for international knowledge sharing and information exchange.

To access the presentations as well as to view the recording, please visit the event's page under the link below.