Water Congress “Flood forecasting, climate change, water protection”

During the event, participants will look at the issues of climate change, extreme water phenomena, environmental hydraulics, hydraulic engineering and natural hazards. The panelists will include representatives of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Hydrological Program and the World Meteorological Organization.

“This congress is a great platform for sharing ideas and talking about the research needs and the current state of knowledge in the broadly understood field of hydrology, which is practiced by specialists in various fields: geophysics, mathematics, chemistry. Researchers should work at the periphery of these areas using a variety of scientific tools to be able to look at water problems from different perspectives“He says Prof. Paweł Rowiński, vice president of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

The future of hydrological research

One of the effects of climate change will be the increasing occurrence of floods. The participants of the Tuesday session “Enhanced Flood Risk modeling” – “Uncertainty, natural hazards and risks” will discuss the factors causing floods, calculations and detection techniques. They will focus on possible aspects of improved flood risk modeling, including the use of high-resolution data to predict urban floods, the impact of climate change on flood risk, and the use of technologies such as remote sensing, improved risk representation and management in flood modeling.

“If we look at the perspectives of European hydrological research, an important issue is the good ecological status of rivers. Recent studies show that hydromorphology is an important issue in achieving it. We know how much flood protection affects rivers, but from the perspective of reducing the risk of floods, an important topic of future research will be not only our forecasts of the speed of water rise in flood plains, but also the flexibility of hydraulic systems“He says Prof. Tomasz Okruszko, Vice-Rector for studies at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences and an expert of the Advisory Team for climate crisis at the President of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Sustainable development is one that meets the needs of the present generation, but also takes into account the future needs of the population. During the Wednesday session “Towards sustainability in urban waters systems”, the panellists and the audience will consider proposals for actions leading to sustainable drainage of urban areas, increasing energy efficiency and use of resources. They will look at research, methodologies and algorithms that can improve the development rates of urban water systems. They will analyze energy consumption in buildings, the relationship between water and energy in urban environments and the possibilities of reusing water or optimizing water resources in cities, e.g. by power plants.

Broadcasts from Warsaw, Berlin, Vienna, Brussels and Sheffield

Due to the ongoing pandemic, the congress will be held online in the form of meetings with a limit of places in studies organized at the Staszic Palace of the Polish Academy of Sciences, as well as at the Polish Academy of Sciences stations in Berlin, Vienna and Brussels, and at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom. These meetings will be broadcast to participants from all over the world. The congress is organized in compliance with the applicable safety rules.

The opening ceremony of the congress, in which he will participate, among others rector of Warsaw University of Life Sciences Prof. dr hab. Michael Zasada, will be held on February 15 at 10.00 and will be broadcast on the profile of the Polish Academy of Sciences on Facebook. You will also be able to watch live the Regional IAHR Hydro-Environment Heritage and Industry Innovation Awards for hydraulic engineering facilities and the closing of the conference. Webinars and sessions will be available to those who have signed up earlier.

The panelists will include representatives of the intergovernmental hydrological program UNESCO (The Intergovernmental Hydrological Program) or the World Meteorological Organization.