Senior Water Professionals Discuss Water Management Issues in Germany

A group of senior water professionals from the United States and Canada recently returned from a week in Germany as part of an EWRI/ASCE study tour. This is the tenth such study tour over the past 18 years. The tours are aimed at bringing together a relatively small group of highly qualified, international professionals and local engineers in the field of water resources management for presentations and discussions on selected water resources and environmental management issues of current interest.

Members of the study team touring the drainage pumping system in Dresden.

This study tour, sponsored by the EWRI International Cooperation Council and organized by a committee led by Walter Lyon, included visits to Berlin and Dresden and focused on the significant improvements in the environment since the reunification of Germany. Technical presentations and field tours were organized by Berliner Wasserbetriebe (Berlin Water Utility), Technical University of Berlin, German Federal Environmental Agency (UBA), and Dresden University of Technology. Some of the topics covered included natural and artificial recharge and infiltration, personal care products in the water cycle in Berlin, cleanup of the Elbe River following reunification, and the causes and aftermath of the recent flooding on the Elbe River. Field trips were made to a surface water treatment plant and a large pressure sewer pipe being constructed in Berlin, the UBA field experimental station in Marienfelde, and to a large underground retention basin and interceptor system in Dresden. Participants from the U.S. and Canada made presentations on a wide range of water management issues in the Americas.

Study tour participants at the German Federal Environmental Agency field station at Marienfelde. First row (left to right): Walter Lyon and Jack Day. Back row: Walter Grayman, Ingrid Chorus, Tom Heberer, Terence Lee, Ernest Giovannitti, Doug McTavish, and Bernd Heinzmann.

The study tour provided a unique opportunity to gain insights and to exchange views with high level engineers and researchers on water management issues in Germany. It is planned to present the results of the study tour at a panel discussion titled, "Water Management on the Elbe River in Germany" at the World Water and Environmental Resources Congress in Philadelphia in June 2003. Additionally, the Proceedings of the study tour will be prepared and will be available on CD.

The next study tour is being planned for Hawaii in March 2004. This workshop will emphasize trans-Pacific issues and will include water management professionals from America, Europe and Asia. For more information, please contact Jack Day at DayJ@uwgb.edu.