The fourth edition of the Hof Water Symposium, which is organised 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, specialised authorities and research, was securing water resources in times of drought.

The event team Anja Grabmeier, Prof Günter Müller-Czygan and Prof Manuela Wimmer are already looking forward to the 5th Water Symposium! Hof University of Applied Sciences

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 are we not acting 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 periods of drought are still visible in low groundwater levels in many areas of Germany. In addition, rising air temperatures also change the temperature conditions in the soil, which impairs groundwater quality due to changes in the activity of microorganisms. For this reason, water management measures for periods of drought and heavy rainfall events must be considered together. 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 assessed using the Hof method of multi-level analysis. More information can be found on the website of the Competence and transfer centre sustainable sponge city/region of the university.

Know-how transfer through the inwa

The Institute for Sustainable Water Systems provided information on several topics from a wide range of work and research areas: Andreas Aicher spoke about "Soil as a water reservoir - how data can be collected and utilised 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 devoted his presentation to the topic of "Multifunctional use of water reservoirs in urban areas: as a habitat or for irrigating crops".

Companies inform about innovations

In addition, several companies 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)

DehoustProducts for the storage and efficient use of energy, heat and water - including rainwater storage and utilisation as well as the use of grey water (D. Ebisch)

Plastic Spranger: Development and production of practical aquaculture and aquarium equipment (J. Zimmermann).

Finally, Prof. Dr Manuela Wimmer summarised the key messages and findings:

Water management must always take into account the existing complexity of the issue and try to utilise synergy effects."

Prof Günter Müller-Czygan adds:

We must learn to think beyond system boundaries and work together on an interdisciplinary basis. It is our job to raise awareness of these requirements!"

Find out more about the Institute for Sustainable Water Systems here.