For a long time, the Emscher was considered the dirtiest river in Germany. Today, it flows above ground without sewage. The Emscher conversion - an innovation in civil engineering, a blueprint for sustainable landscape design, a project of the century.

The last coal-fired power plant in Germany is to be decommissioned by 2038 at the latest. In NRW, the coal phase-out is expected to be a reality by 2030. This will also have a huge impact on water management in the respective regions. The water management challenges associated with the upcoming recultivation work in the east and west will be discussed in this session. Numerous lake landscapes will be created from today's opencast lignite mines. Where does the required water come from and what qualitative requirements need to be considered when flooding the opencast mines? These central questions will be the subject of the session. The solutions found in Germany will also be of great interest in other regions of the world.

"Water-sensitve cities are liveable cities. Through the skilful combination of blue, green and grey infrastructure, we manage to leverage synergies and thus make staying in the city pleasant in every season. Integral planning from the very beginning enables housing at affordable prices, cool parks and shady squares invite people to linger, and includes intelligent mobility concepts that enable us to develop areas towards a water-sensitive city. Together we want to unfold the positive effects of water-sensitive urban development, e.g. secure water supply for residents and the economy, reduce heat spots, experience water and nature, increase biodiversity and create coolness, which can only be achieved if we manage rainwater sustainably. Numerous good examples already show that this effort pays off. In order to develop this on a large scale, it remains to be said: ""We do not have a knowledge deficit, but obviously an implementation deficit"". The session is intended to show what is already possible when the various actors work together and have the mandate to advance the water-sensitive transformation of our cities. With examples from Germany and around the world, we want to inspire people to imitate. Short keynote speeches with numerous pictures show how the city can be given back to the inhabitants. Following the keynote speeches, we will get into conversation with the participants and discuss, among other things, the prerequisites that are necessary for a rapid implementation."

At the latest since the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and the question of more energy autonomy have been driving the energy transition, the acceleration of approval procedures has become a social issue that no longer only interests project developers. Not every project enjoys as much political tailwind as the approval and connection of LNG terminals. However, the pulse of the water industry is also set by the large number of approval, permit, authorization, exemption, notification or planning approval procedures that ultimately form the binding framework for projects or for the performance of tasks. In each of these procedures, impacts have to be assessed, preconditions examined and interests weighed up against each other. The session will address what formal or substantive legal solutions are available and what developers can do in the conceptual, planning, permitting, and implementation phases, as well as what options the agencies have to ensure a speedy permitting process that takes into account the concerns of proper environmental protection.

The fascination of water - imparting knowledge. Create enthusiasm! How do we create enthusiasm for the topic of water, enthusiasm for the industry, enthusiasm for working in the industry? Which communication channels can we use and how? Best practice examples and innovative ideas with a focus on social media.

In the event of accidents involving the release of oils and other liquid chemicals, particular importance is attached to hazard prevention and damage limitation, including preventive health and environmental protection. The use of suitable measures on traffic areas or water bodies is therefore indicated. In this event, suitable measures will be presented on the basis of various oil spills.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) as a component of digitization has a powerful potential to economically implement the complex requirements in the planning, construction and especially in the operation of the systems. The DWA is tackling this topic in cooperation with DVGW and buildingsmart.

After a short presentation of the activities of DWA's technical committee BIZ-14 "Women in Waste and Water Management", the role of mentoring for the integration of women in the industry will be highlighted and interactively shown how women are part of the solution to the issue of skills shortage.

The Covid 19 pandemic has led to a worldwide leap in the development of wastewater monitoring. Wastewater has advanced to become a valuable supplementary source of information for epidemiological situation assessment. The detection of viral RNA in wastewater allows statements to be made at the population level and is independent of diagnostic testing. Even infected persons with asymptomatic courses excrete the virus and can be detected via wastewater. Many in Europe, but also outside Europe, have now established a surveillance system. The session will look at the state of development in Europe and in Germany. The following questions will be addressed: How can the necessary requirements for sampling, transport and analytics be taken into account in the workflow? What needs to be considered in data evaluation? How can the data flow be managed? Last but not least, a look into the future is also of interest. Article 17 of the European Urban Wastewater Directive, which is currently being revised, provides for an expansion of wastewater monitoring to include other relevant pathogens, including polioviruses, influenza viruses, new emerging pathogens and AMR

People, the environment and the economy need water in sufficient quantity and quality every day. The globally increasing demand for water is confronted with limited water resources, which leads to competing uses. Water scarcity increasingly threatens ecosystems and impairs the economic and political development of entire regions and countries. The dry summers of recent years have shown that solutions are also increasingly needed in Germany to counteract regional water shortages in the long term. The reuse of water can contribute to sustainably increasing water availability and using water more efficiently. The reuse of treated municipal wastewater, the recycling of industrial water and the use of treated saline groundwater and surface water are particularly promising. To develop innovative technologies and concepts for water reuse and desalination, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) launched the funding measure ""Water Technologies: Reuse"" funding measure. It builds on the funding measure ""WavE - Sustainable technologies and concepts to increase water availability through water reuse and desalination"". In this sesson, selected joint projects of the funding measure will be presented.

In this session the EU partnership Water4All will be presented. The initiative brings together a large group of 79 institutions from 31 countries and three European networks. The aim is to secure water supplies in the long term by driving forward water-related innovations through research. In 2022, the partnership published its first announcement on the topic of "Hydrological Extreme Events". It funds transnational projects that develop new, integrated approaches to improve the management of extreme hydrological events such as heavy rainfall, floods and droughts. On the German side, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is participating in the call.

The new European Urban Wastewater-Treatment-Directive is being seriously revised after more than 30 years. New topics such as the elimination of anthropogenic micro-pollutents, energy efficiency of municipal wastewater treatment plants or stormater treatment will be newly included and existing regulations will be tightened (e.g. nutrient elimination). The expected changes will have a major impact on wastewater treatment in Europe. The conclusion of the procedure in Brussels and the publication of the legally binding directive is expected for spring 2024. Depending on the progress of the publication, developments and decisions in the implementation of the Urban-Wastewater-Treatment-Directive will be explained and discussed in the session under legal, technical and operational aspects.

The current Sewage Sludge Regulation came into force on 3 October 2017. It contains a strong paradigm shift, in particular the extensive phase-out of soil-based sewage sludge utilisation in conjunction with phosphorus recovery from sewage sludge or sewage sludge incineration ash. Already today, 75 % of sewage sludge is treated thermally. In the next few years, however, significant capacities for co-incineration of sewage sludge will be replaced due to the phase-out of coal use. For this reason, companies in the wastewater sector have already made considerable investments in the construction of new or the expansion of existing sewage sludge incineration plants in order to ensure disposal security in the future. International crises such as the Corona pandemic and the Russian war against Ukraine have stimulated extreme price increases of machineries and material and provoked delays in the construction of incineration plants. Nevertheless, it can be assumed that sufficient capacities for the thermal treatment of sewage sludge can be built by 2029. From 2029 onwards, according to the Sewage Sludge Regulation, the phosphorous of the ash must be recovered or temporarily stored. However, the development of appropriate capacities for phosphorus recovery from ashes appears to be extremely challenging in the remaining 5 years. Studies predict that, in the best case, appropriate capacities will be available for about 40 % of the ash produced by 2029. Market-ready processes are not yet sufficiently available, and the further development and large-scale implementation of new technologies will probably take longer than the time allowed by the Regulation. Since storage of ashes causes a very high additional expense, this option should only be considered as a last option. Keeping this in mind, it is important to develop solutions and concepts jointly with all parties involved. This includes pragmatic and sustainable promotion of research and, in particular, pilot projects for the large-scale implementation of P-recovery processes. What technologies and concepts are available today and what are the opportunities and challenges for providers and users? What is the status in Germany and what is the situation abroad? The session intends to show this and stimulate discussion. Short impulse presentations and plenty of time for questions will make the event lively.

Phosphorus is essential for all biological organisms, but it is also a scarce, finite resource. The oldest method of phosphorus recycling is using human and animal excreta. Wastewater and sewage sludge offer a good opportunity for phosphorus recovery and recycling. What technologies and concepts are available, and what opportunities and challenges do providers and users face? The solution tours are intended to provide answers.

In order to avoid getting into serious conflicts over the use of water resources during prolonged periods of drought, the reuse of treated wastewater is also an option. Different users demand different requirements for the treated wastewater, and hygiene aspects play an essential role. The EU regulation on minimum requirements for water reuse is into force since June 2023. What technologies and concepts are available, and what opportunities and challenges do providers and users face? The solution tours are intended to provide answers.

When do settlements have a high quality of life? This is clearly the case when blue, green and grey infrastructure are skilfully combined. The challenges lie in transforming our cities into water-sensitive settlements that are more resilient to increasing weather extremes. A paradigm shift is needed. Discharging water as fast as possible is no longer an option. We have to keep the water in the city, for example to irrigate urban greenery. This solution tour will illustrate what experiences exist and what technologies are on the market.