Water cycle issues involve a broad scale of subjects, which range from lack of drinking water and draught in certain areas of our continent (and beyond), to the need for flood control in other regions, as well as maintaining water quality. Also, water in (natural) lakes or rivers is regarded as an important asset both as a natural resource and from a landscape point of view, which includes its importance for agriculture and tourism. These issues have become largely interlinked in recent years and, due to climate change and related events worldwide, have attracted increased attention.
From this perspective, the EU and national governments now often require the subject of water cycle management to be integrated in any (rural) development plan for a region. The EU also takes water issues and projects into account in many of their programmes, for example in the subject of risk prevention (that includes flood management, but also drought and forest fires), which has been one of the main themes of the current and previous EU Structural Funds.
We are cooperating with several private and public organisations to develop new projects in the field of water cycle management. Currently, we are working on project proposals and schemes in several countries, including a water management project in polder region in Kaliningrad/Russia. For latter project Hermanns Consultancy particpated in a meeting on water management and nature in the Neman River Basin in December 2016, Kaliningrad, following project finding initiatives and a trade mission to the Kaliningrad Oblast in February 2014. We are now working on project funding applications and follow-up meetings.
With support from our network, we can offer you assistance with setting up similar projects in your region, or to integrate water issues in your regional policy and plans.
See also: sustainability and climate, for some overlapping themes, projects and proposals/ideas.