Research

The main objectives of the project are: + to further develop and demonstrate the principle of retentive construction methods as elements of climate change adaptation in settlement areas, transport routes and for the prevention of pluvial floods (passive flood protection) + to gain insights for numerical simulations and to utilise these for the planning and operation of passive flood protection systems + optimising the use of synergies with carbon storage and biodiversity The central research topics are: + thesis: with the exception of high-ranking transport routes, retentive construction methods can be used everywhere where there is a need to adapt the components of the water balance (infiltration, evaporation and runoff) to local requirements (incl. groundwater management) + How can synergies in climate change adaptation of the water balance, carbon storage (in the soil) and conservation or reactivation of biodiversity be optimised with the use of nature-based methods (blue-green-brown infrastructure)? Description and evaluation of ecosystem services + nature-based retentive measures are to be developed, tested and modelled for the areas of windbreaks, viticulture, peri-urban settlements, housing estates, traffic route drainage and car parks + What influence do soil additives and/or soil organisms have on improving the properties of retentive construction methods, e.g. in terms of cleaning performance or plant vitality? The various elements of the technical substrates need to be analysed with regard to their effect on geotechnics, hydrology/hydraulics or filters and cleaning performance, especially by means of soil life and plants. + Scaling, dimensioning and test methods It is therefore necessary to develop dimensioning procedures, test parameters and test procedures for different construction methods to ensure their functions. These test procedures and parameters serve to ensure that they can be used in hydraulic construction methods in hydrological-hydraulic calculation and simulation procedures. Representative demonstration objects are used for the reliable validation of the water flows, which are to serve as the basis for simulation programmes in small and large areas. The data should be usable for open source or licensed modelling programs. + Integral modelling and monitoring

ProCleanLakes targets to combat the combined impact of various disruptive factors that generate continuous pressure on the lake's ecosystem status and facilitate the accumulation of emerging, non-regulated, chemical contaminants and nutrient enrichment. The project will design and demonstrate the feasibility of integrated nature-based emerging approaches for joint protection and restoration of European Natural Lakes (ENL) and their biodiversity, considering scenarios which imply the presence of various pressures that affect the aquatic ecosystems' status. The holistic transdisciplinary approaches that are to be used in the project, based on the synergic effect of the economic-environment-social nexus, targets to support the improvement of ENL ecological and chemical status in association with major EU instruments, sustainable development goals and policies related to freshwater ecosystems. The project engages multiple sites affected by the presence of various pressures and stressors, that will be the subjects for the demonstration of integrated protection and restoration solutions efficiency. A replication roadmap powered by the necessity of assuring upscaling and universality of the optimal integrated solutions (IS) will be developed to prove the replicability. An IS support platform which merges a business accelerator with an adaptive artificial intelligence (AI) solution for empowering citizen science related to lakes protection and restoration will assure the collaboration between the municipalities and citizens and will offer capacity-building and encourage co-development and co-design towards natural lakes protection and restoration. Tools such as mobile decision support platforms, serious games for digital readiness, e-learning and augmented-based modules for reinforce-learning and multiple AI machine learning analytical frameworks will be developed to assure the synergic approach toward the maximization of integrated solutions impact and replicability.

Due to the advancing climate change, climate change adaptation measures such as blue-green infrastructures (BGI) are becoming increasingly important in urban water management and urban planning. The microclimatic cooling effect of blue-green infrastructure in particular reduces heat islands and thus improves the quality of life in densely built-up areas. However, this natural cooling effect can only be achieved if sufficient water is available for the BGI. Particularly during long periods of drought and heat, it is therefore often necessary to irrigate the BGI, which is currently carried out primarily with drinking water in Austria. A more sustainable irrigation solution should therefore be introduced in order to guarantee a secure supply of drinking water, especially on peak days, and to increase efficiency in the use of drinking water. Alternative water resources, such as rainwater or treated wastewater and gray water, play a decisive role here. This research project deals with the sustainable water supply of BGI. An analysis is carried out at building, district and city level in which BGI are categorized and their water requirements are derived, which are necessary to achieve optimal ecosystem performance. This project also deals with alternative water resources. Alternative water resources are identified, the quantitative availability and qualitative requirements are determined and the necessary treatment measures are identified. A further step is the derivation of strategies for the implementation of alternative water resources and the cost-benefit analysis of the use of alternative water resources. The aim of this forecast is to show the long-term effects on the drinking water supply. To this end, the peak water demand and the number of peak demand days are taken into account. The aim of the project is to demonstrate the long-term drinking water savings through the use of alternative water resources for the irrigation of urban green spaces.