Riding the Wave - Europe Forum in Turku 28.08.24

On 28-30 August Europe Forum 2024 in Turku took place for the seventh time.  The main theme of this year’s edition is “Europe’s Secure Future”. The topic also concerns the protection of water resources.

As Mr Patrick Child – Deputy Director General at DG Environment – said we are struggling with the water crisis. We have to think about water management. The topic of water is getting more attention in the European Parliament and the political priority in the Agenda is water. There are growing evidence of environmental pollution in Europe. We can see droughts which are causing huge losses, not only at the local level but also this is a regional problem. We need to reduce the use of drinking water for every purpose, e.g. industries or farmers. There is a big problem of PFAS – forever chemical in the water – and other water pollution. At some point, we will have a problem that national or EU funds will not be enough to stop the problem and there will be a need to cooperate with SME’s. That’s why projects realized within the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme are very important. Only together we can do more on the topic of sustainable use of water.

Water is used in many sectors of human life, which means we must work to secure its resources. During this year’s Forum water management challenges and solutions were discussed at our event “Riding the Wave – Sustainable Water Management in the Baltic Sea Region” organized by Centrum Balticum. The discussion was also a European Green Week Partner Event. In the discussion, the WaterMan project and three projects: Nursecoast-II, ReNutriWater and Blue Cities, presented their solutions related to sustainable water use. Projects deal with different main topics but water is a base.

Project WaterMan was represented by Marcin Żuchowski from Association of Polish Communes Euroregion Baltic, he said that:

– In northern Europe, we are used to having plenty of fresh, drinkable water available. We have an increasing demand for drinking water, that’s why WaterMan promotes the idea that different qualities of water can be used for different purposes. Treated wastewater or rainwater could be used in flushing toilets and washing cars. Building stakeholder and consumer acceptance is also an important task of our project. For most actors, the idea of water reuse is still a novelty. In the WaterMan project, we have pilot solutions which were tailored to the needs of a given partner. We need to remember that not every solution will be ok for every case. Municipalities need to analyse their situation and then look for the best solution.

It is very important to promote results and solutions to build awareness among the stakeholders.

Pani Anu Reinikainen reprezentowała projekt Nursecoast-II, który zajmuje się tematem wody trakcie sezonu turystycznego na obszarze przybrzeżnym. Testowane są różne rodzaje rozwiązań uzdatniania wody, ale oprócz działań pilotażowych prowadzone są badania społeczne i ekonomiczne.