Maintenance is a key factor to unlock the full potential of nature-based solutions for water management. On the 16th of February, the Connecting Nature Enterprise Platform and EU-funded NICE project organised a webinar “Navigating the Waters of Effective and Successful Nature-based Solutions Maintenance”, to dive deeper into effective and successful measures for NbS implementation. 

Fabio Masi, the R&D Manager & Technical Director at IRIDRA. Guided the discussion with three speakers Katharina Tondera, Marco Hartl, and Vit Rous who talked about the importance of technical maintenance, monitoring, capacity building, empowerment of people, and financial aspects when developing NbS projects. 

During the first presentation Katharina Tondera explained the importance of developing guidelines and technical standards for the maintenance of water management Nature-based Solutions, ensuring longevity and functionality of implementation through harmonised standards and guidelines for their maintenance. NbS acceptance is sometimes compromised by previous results of projects which lacked technical monitoring, which is why maintenance is crucial for long term functioning of systems.

In addition, Marco Hartl highlighted the pivotal role of monitoring and assessing Nature-based Solutions projects, while also taking into account the challenges and opportunities for their implementation. This was illustrated through two vertical green wall case studies in Austria and Spain conducted through the HOUSEFUL project. A key aspect to these cases was the active participation with stakeholders, showing that capacity building is an integral part of such installations. 

Last but not least, Vit Rous, gave us some examples of the importance of analysing the economics aspects when implementing Nature-based Solutions projects, and also the differences between vertical flow westland (passive) and aerated westland (active). As many have come to discover, economic factors are important for the NbS delivery for clients. Vit Rous’ talk drew attention to the reality that maintenance is often cheaper for local authorities when it comes to nature based solutions approach as opposed to more conventional systems such as passive wetlands. 

In the coming months you can continue learning more about water NbS implementation in upcoming webinars for the 4th Capacity Building series. This series will build upon previous webinars on the UrbanByNature 7 step Methodology and have particular focus on step 5 Implement. Explore the UrbanbyNature resources and stay tuned!

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