Research in Water Resources and Water Management

Water is essential to life. It plays a central role in every society, every ecosystem and most production systems.

In urban areas the natural water cycle is often much displaced in terms of both water quantity and water quality, and a number of critical aspects call for better understanding and innovative solutions:

• Water quantity: Can scarce freshwater resources be supplied by rainwater harvesting, reuse of stormwater runoff, greywater recycling, and groundwater recharging? Can extreme rain and other climate changes be buffered by the urban landscape?
 
• Water quality: Can contaminants in urban wastewater, including stormwater runoff, be removed by mimicking natural geochemical and biophysical processes?
 
• Collaboration between key actors: Can the urban water cycle be transformed into a resilient and sustainable system by disseminating state of the art knowledge, creating interdisciplinary networks, and building powerful visions among private and public key actors?

Collaboration

The research is conducted in collaboration with internal (IJØ, IGM) and external (TI, DHI, DTU, GEUS, AAU, AU) knowledge institutions, public authorities and water utilities (e.g. BLST, MST, Copenhagen Municipality, Copenhagen Energy, Odense Municipality, VCS Denmark, Aarhus Municipality, Aarhus Water) private companies (e.g. Rambøll, Grontmij, Carl Bro, Orbicon, Leif Hansen, Byggros, Nykilde Frø, Watercare) and networks (ViVa, Danish Water Forum, Danish Town Planning Institute, DANVA).