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The Gov4Water project focuses on strengthening water governance and adapting water-resource planning to climate challenges and the future needs of regions. Its core purpose is the exchange of experience among European partners, the identification of good practices and the search for ways to use them in regional public policies.
On 20–22 May 2026, the Lodzkie Region hosted the 4th Study Visit, International Seminar and the activity entitled “Staff Exchange”, implemented as part of the Gov4Water – Smart, Efficient and Adaptive Water Resource Management project, co-financed by the Interreg Europe programme. The event was attended by project partners and regional stakeholders involved in sustainable water resource management, climate-change adaptation, retention, blue-green infrastructure and the implementation of nature-based solutions. The programme included field visits, presentations of good practices, project discussions and an exchange of experience among the partners.
Study visit – from municipal infrastructure to nature-based solutions
The first day of the event was organised as a study visit and enabled participants to learn about different dimensions of water management: from large technical infrastructure, through research and demonstration solutions, to examples of nature-based solutions implemented in the Pilica River catchment and in the urban space of Łódź.
The visit began at the Group Wastewater Treatment Plant of the Łódź Metropolitan Area, where participants learned about the operation of one of the region’s key water and wastewater infrastructure facilities. The plant, located on the south-western edge of Łódź, on the right bank of the Ner River, treats wastewater from Łódź, Pabianice and Konstantynów Łódzki, as well as from the municipalities of Ksawerów and Nowosolna. Wastewater entering the plant first undergoes mechanical treatment and then biological treatment.
During the visit, technological processes, the organisation of the plant’s operation, the importance of monitoring treatment parameters and the role of this type of infrastructure in protecting the aquatic environment were discussed. Participants had an opportunity to see how a system combining technical, environmental and organisational dimensions works in practice. This was an important point in the programme, demonstrating that effective water management in the region requires both investment in infrastructure and continuous supervision of its operation.
The next stop was the Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection at the University of Łódź, where participants visited the experimental garden and learned about activities carried out under the SPRINGINESS – Water4All project. The project concerns the management of stormwater runoff in urban areas in order to counteract extreme hydroclimatic phenomena. Its assumptions include the development and demonstration of blue-green infrastructure as a tool for reducing the impacts of climate change in cities.
The visit to the University of Łódź showed the importance of scientific research and experimental solutions for urban practice. Particular attention was paid to the potential use of vegetation, microorganisms and filtering materials to improve the quality of stormwater, increase retention and support the local resilience of cities to phenomena such as intense rainfall, droughts and overheating of urbanised spaces.
The participants then travelled to the Pilica River, where examples of nature-based solutions implemented in the river catchment were presented. Of particular importance was the visit to Barkowice, a demonstration area connected with the LIFE+ EKOROB project. The EKOROB project was aimed at reducing diffuse pollution in the Pilica River basin through the use of cost-effective ecohydrological biotechnologies. In Barkowice, participants were introduced to a vegetated buffer zone reinforced with a denitrification wall, designed to reduce nitrate pollution flowing into the waters.
The presented solution was an example of the practical application of the ecohydrology concept in water-quality protection. It also showed that nature-based actions can perform several functions at the same time: reducing pollutant inflow, supporting retention, improving the condition of aquatic ecosystems, and serving as an educational and demonstration tool for local governments, institutions and local communities.
The study-visit section also included, in substantive terms, a presentation by the Department of Environmental Management of the City of Łódź Office concerning the Lamus River in Łódź. Although this item was included in the agenda for the third day of the event, its character corresponded to the subject of the study visit, as it concerned urban renaturalisation and the reintroduction of water into public space.
The Lamus River is an example of an urban watercourse that for many years functioned as part of the city’s hidden infrastructure. The project implemented in Kiliński Park assumes bringing a section of the river back to the surface and creating a new recreational and educational space. The planned activities include, among others, restoring the riverbed, organising greenery, introducing waterside vegetation and elements of small architecture.
The example of the Lamus River showed that urban watercourses can become an important element of climate-change adaptation, the improvement of public-space quality and the building of residents’ awareness of the role of water in the city. It also provided a useful counterpoint to the previous programme items: after visiting a large wastewater treatment plant and seeing catchment-scale solutions, participants could observe how water-related issues translate into a specific urban space and revitalisation activities.
International seminar and Steering Committee meeting
The second day of the event was devoted to the international seminar and project meeting. The partners presented progress in the implementation of activities, discussed good practices and their possible transfer to policy instruments. An important element of the meeting was the discussion on activities planned for the next semester, administrative and financial matters, validation of outputs and project communication.
The seminar created space to place the experience gained during the field visits in the broader perspective of regional policies. The discussion focused on how good practices — both technological and organisational — can inspire changes in approaches to water management, climate-change adaptation and the planning of investments in water and blue-green infrastructure.
An important point of the programme was the presentation by Ecol-Unicon entitled “Water protection and treatment technologies”, devoted to technologies for water protection and treatment. This presentation served as a substantive introduction to the following day of the event. Participants first learned about the assumptions and examples of technological solutions and then, during the Staff Exchange, were able to see their practical implementation in the field: the stormwater pre-treatment plant at Liściasta Street in Łódź, constructed by Ecol-Unicon for the City of Łódź as part of the project “Odwodnienie Miasta Łodzi” [Drainage of the City of Łódź].
As a result, the seminar was not merely presentational in character, but was directly linked to a field visit. This structure of the programme enabled participants to follow the full path: from the discussion of technology and project assumptions, through a discussion on their application, to the presentation of a specific urban implementation.
Staff Exchange – practical implementations and institutional cooperation
On the third day, the activity entitled “Staff Exchange” took place, with the aim of deepening the exchange of knowledge among participants interested in selected aspects of water management. The programme began with a field visit in the area of Liściasta Street and the Sokołówka River valley, where representatives of the Department of Municipal Management of the City of Łódź presented the city’s long-standing activities related to the revitalisation, protection and nature-oriented development of areas located along the Sokołówka River.
The field presentation enabled participants to learn about the broader context of the activities carried out in this part of Łódź. The Sokołówka is an example of an urban river whose valley has for many years been a space for implementing solutions combining stormwater management, retention, water-quality improvement, the development of green areas and recreational functions. The activities carried out in this area show that the revitalisation of urban watercourses is not limited to improving the aesthetics of space. It is also an element of the city’s adaptation to climate change, mitigation of the effects of intense rainfall, strengthening of local retention and restoration of residents’ access to valuable natural areas.
During the visit, the importance of the Sokołówka valley as an element of Łódź’s blue-green infrastructure was discussed. Participants could see how the activities carried out along the river fit into the broader concept of a city that is more resilient to climate change — a city that does not treat water solely as a technical problem to be drained away quickly, but as a resource that needs to be retained, treated and integrated into the structure of public space. In this sense, the Sokołówka is an example of a transition from a traditional, sewerage-based approach to stormwater towards solutions that are more integrated, nature-oriented and socially useful.
An important element of this part of the programme was also the presentation of the stormwater pre-treatment plant at Liściasta Street, constructed by Ecol-Unicon for the City of Łódź as part of the project “Odwodnienie Miasta Łodzi” [Drainage of the City of Łódź]. The facility is directly connected with the protection of the water quality of the Sokołówka, as it serves to pre-treat stormwater and snowmelt before they are discharged to the receiving water body. It was therefore not a separate technical item in the programme, but part of a broader story about the revitalisation of an urban river, improvement of water quality and stormwater management in an urbanised space.
The visit to Liściasta Street was at the same time a practical continuation of the presentation delivered by Ecol-Unicon on the previous day during the international seminar. Participants could first learn about the technological assumptions concerning water protection and treatment, and then see a specific implementation operating in the field. This combination of the seminar and field components clearly showed how engineering solutions can complement revitalisation measures and support the improvement of the aquatic environment.
The pre-treatment plant at Liściasta Street is an example of infrastructure that is not an isolated technical facility, but part of a broader urban water-management system. Its function is not only to reduce the amount of pollutants entering the river, but also to support ecological safety, improve the operation of the drainage system and strengthen activities related to the protection and revitalisation of the Sokołówka valley. This programme item was particularly important because it enabled participants to see how urban investments in drainage infrastructure can be linked with environmental, adaptation and social objectives.
Another element of the Staff Exchange was a presentation on Local Water Partnerships, held at the European Regional Centre for Ecohydrology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Łódź and delivered by a representative of the Łódzkie Agricultural Advisory Centre based in Bratoszewice. The model of cooperation between local communities, farmers, water companies, local governments, institutions responsible for water management and experts was discussed. Local Water Partnerships serve to strengthen cooperation and networking among entities involved in water management, especially in rural areas.
In the context of Gov4Water, Local Water Partnerships are important not only as an organisational instrument, but also as an example of building shared responsibility for local water resources. They show that effective water management does not depend solely on infrastructure, but also on the quality of cooperation between institutions and water users. In this sense, LWPs complemented the earlier programme items devoted to technical and nature-based solutions, demonstrating the socio-institutional dimension of water management.
The final block was a presentation of biofiltration solutions developed by the European Regional Centre for Ecohydrology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Participants learned about an approach based on the use of biological and ecological processes to improve water quality and protect water resources. Biofiltration solutions show that nature-based technologies can be an effective complement to classic technical infrastructure, especially where reducing pollution, increasing retention and supporting the self-purification processes of aquatic ecosystems are important.
The third day of the meeting therefore showed several complementary scales of water management: the urban scale, represented by the Sokołówka valley and the pre-treatment plant at Liściasta Street; the organisational scale, connected with Local Water Partnerships; and the research-and-implementation scale, presented through the biofiltration solutions of ERCE PAN. As a result, the Staff Exchange was not only technical, but also strategic in character — it enabled participants to see how infrastructure, nature, administration and local cooperation can jointly create a more resilient water-management system.
Significance of the event
The study visit, international seminar and Staff Exchange showed that effective water management requires the combination of different perspectives: infrastructural, natural, scientific, administrative and social. Participants could see both large municipal facilities and nature-based solutions, examples of urban renaturalisation, retention and stormwater pre-treatment systems, as well as models of institutional cooperation.
The event in the Lodzkie Region confirmed that the region has examples of good practices that may be of interest to European partners. These include, among others, wastewater and stormwater management, urban investments in blue-green infrastructure, ecohydrological activities in the Pilica River catchment, renaturalisation of urban watercourses and cooperation among local actors for better water-resource management.
Particularly valuable was the connection between the seminar component and practical field visits. A good example was the Ecol-Unicon presentation during the seminar, followed by the visit to the stormwater pre-treatment plant at Liściasta Street. This enabled participants first to learn about the technological assumptions and then to see their concrete implementation, delivered for the City of Łódź as part of the project “Odwodnienie Miasta Łodzi” [Drainage of the City of Łódź].
The entire event contributed to strengthening cooperation among the Gov4Water partners and to a better understanding of how good practices can be used in different regional contexts. The meeting in the Lodzkie Region was also an opportunity to show that water in regional policy is not solely a matter of infrastructure. It is also a question of quality of life, the resilience of cities and rural areas, nature protection, institutional cooperation and development planning under changing climate conditions.
