New Interreg project to pioneer stormwater solutions across borders

Increasing rainfall and polluted stormwater are putting growing pressure on the Baltic Sea – one of the most polluted seas in the world. Across the region, utilities and municipalities struggle to manage runoff from cities and combined sewer overflows.

To meet this challenge, ReCircWater, a new Interreg South Baltic project, will bring together partners from Denmark, Sweden, Poland and Lithuania to rethink how stormwater is managed, treated, stored and reused – turning a rising problem into a shared opportunity.

Stormwater management is becoming one of the most urgent environmental issues in the Baltic region. With ReCircWater, we want to bring utilities, researchers and innovators together to develop real, scalable solutions.

Joan Juul, Senior Project Manager, Clean

From runoff to resources: developing shared methods and pilots

The project will start by mapping national and EU legislation, analysing how each country interprets and applies existing rules. Based on this, partners will identify treatment and reuse technologies and create a regional guideline for more effective stormwater management.

A key activity will be the Design Sprint process, where experts co-develop a treatment pilot over a series of focused days. The pilot will then be tested in Gentofte, Denmark, with Novafos as lead utility, and monitored alongside partner pilots in Sweden, Poland and Denmark to understand more about pollutants and treatment options in water from stormwater and combined sewer overflows.

The pilot analysis includes both target and non-target analysis to detect the pollutants in the water, enabling more precise data on what flows into the Baltic Sea after heavy rain events.

Strong partnership across the South Baltic

ReCircWater is led by Clean – Denmark’s Water and Environmental Cluster, which manages the overall coordination, capacity building and dissemination activities.

Partners include Novafos (Denmark), Sweden Water Research (Sweden), University of Gdańsk (Poland), ZWiK Szczecin (Poland), Gdańsk Water Foundation (Poland) and Klaipėda University (Lithuania) working together to build a shared framework for sustainable stormwater management.

No single country can solve this alone. That’s why cross-border cooperation is essential and why Interreg’s support makes this possible.

Joan Juul, Senior Project Manager, Clean

About the project

ReCircWater is co-funded by the Interreg South Baltic Programme 2021–2027 as an Operation of Strategic Importance (OSI) – a flagship initiative recognised by the European Commission.

The project has a total budget of approximately 2.2 million € and will run for three years (2025–2028).

The partnership aims to deliver:

• A Guidebook on non-target analysis of stormwater.
• An overview of innovative stormwater treatment and reuse technologies.
• A regional guideline for stormwater management.
• Four pilot actions across the South Baltic region.

Clean – Denmark’s Water and Environmental Cluster acts as Lead Partner, supported by Novafos, Sweden Water Research, University of Gdańsk, ZWiK Szczecin, Gdańsk Water Foundation and Klaipėda University.