WS1: Water security through integrated water and waste management and risk assessment
06.10.2026 – 08.10.2026 14:00 – 16:00
Senatssaal
Moderator: Julia Gebert & Andreas Haarstrick
Impluse
Climate change aggravates the risks posed by improper disposal of waste and inadequate management of contaminated sites. Heavy rainfall, flooding and wind contribute to the contamination of inland waters, groundwater reservoirs and the seas through erosion of uncovered solid waste, landsliding of instable waste bodies, scouring or direct seepage of leachate, causing pollutant release and dispersion in the environment. As a result, security and resilience of water supply are directly linked to and under pressure by wastewater and waste management, especially in densely populated areas. This has economic, political and social dimensions; for example, regarding the equity of access to clean water and the role and resilience of the societal structure developing around the informal waste management sector. At international level, safeguarding the quality of transboundary surface waters is affected by (in)adequate national and regional wastewater and waste management issues.
Activity, output and outcome
Interested conference participants are invited to form a ‘writeshop team’ to explore the impulse topic through the following pathways:
A. Draft a shared review publication
The paper shall highlight risks of inadequate wastewater and waste management for water supplies, identify gaps in problem-solving, propose implementation strategies and analyse economic and societal consequences in the face of future climate-related extreme events. A comparative risk assessment could also be included, examining the scenarios of (1) genuine change through political, legal and societal measures versus (2) continuing with ‘business as usual’. Such a review could form the basis for a future research proposal. Drafting the review paper’s structure would be an output of the writeshop, the final publication for submission an outcome.
B. Scoping for a shared research proposal
The writeshop participants formulate an approach for a research project, which could include the examination of the risks of wastewater and waste management systems for water supplies, predictive quantification of waste material flows, analysis of leaching mechanisms and subsequent contaminant release, as well as the dynamics of the erosion of landfill or informal waste disposal sites and release of solid waste into the environment within the context of climate adaptation, including an integrated risk assessment. Deciding on a title for the research proposal, structuring its content, defining its objectives and formulating the research questions would be an output of this meeting, whilst the completed research proposal would be an outcome of this meeting. For both options (review paper, research proposal), the writeshop team would need to establish a network of committed participants with a binding commitment to contribute, with the dedication continuing beyond the time frame of the conference itself.