News

High pressure on on-site wastewater systems this corona summer

Many will spend this year's vacation in a summer house to avoid the ravages of the coronavirus. This, in turn, will increase the pressure on on-site wastewater facilities that belong to a summer house. Researcher Inga Herrmann at Luleå University of Technology has studied these wastewater systems a little closer and held a lecture about her research at Vetenskapens hus in Luleå.

Multifunctional surfaces for rain and snow

Can integrated snow and stormwater systems in urban environments, multifunctional areas, be a way to avoid large snow deposits and polluted melt water?

Water Research School course on advanced level, part 2

24 Nov. 2020 00:00 – 26 Nov. 2020 00:00 :

The National Water Research School, a collaboration between Stormwater&Sewers, DRICKS, VA-kluster Mälardalen, VA-teknik Södra and Sweden Water Research, arranges a course on wastewater treatment this fall. The course "Wastewater" is open to all members of the Swedish Water and Wastewater Association.

Water Research School course on advanced level, part 1

23 Sep. 2020 00:00 – 25 Sep. 2020 00:00 :

Digital lecture on small-scale drains for houses and cottages

2 Jun. 2020 12:00 – 12:45 :

Project on spatial planning development granted

In stage 1 of the Formas call ”Planning for Transformation”, Maria Viklander, Luleå University of Technology, together with Östersund Municipality and Malmö City’s water company VA SYD, was granted funding to further develop the project “Achieving sustainable stormwater management in existing development” and submit a larger project application in the stage 2 call in autumn.

New research method improves understanding of metal treatment and environmental impact of stormwater

PhD student Katharina Lange tested a new method to investigate the metal treatment performance of stormwater bioretention systems.

Published master's thesis on the impact of grate inlets on flood simulation models

Daniel Lundqvist has studied the master´s programme Natural Resource Engineering specializing in environment and water. During the spring semester 2019, he wrote his master’s thesis ”Sensitivity analysis of grate inlet representation and a comparison of two coupled hydraulic models for urban flood simulation”.

New PhD at Architecture

Margareta Westin started her PhD studies in architecture at Luleå University of Technology in april 2020.

Newly appointed PhD student

The Urban Water research group was strengthened with Nikita Razguliaev as a PhD

"I would like to work on sustainable construction and climate issues"

Name: Petronella Skoglund
Age: 20 years
Hometown: Gothenburg
Programme: Master Programme in Architectural Engineering

New PhD at Urban Water Engineering

Ali Beryani was employed as PhD student in Urban Water Engineering at Luleå University of Technology in March 2020. His research focuses on sustainable stormwater management and treatment using bioretention systems.

A new postdoc

Kalpana Gopinath strengthens the research group at Urban Water Engineering at Luleå University of Technology as a post-doc since February 2020.

New staff

Mashreki Sami joined Luleå University of Technology on 17th of February 2020 as a PhD student in Urban Water Engineering

Master thesis work on microplastics

During the spring term 2020, Jonathan Svedin is doing his thesis work in one of the sub-projects of VA technology at Luleå University of Technology.

New PhD at Urban Water Engineering

Saida Kaykhaii started her PhD studies in February 2020. Her main study field is about advanced storm water treatment and parameters which affect the treatment efficiency

New PhD student at Urban Water Engineering

On February 3, 2020, Rasmus Klapp started his a PhD studies in the field of Urban Water Engineering at Luleå university of Technology

Final conference GreenNano

It is now clear that Vinnova has granted GreenNano's project time to be extended, which allows us (hopefully) to have a final conference.

Licentiate seminar Katharina Lange - Urban Water Engineering

3 Jun. 2020 14:00 – 15:00 , C305 and online. Contact Peter.Rosander@ltu.se for more information.:

Total and dissolved metal treatment in stormwater bioretention

"All assignments have their special opportunities and challanges"

Josefina Nordmark, CEO of Nordmark & Nordmark Arkitekter AB, is a prominent architect with many buildings on the track record. She is also an adjunct professor and teacher at Luleå University of Technology's civil engineering program in architecture, where she is responsible for two advanced level courses in the field of house building.

Pollution of Stormwater Pond Sediments

A detailed screening found 92 organic pollutants and 7 trace metals in stormwater sediments.

In the media: Green roofs in northern Sweden

An article by Joel Lönnqvist, Godecke Blecken and Maria Viklander, VA technology at Luleå University of Technology.

In the media: At the home of architect Josefina Nordmark

Not far south of the Arctic Circle in southern Norrbotten are three chain houses in the forest edge. The architect Josefina Nordmark from Luleå can design houses that can withstand harsh winters and lots of snow.

Debate: Corona threatens to aggravate the Swedish housing crisis

Professor Kristina L Nilsson and Agatino Rizzo, associate professor of architecture, Luleå University of Technology, are two of those who signed this debate article in Aftonbladet.

Disseration Helen Galfi - Urban Water Engineering

5 May. 2020 14:00 – 16:30 , A117 and online.:

Assessment of stormvater and snowmelt quality based on water management priorities and the consequent water quality parameters

Data management for renewal projects

Within the framework of the Stormwater&Sewers seminar on February 28, Youen Pericault held a workshop related to the "REKO - Resource efficient coordinated maintenance and renewal of streets and water pipelines" project.

CANCELLED: Introduce a Girl to Engineering-day (IGEday)

3 Apr. 2020 09:00 – 14:30 , Luleå University of Technology:

See swedish version

Urban Water Seminar and Business Day 2020

Water supply and drinking water quality were discussed during this year's edition of this recurring seminar. The challenges of global warming and environmental toxins in water sources that we now have to deal with were hot topics.

"My design proposals can actually be built"

Name: Oskar Lipnicki
Age: 22 years
Hometown: Stockholm
Programme: Master Programme in Architectural Engineering

In the media: Researcher on strategies for not slipping

The icy roads of recent days has caused the sale of stingrays to rise. If you do not have stingers, you should go like a penguin, says one of the country's leading slip researchers.

Master's thesis published on water supply in the archipelago

Ronja Eränen has studied the master program Natural Resource Engineering at Luleå University of Technology and has now finalized her master’s thesis about water supply in the archipelago.

Inga Herrmann has been granted a new project

Inga Herrmann, Stormwater&Sewers has been granted a new project, "From gray to blue-green: Decentralized purification of greywater for use in blue-green urban environments" financed by is funded by The Swedish Research Council (Formas) and the water utility NSVA.

David Chapman is a new member of Planners for Climate Action

The initiative, convened by UN-Habitat, is comprised of associations of planning practitioners and planning educators, collectively representing tens of thousands of planners worldwide, as well as other partners active in this area.

Idea competition winners revealed

Congratulations to Suzanna Törnroth and Richard Lundh on winning first prize for your climate-friendly idea "Food Saver". We also congratulate Henrik Melsom and Selcuk Sakar for second and third place.

What role do gully pots play in sustainable urban drainage?

Our cities and receiving water priorities have changed and so should also our perception of gully pots. As our cities evolve to achieve sustainability, we need to gain a better understanding of the performance and impacts of gully pots to ensure their role within wider sustainable drainage strategies is evidence-based.

Sustainability assessment of urban drainage solutions

Pär Öhrn Sagrelius, industrial PhD student at Tyréns within the DRIZZLE project, evaluates sustainability aspects of stormwater systems in various case studies.

Vitsippsbäcken - Purification system for storm water

Vitsippsbäcken in central Gothenburg dewateres a total of 45 ha - the area includes traffic routes, densely built larger housing bodies including Sahlgrenska University Hospital and 15 ha of nature / park land. The flow in the stream is heavily contaminated, mainly the high copper content. Copper concentrations can be derived from heavily trafficked roads and copper roofs. Pollution levels exceed the local environmental targets for stormwater, so measures are required.

Best teacher award in 2019 - Architect Johan Linton

Johan Linton is responsible for teaching History of Architecture at the Master Programme in Architectural Engineering at Luleå University of Technology since 2012.

Microplastics course and workshop in Oulu - Finland

From 3 to 5th December, the PhD students Katharina Lange and Brenda Vidal, Stormwater&Sewers/Luleå University of Technology, participated in a workshop and course about microplastics titled “Development and challenges related to sampling, analysis, removal and environmental impact assessment of microplastics” organized by the University of Oulu in Finland.

Microplastics in stormwater discussed at Green Drinks in Luleå

On December 3, Heléne Österlund was invited to Green Drinks at Hotel Clarion Sense in Luleå to discuss "Plastic in our cities - microplastics in stormwater". Green Drinks is a non-profit association that organizes meetings providing an opportunity to discuss and learn more about environmental and sustainability issues.

Elisabeth Kvarnström new member of IWA Sweden executive committee

At IWA Sweden's annual meeting on November 28 in Stockholm, Elisabeth Kvarnström, adjunct professor at Urban Water Engineering at Luleå University of Technology, was elected as a new member of the executive committee.

New report on the formation of sludge and the composition of biofilm in wastewater drain fields

The most common methods for on-site treatment of domestic wastewater are soil-based methods such as drainfields. In previous municipal projects, the occurrence of sludge in different parts of such treatment facilities has been observed.

Research projects highlighted as good examples in government initiative

Smart City Sweden is a government initiative aimed at increasing exports of, and investments in, smart city solutions.

In the media: Green house with waste heat from a data center

Can you increase the self-sufficiency of vegetables and herbs by using waste heat from a data center? This is now being investigated by RISE, Luleå University of Technology and The Food Print Lab.

In the media: World Toilet Day was highlighted in Norrtälje

Brenda Vidal, from Luleå University of Technology, talked about her study “Small Flexible Sewage Solutions: Adapting to a Changing World” which is a multi-criteria analysis where different types of small sewerage systems have been set in relation to different sustainability criteria and scenarios.

New SWWA report on design and dimensioning of stormwater facilities published

Today, more and more types of stormwater facilities for treatment and flow retention are being investigated and projected. It is important to choose the right type of facility in the right place and the right design and dimension to ensure a good functionning.

Small on-site sanitation systems - how sustainable are they?

Small on-site sanitation systems emit wastewater locally, which is why it is important that the systems meet the requirements for the release of organic material and nutrients and also meet the requirements for infection protection. Often, unfortunately, the small systems do not work as they should, and when facilities are to be upgraded or when new systems are to be built, this should be done with regard to sustainability.

One method to detect water in the wrong pipe

There are many problems for society and the environment when wastewater is incorrectly connected to stormwater pipes, or when additional water enters the wastewater network in form of melted snow, drainage, groundwater or stormwater. To find the pipelines or points where the biggest problems exist, one method to use is detect temperature differences between waste-, storm- and additional water.

Building surface materials as sources of stormwater pollution

Stormwater is an important transport pathway for pollutants in the urban environment and contributes to the deterioration of urban receiving water quality. Metallic building surfaces and atmospheric deposition, as well as activities related to transportation, industries and construction, are among those early identified as important sources.

Licentiate seminar Alexandra Müller - Urban Water Engineering

On November 15, 2019, Alexandra Müller presented her licentiate thesis entitled "Urban surfaces as sources of stormwater pollution: An evaluation of substances released from building envelopes" (in Swedish: "Urban surfaces as sources of stormwater pollution: An evaluation of the contribution of substances from building materials" ).

The Annual Academic Ceremony 2019

On Saturday 9th of November, the annual graduation ceremony took place at Luleå University of Technology. Urban Water Engineering was represented by two people.

Elisabeth Kvarnström, Adjunct Professor in Urban Water Engineering

Elisabeth Kvarnström's early environmental interest led her to an industry of crucial importance for our cycle. With sorting sewage systems, it is possible to return vital nutrients from wastewater to agriculture.

Blue-green water systems

On October 25, Ico Broekhuizen, Urban Water Engineering and Stormwater&Sewers participated in the dissertation of Salar Haghighatafshar's doctoral thesis “Blue-green stormwater systems for citywide flood mitigation – Monitoring, conceptualization, modeling, and evaluation” at Lund University.

InfraSweden2030

On October 24th, InfraSweden2030 organized it's annual project conference in Stockholm. A number of selected projects were given the opportunity to be presented.

Seminar on stormwater

Would you like to farm in a datacenter?

3 Dec. 2019 13:00 – 18:00 , LTU och RISE Sics North:

Datacenter (DC) cultivation is a project in which we highlight the need for increased food self-sufficiency in Norrbotten and the use of waste heat from data centers could be an important puzzle piece to increase the proportion of locally produced food.

The Dragon´s Den 2019

The innovation contest The Dragon´s Den is conducted every year with students from the civil engineering program and architecture engineering program at Luleå University of Technology. This Year´s edition contained four different awards.

Seminar: Prof. David Nichols from Melbourne School of Design

14 Oct. 2019 09:00 – 10:00 , F744:

“The challenge of mitigating climate change in locations of heritage significance: a Melbourne case study”

Study on nutrient recovery from urine to agriculture in Northern Sweden

In the North of Sweden, nutrient recovery from wastewater fractions is still not practised. In this study, we assessed the potential of reuse of nutrients from urine to agriculture in theNorth of Sweden in terms of quantity and environmental impact of collecting, treating and spreading urine-based fertiliser.

Call for content to the IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition 2020 in Copenhagen

On October 18-23, 2020, Copenhagen will host the world's largest water congress and exhibition. Then 6,000-10,000 people from companies, academia and organizations gather to network, share knowledge and find new collaborations. Stormwater&Sewers also plans to participate and take an active part in this water forum.

Licentiate seminar Alexandra Müller - Urban Water Engineering

15 Nov. 2019 10:00 – 11:00 , E632:

Urban surfaces as sources of stormwater pollution: An evaluation of substances released from building envelopes

Tone Merete Muthanna, Associate Visiting Professor at Urban Water Engineering

Tone Merete Muthanna has started a position as Associate Visiting Professor at the research group Urban Water Engineering at LTU. Tone comes from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim. She has a wide background in stormwater management and urban water systems. She specializes in climate adaptation in built environment and the use and function of blue-green infrastructure in the future climate.

Havremagasinet art hall focuses on microplastics

LESAM/PI Conference 2019

Between the 23rd – 27th of September 2019, Emmanuel Okwori, Stormwater&Sewers, attended LESAM/PI conference, held in Vancouver, Canada.

Nordic Waste Water Conference – NORDIWA 2019

On September 23-25, this year's NORDIWA conference was held in Helsinki with a participant record of 450 people from all over the Nordic region. The conference concerned the implementation of the global goals for sustainable development in the Nordic countries, the situation in the Baltic Sea and how to build a bridge between researchers and actors in the urban water sector.

New position paper on “Prioritisation of Emerging Contaminants in Urban Wastewater”

The EU’s directive on Urban Waste Water Treatment has been open for public consultation, for the commission to assess whether a revision of the directive is needed or not.

Data-driven asset management for VA infrastructure

Emmanuel Okworis’s research work focuses on data management and improving data driven asset management and maintenance strategies for water and sewer pipe infrastructure for municipal systems.

Horizon 2020 Environment & Resources Information Days

Lecture delivered by professor John Glasson, Oxford Brookes University, UK

4 Oct. 2019 08:15 – 09:45 , F531:

The Architecture research group at LTU is glad to advertise the lecture "Monitoring and Auditing in EIA: Examples from current major energy projects of approaches to addressing this weak link in the EIA process".

Stormwater&Sewers strategy days and theme reference group meetings

During Stormwater&Sewer's strategy days 2019 held in Sigtuna in September, discussed future challenges for Urban Water organizations and research in the Urban Water area, with a particular focus on education, competence and vision work.

Stormwater&Sewers visiting VAKIN in Umeå

Maria Viklander, Annelie Hedström, Joel Lönnqvist and Youen Pericault traveled to Umeå on September 5 to meet VAKIN.

DRIZZLE's General Assembly Meeting 2019

This year's DRIZZLE Annual General Assembly meeting took place at the end of August in Stockholm with the DRIZZLE member Tyréns hosting the event. During the days, some of the researchers and PhD students associated with DRIZZLE presented news from their ongoing research.

SPN9 2019 in Aalborg, Denmark

During 27th – 30th of August, the 9th International Conference on Sewer Processes and Networks (SPN9) was held in Aalborg, Denmark. This is one of IWA’s specialist conferences that comes back every three years.

New PhD student in DRIZZLE

Lisa Öborn was hired on August 26, through a collaboration between Stockholm City and LTU, as a municipal PhD in Urban Water Engineering within DRIZZLE.

Seminar: What can we create at old mining areas?

24 Sep. 2019 10:30 – 17:15 , F 531:

LTU, Svemin and SIP STRIM are organizing a seminar on the opportunities to create interesting and exciting areas where mining has previously occurred.

Association of Polar Early-Career Scientists - APECS Workshop

3 Sep. 2019 12:30 – 17:00 , F664f:

“Voices from the North. Exploring research on resource extraction, local communities and built environments in Northern Sweden”

New Post Doc

Kelsey Flanagan joined the Urban Water group at LTU on August 12 as a Post Doc, as a part of DRIZZLE – Centre for Stormwater Management.

New PhD student at DRIZZLE

On June 17, Emelie Hedlund Nilsson started as a PhD at DRIZZLE, through a collaboration between Luleå municipality and LTU.

Focus on stormwater management at Novatech conference

In early July, Stormwater&Sewers participated with seven researchers at the 10th edition of Novatech, an international stormwater conference that takes place every three years in Lyon, France.

Great interest in Almedalen for stormwater as a resource

During this year's Almedalen week, DRIZZLE participated in the seminar "Stormwater as a resource". The seminar was organized by LTU, NCC and Tyréns.

WETPOL 2019

WETPOL (International Symposium on Wetland Pollution Dymanics and Control) is an international conference that brings together scientists, engineers and practitioners working on wetland ecosystem services, including improving water quality, climate control and flood control.

EURO-SAM 2019

On June 18-19 a workshop was held on renewal and maintenance of sewage systems in Delft, the Netherlands.

DRIZZLE at Almedalsveckan

Come and participate in the seminar "Stormwater is a resource!" that DRIZZLE is part of during Almedalsveckan!

Time: Tuesday, July 2 at 11.45 - 13.15
Location: Arena City Development Days, Trappgränd (between St Hansgatan and Mellangatan, Visby)

Cities, rain and risk, Malmö 13-14 juni

The international conference CITIES, RAIN AND RISK on urban flooding management in cities was held in Malmö on June 13-14 2019.

"Svampen" takes care of large stormwater volumes

How can large amounts of stormwater be taken care of in built-up areas where there is lack of space? This is a question that researchers in the DRIZZLE competence center want to answer in a project with the work name "Svampen".

David Chapman in international jury

David Chapman, a researcher in architecture at Luleå Technical University, was part of the international jury for Cosentino Design Challenge 13 2019 in Spain.

In the media: She becomes new head of Urban Water Engineering in Örebro

Jenny Johrin is a graduate engineer from Luleå University of Technology and at the beginning of her career she has worked for two years as a urban water engineer.

Licentiate seminar Urban Water Engineering

Uncertainties in computer models of stormwater systems.

Computer models are used more and more often as a tool for analyses and predictions of the performance of stormwater systems. These models are a simplification of reality and based on uncertain measurement data. Therefore, there will always be uncertainties in the modelling process and its outcomes, which could impact on the design and operation of stormwater systems.

Design and environmental impact of biofilter

Laila Søberg defended her doctoral thesis entitled "Bioretention for stormwater quality treatment: Effects of design features and ambient conditions” the 29th May 2019 at Luleå University of Technology. Opponent was David McCarthy from Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.

Workshop for young scientists in Urban Water Engineering

On May 20-25 this year, PhD student Sarah Lindfors participated in the 24th edition of the European Junior Scientist Workshop in La Bérarde, France. The workshop is addressed to young scientists in Urban Water Engineering and this year's theme was "Monitoring of sewage and storm water systems".

Sediment sampling for the floating baffle in Östersund

Recently, a floating baffle (in Swedish: skärmdamm) has been built in Lake Storsjön in Östersund for stormwater treatment. In urban areas where there is not much space to install conventional stormwater treatment plants, such floating baffles can be advantageous.

Workshop in the Multifuctional datacenter project

During Wednesday May 22 Cristina Ramos Cáceres and Marcus Sandberg visited the datacenter operator Acon i Lycksele and arranged a workshop..

Denmark's Swedish Ambassador visited LTU

Ove Ullerup, Denmark's Swedish ambassador, visited Luleå University of Technology (LTU) on May 21 to discuss cooperation opportunities between the university and Denmark. Lena Goldkuhl, VA technology, was invited to talk about "City planning of sustainable cities".

Master's thesis publication on drinking water treatment

Emelie Hedlund Nilsson completed her studies in Natural Resource Technology at Luleå University of Technology before the summer with a master's project in drinking water treatment; "Biological separation of iron and manganese in groundwater works: A study in Klöverträsk with regard to treatment periods and seasonal variations". The work was carried out in collaboration with Luleå municipality.

Water Research School's annual seminar

The Water Research School's 2019 seminar was organized on May 2-3 by Lund University. Six PhD students from Stormwater&Sewers visited the event. The first day included different activities from team building to lectures by PhD students on their research.

GreenNano Day in Stockholm, May 8

At the beginning of May, participants from the GreenNano project gathered in Stockholm to give all participants in the project the opportunity to share what is going on in the different parts of the project, and also to contribute their knowledge.

Improved stormwater quality using grass swales

With increasing urbanization, there will be more of hardened surfaces, such as roads, parking places and roofs. Hard surfaces cause higher levels of pollutants to storm water, higher flow rates and higher volumes. Urbanization thus affects both the quantity of water and the quality of the stormwater.

Chemical precipitation of stormwater

On April 26, 2019, Fredrik Nyström presented his licentiate thesis "Coagulation Process Characteristics and Pollutant Removal from Urban Runoff" at a seminar with Michael Cimbritz, senior lecturer at Lund University, as discussion leader. In the paper, a chemical precipitation process has been investigated as a possible purification technique for contaminated stormwater.

How do we build climate-smart societies in the Arctic environment?

9 May. 2019 12:00 – 13:00 , Vetenskapens hus:

Welcome to a popular science lunch lecture in The Arctic Five's director, where researchers from Luleå University of Technology and Umeå University present challenges and solutions linked to sustainable community building in the Arctic region.

Creating a Global Watch Center - Lars-Eric Aaro, Senior Advisor ÅF

15 May. 2019 16:00 – 17:00 , Vetenskapens hus:

Space creates new opportunities for a sustainable world and future new business. IVA, Norrlandsfonden and LKAB invite you to a lecture. After the lecture and questions, a simpler buffet is served for those who signed up.

Published:22 October 2013

Updated: 17 October 2016

By:Richard Renberg

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