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Protecting Baltic Sea from untreated wastewater spillages during flood events in urban areas

NOAH

Effective management of urban stormwaters is one of the largest environmental problems faced by cities around the Baltic Sea. Climate change brings along intense rainfalls and storms in the Baltic Sea region. Urban drainage systems are not capable to handle this, and therefore floods are becoming more common in the densely populated areas. Floods increase the risk of untreated wastewater being flushed from urban drainage systems into the nature. This is harmful to people and the environment due to the excessive amount of nutrients, hazardous substances and pathogenic microbes of the wastewater.

Urban areas can be prepared for floods by improved planning and self-adaptive drainage operations. The NOAH project has brought together nine towns and water utilities, seven academic and research institutions and two umbrella organizations from six countries around the Baltic Sea to join their forces. Location of the partners fosters capacity building from North to South and West to East. The challenges to be solved vary from area to area – and similarly does the expertise among project partners, which is a notable advantage for NOAH. For example, the city of Pori in Finland will share their profound experience of monitoring river conditions and preparing for floods. Water companies, for their part, bring to the project hands-on expertise on operating urban drainage.

NOAH’s aim is to create a concept for holistic planning and implement smart drainage systems in real urban environments. Holistic planning combines stormwater management with spatial planning. This is followed by the development of smart systems to make the existing facilities resilient to the impacts of climate change.