WaterMan

This Interreg BSR initiative adds a new element to water management that can make water supply more climate resilient. The key actors for water reuse are local authorities and water companies, for most of which the topic is still a novelty. WaterMan will supply them with knowledge and tools to develop strategic approaches and implement concrete measures that bring water reuse into practice. Project promotes the reuse of water in the Baltic Sea Region. In the project, public authorities and water companies develop model strategies to reuse water and recirculate retained water.

The WaterMan capacity-building process involves a transnational peer learning process. Municipalities and water companies from 6 countries will, assisted by R&D institutions/domain experts, co-create:

(1) Exemplary water reuse strategies for selected model regions that combine measures for (a) reuse of treated water (b) recirculation of retained water (c) promoting stakeholder & consumer acceptance for water reuse.

(2) A set of complementary pilot measures for water reuse that depict typical use cases, and that adapt, test and validate concrete solutions for utilization in the BSR. The results are processed into a “BSR Water Reuse Toolbox”. It gives other local authorities & water companies concrete guidance on how to foster water reuse and is proactively & widely disseminated to them.

The project involves 43 organizations from all over BSR countries and implements 10 pilot activities.

The backbone of the WaterMan partnership is “hands-on” partners from the local level (local authorities, water companies), which will become “frontrunners” in the promotion of water reuse in the Baltic Sea Region. In the framework of the project, they team up with (a) domain experts that supply them with the necessary expertise, and (b) relevant umbrella organizations that support them in disseminating the project results to further interested local authorities and water companies in the BSR.

Location: Geographically, WaterMan focuses on the southern parts of the BSR (southeast SE, DK, DE, PL, LT, LV, EE). This concentration on homogenous geology & landscape type will make peer learning and knowledge transfer more effective

Contact persons:

Project Lead Partner:
Region Kalmar County
Project manager Tobias Facchini, tobias.facchini@regionkalmar.se 

Project Partner:

Klaipėda University Marine Research Institute
Project manager Valdas Langas valdas.langas@ku.lt

Project budget: 4377046,18 Eur (ERDF 3501636,90 EUR), of which Klaipėda University budget is 228250,00 Eur (ERDF 182600,00 EUR).

The project is supported by Interreg Baltic Sea Programme 2021-2027, Priority 2 “Water-smart Societies”, objective 2.1 “Sustainable Waters”.

More info: https://interreg-baltic.eu/project/waterman/