Stormwater Poland 2024 – report

Usually, coverage of a conference begins with a description of its official start. We want to get away from this pattern, because the Stormwater Poland 2024 conference is not just two days spent in a room. Rather, it is a permanent project, common to the rainwater environment in Poland, which was initiated eight years ago and in which a team of people and entities is involved. The common denominator between them and the actions they take is a desire to modernize rainwater management, to really use their potential to adapt to urban climate change, or an internal willingness and openness to share their experiences and best practices in this area.

Study visit to Wavin inspiring part of Stormwater Poland 2024

From the very beginning of Stormwater Poland’s history, a good example of commitment was the Wavin company and the specialists and often even passionate rainwater enthusiasts working there. That’s why coverage of the Stormwater Poland conference must begin with April 16 and a site visit to Wavin’s production facility in Buk. Everyone who decided to participate in this pre-session trip did not regret the time spent not far from Poznań in a plant that only on the surface appears to be a factory like any other. After professional health and safety training, the surprises and curiosities began.

The first was an accredited laboratory, actually a center of competence in the field of metrology, working with the General Office of Weights and Measures. This is the key to controlling the quality of products, if only the precision of pipes and fittings. This is also the secret of the good reputation that Wavin products enjoy among installers, because the individual components simply fit together like the proverbial Lego blocks. The second surprise was the high automation of production. In some of the halls visited, it was difficult to meet workers, although work was in full swing. A third curiosity for many was to see a powerful press with a pressure of tens of tons, used to produce inconspicuous, openwork drainage boxes.

The final chord of the tour was a joint photo at the newly remodeled parking lot, which, with the trees planted on it, is a living laboratory of TreeTank technology and also the eye of Ms. Agnieszka Wrzesinska of Wavin.

Stormwater Poland 2024 a great attendance success

Nonetheless, the main part of the conference began on April 17 at the Artis Auditorium in Poznań and was very popular, with 420 participants. It is fair to say that the hall barely accommodated the eager public, and it was difficult to squeeze through in the exhibition hall. Why the success? It is not easy to list all of its contributors, as they were in part both speakers and participants in panel discussions.

Nevertheless, it would be a big gaffe not to recognize Polish Waters, represented for the first time at the Stormwater Poland conference by its president Dr. Joanna Kopczynska herself. This is the right place to thank her for her personal participation in the conference and her openness to dialogue with the community of rainwater practitioners in Poland. This is a new development that everyone hopes will facilitate real stormwater management and effectively raise the absorption capacity of National Reconstruction Plan funds for related purposes.

Day one debates

Speaking of Stormwater Poland 2024, it is also necessary to mention two debates that took place on the first day and were of great interest to the audience: Retention in Practice and the Mission of Water Supply Companies in Stormwater Management. The first one was another installment of the DNA of the conference series, according to which the event’s partners are various companies that, although they compete with each other on a daily basis, understand that it is possible to meet and exchange views in a cultured way, and even together build and expand the market for sales and services designed for rainwater management.

The second debate confirmed that all over the country, especially in large cities, rainwater management and urban flood prevention, regardless of the organizational and legal status, fall within the mission of water utilities to take care of water. Being a water company is not just about supplying and selling water, but it’s a lifelong responsibility for the proper circulation of water in the city and concern for its quality. Here, too, it would be a big gaffe not to emphasize that the success of the debate is due to the brand recognition of the local host of the conference – the Aquanet S.A. group – and the involvement of its presidents in the organization of the event.

Conference hall the exhibition room

Returning to the hall of the Artis Auditorium itself, it must be said somewhat in the convention of a joke that the conference partners, who decided to display themselves in a dignified manner, were responsible for the squeeze and crowding there. A great many companies have set their sights on combining rainwater retention and use with greenery and nature. Particularly prominent among this group was the main partner of the conference, ACO, which decided to put a very strong emphasis on the issue of rainwater quality. And, perhaps not obviously, it was a preview of the booth planned for the IFAT 2024 international exhibition in Munich. It’s nice that in Poznan you could see the same thing as in Germany, only a little earlier.

A foreign perspective on rainwater management

After such a series of highlights on the first day of the conference, one might have been concerned about the attendance and substantive offerings on the second day. There was no problem with either, however. It was already difficult to find a parking space near the Artis Auditorium from early in the morning, and a plethora of interesting speakers once again appeared as presenters. Again, it would be tactless to make a ranking, but following the somewhat well-established premise of Poland’s privileged treatment of foreign guests, it is worth devoting a few words to their presentations.

Ms. Lea Levi of Stockholm showed a comprehensive vision of a series of measures leading to the development of a city focused on optimizing stormwater management and reducing flooding. It’s a lesson in humility that we all desperately need and shows that engineering solutions can only protect us from urban flooding to a certain extent. In light of ongoing climate change, we must learn to live with the threat of flooding and shape our cities to be as resilient to it as possible.

Mr. Brian Schmitt, combining his experience from America and Europe, presented a vision of rainwater circulation design using nature-based solutions. An important element of this concept is thoughtful control of rainwater runoff, which should start as early as the roof. You can read more about this in our Amsterdam coverage of PolderRoofs.

The presentation by K-Water from South Korela, led by Dr. Kwon Munhyuk, cannot be underestimated. It allowed conference attendees to see with their own eyes the digital twin of South Korea’s entire hydrological system, made thanks to the unique Digital GARAM+ software. In conversations with many of the participants in this session, one could hear disbelief in the face of such advanced and integrated solutions for managing water resources nationwide. You can read more about it in our coverage of K-Water’s visit to Korea.

Activities now and plans for the future

The Stormwater Poland 2024 conference was an inspiration to work on improving water management in Poland, especially rainwater and snowmelt. It also brought one direct result even before it was completed – the opening of a rain garden at the 12th High School in Poznan. This was made possible by the commitment and efforts of the Aquanet Retention Company. On this occasion, an announcement was made by President Hanna Madajczyk and representatives of Retencjapl to jointly organize the next edition of Stormwater Poland on March 25-26, 2025. So we invite you back to Poznan for rainwater inspiration.

Prof. Pawel Licznar, founder of Retencjapl and the WaterFolder platform. From 2016 to 2020, he served as scientific director of the project to develop and implement the Polish Atlas of Rainfall Intensities (PANDa). Since 2021, he has been coordinating scientific work in the NCBiR-funded project POIR.01.01.01-00-0119/21: WaterFolder Connect – an integrated design and modeling platform for drainage systems. Graduate of the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the Wroclaw University of Technology. He received his doctoral degree in agricultural sciences with a specialization in environmental shaping in 2002 from the Faculty of Land Reclamation and Environmental Engineering at the Agricultural Academy in Wroclaw. He received his doctoral degree in environmental engineering in 2010 from the Faculty of Environmental Engineering at Wrocław University of Technology. He received the title of professor of engineering sciences in 2019. Promoter of 5 completed doctoral dissertations, numerous master’s and engineering theses. Author and co-author of more than 120 scientific publications. Specialist in the measurement and processing of rainfall data and hydrodynamic modeling of sewer networks. Lecturer at the Warsaw University of Technology.