Phosphorus (P), due to its high environmental, economic and social importance is considered as one of the strategical resources on Earth. It is currently listed as Critical Raw Material for the European economy, due to its limited resources in Europe and almost complete dependence on imports from non-EU countries. This means that its sustainable use is crucial for maintaining the security of its flow and supplies in the EU.

If you only notice the quality of water when it flows from your tap, then you definitely do not deal with the management of water resources. However, as an expert or as a consumer, everyone is involved in these processes. Awareness in this issue should be part of the culture for the efforts of experts to gain success and effectiveness, and for consumers to receive high-quality drinking water and a favorable environment.

The long-term regional cooperation of the Baltic Sea countries is one of the best examples of coordinated environmental work in the world. As we all share this very delicate brackish inland sea, actions to prevent and remediate negative impacts are on the forefront of our cooperation. HELCOM – a treaty and a governing organisation dedicated to this cause – has now been working for almost 50 years!

Despite a quite progressive step forward to the development of technologies water and wastewater treatment, the management of water recourses is still an important challenge for the whole Baltic Sea Region (BSR).

What are the bottlenecks to be solved and incentives needed for enhancing the nutrient recycling in the Baltic Sea Region? Answers to these questions were looked for in the workshop under the EUSBSR Annual Forum 2020.

An important aspect of modern wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) management is to keep an eye on the energy consumption of the whole process. The topic is usually addressed from two sides, often in parallel:

• Decreasing of the energy demand
• Increasing of the energy production

Energy optimization needs looking at each specific sewage treatment plant. Without question, the biological treatment is the most important consumer. Also, there is lots of options to optimize, because the energy demand of the aeration depends on many different factors.

The development of cities and replacement of permeable areas – e.g. green areas – with impermeable ones adds to the disturbance of the natural water circulation. It reduces water infiltration and evapotranspiration while the surface runoff increases significantly. Also the climate changes that we experience with greater and greater intensity have contributed in recent years to more frequent flooding and floods in urbanised areas – the so-called flash floods – sudden local floods occurring most often after dry weather periods (urban droughts).

In 2016, the sea trout population in a city stream of Helsinki was in trouble. A large deliberate leakage of oil from a garage in the nearby industrial area contaminated the side stream and threatened the whole population. Storm water running to the stream was deteriorated by repeated smaller accidental oil leakages and by the loading of hazardous substances from the nearby busy streets. Thus, a delicate stream ecosystem in the middle of the city, a densely built catchment area, and very little space for any management structures to clean the storm waters. What to do?

The VillageWaters Project was launched to identify and propose the most effective wastewater treatment solutions for sparsely populated area households using independent water purification systems. The main objective of the project was to help households reduce operational costs when shifting to improved wastewater treatment, and thus to encourage them to implement the new treatment systems.

Welcome to the Baltic Smart Water Hub, our new international water community platform for sharing expertise in smart water management in the Baltic Sea Region. This feature-rich and versatile online platform was created by water experts from ten countries in the framework of the EU-funded projects – IWAMA and BSR WATER.