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Innovative societies Water-smart societies Climate-neutral societies 

Interreg makes
a difference!

Explore how people in the Baltic Sea region have been benefitting
from our projects.

#MadeWithInterreg solutions for

Cleaner waters

Cleaner waters thanks to viable monitoring system, new methods for removing micropollutants from wastewater and sharing knowledge

What are we doing?

Coordinated actions are the key to cleaning Baltic Sea waters efficiently. Interreg projects that bring people together across sectors and countries stand behind many of them. Not only do they introduce new systemic methods to clean wastewater, but also ensure the spread of knowledge of those methods in the region. Trust in project recommendations directly translates into new policies and investments. In a long run, cooperation in projects exceeds original partnerships and builds grounds for new initiatives and actions to respond to arising challenges.

Examples of #MadeWithInterreg solutions:
  • a platform collecting best practices in smart water operations
  • a risk assessment system to monitor concentrations of micropollutants
  • novel methods to clean wastewater from micropollutants, e.g. pharmaceuticals
  • new technologies to reduce phosphorus losses
  • enhanced water treatment to improve water quality in lakes

 

What we’ve achieved so far? 

The Baltic Sea is one of the most heavily eutrophicated seas in the world. Interreg projects helped improve wastewater treatment, which is one of the factors influencing eutrophication. At the beginning of the 2000s, more than 20 cities collected best practices in water management and shared them with other city administrations around the Baltic Sea region. In 2009-2013, projects showcased that it was possible to reduce discharges of nutrients from wastewater treatment facilities to the level set in the Baltic Sea Action Plan of HELCOM. The HELCOM Action Plan targets were stricter than the EU requirement.

In 2016-2021, projects in cities and villages focused on improving the treatment of wastewater from residents and industries. Partners in projects tested new technologies that increased nutrient removal and reduced energy consumption in cities such as Daugavpils, Gdańsk, Tartu, Jūrmala, Kaunas, and Grevesmühlen. Rural municipalities benefitted from solutions like septic tanks and soil infiltration in Kolgaküla, Gennarby, Ainaži, and Leitgiriai. In other projects, partners tested the pre-treatment of wastewater at poultry, meat, and dairy factories in Leszno, Doruchów, Põltsamaa, and Jelgava. Following this joint work, the partners synthesised more than a hundred examples of smart water operations. Using this knowledge, they helped develop the new Baltic Sea Regional Nutrient Recycling Strategy of HELCOM, and revise the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan. These two strategic documents help achieve a healthy state of the Baltic Sea.

 

Ongoing projects

The ongoing projects explore new methods to clean wastewater more efficiently and better monitor concentrations of harmful substances and micropollutants in water environments. They address various stages of water management, starting from pollution prevention at its source, extending to robust monitoring and risk assessment practices, and culminating in the adoption of advanced wastewater treatment technologies. The projects aim to influence policy-making processes and implement practical measures for long-term improvements.

 

Supporting the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region 

Our projects play a vital role in achieving the ambitious goals of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR) to save the Baltic Sea. In collaboration with the coordinators of the EUSBSR policy areas Nutri, Bioeconomy, Hazards, and Tourism, our projects make water and wastewater management more efficient and less resource-intensive in cities, rural areas, and tourist destinations. Together, our projects and the EUSBSR coordinators drive changes in water-related policies in our region, ensuring that the outcomes of our projects are integrated into legislation and continue to contribute to clearer, cleaner waters in the region.

 

Explore project solutions in more detail:

EMPEREST

Eliminating Micro-Pollutants from Effluents for REuse STrategies
The project EMPEREST tests advanced treatment technology that helps water utilities and companies better remove organic micropollutants such as PFAS or pharmaceuticals from wastewater.
Read more about the project

APRIORA

Improved risk assessment for strategic water management to reduce micro-pollutant emissions in the Baltic Sea Region
In the project APRIORA, environmental protection agencies and wastewater treatment plants get equipped with a GIS-based risk assessment system to monitor and model concentrations of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in order to improve water management and reduce emissions.
Read more about the project

BEACON

Application of biological effects methods in monitoring and assessment of contaminants in the Baltic Sea
In the project BEACON, public authorities and governmental organisations develop harmonised methods to assess contamination in the Baltic Sea waters, sediment and biota.
Read more about the project

AdvIQwater

Improving quality of BSR waters by advanced treatment processes
The project AdvIQwater tests photocatalysis, fungal treatment and biofilms methods to efficiently clean wastewaters from pharmaceuticals.
Read more about the project

NonHazCity 3

Reducing hazardous substances in construction to safeguard the aquatic environment, protect human health and achieve more sustainable buildings
The project NonHazCity 3 helps municipalities, entrepreneurs and individuals construct and renovate buildings with tox-free materials in order to protect health and the environment.
Read more about the project

TRUST ALUM

Building trust in target groups for ALUM treatment - an effective, yet misunderstood method for water quality improvement
The project TRUST ALUM helps public authorities in the Baltic countries make better use of ALUM water treatment and improve water quality in lakes.
Read more about the project

MUNIMAP

Baltic Sea Munitions Remediation Roadmap
The project MUNIMAP develops a legal and administrative framework for public authorities to initiate joint remediation of dumped munitions from the Baltic Sea and Skagerrak, which pose threats to the marine ecosystem and hinder the maritime economy.
Read more about the project

BSR electric

BSR electric - Fostering e-mobility solutions in urban areas in the Baltic Sea Region
The Interreg project BSR electric fostered and integrated e-mobility solutions such as e-logistics, e-bikes, e-buses, e-scooters, and e-ferries, in urban transport systems in eight countries across the Baltic Sea region.
Read more about the project

Co2mmunity

Co-producing and co-financing renewable community energy projects
The Interreg project Co2mmunity helped municipalities, regional energy planning agencies and citizens’ associations across the Baltic Sea region to implement community energy projects and ultimately move towards renewable energy sources.
Read more about the project

Circ@Home

Resilience by circularity and sharing culture at households as precondition for climate-neutral cities: "Circ-in-Town = Circ@Home + Circular services"
The project Circ@Home drives urban circularity by helping households, municipalities, and companies adopt sustainable practices and reduce their environmental impact.
Read more about the project

ReNutriWater

Closing local water circuits by recirculating nutrients and water and using them in nature
The ReNutriWater helps public authorities develop action plans to recover wastewater, and reuse it for cleaning, watering recreational areas and plants as well as domestic purposes.
Read more about the project

ClimateAligned

Climate-Aligned budgeting at municipalities
The idea of ClimateAligned focuses on the matter that today many municipalities in Europe address the problem of climate change by implementing certain climate mitigation and adaptation policies and goals, but a concept which takes the whole municipal policy and the available budget into account is lacking. The main project wants to deliver a concept for guidelines for municipalities where budget decisions can be examined in terms of climate relevance over a longer time horizon. This would mean to develop a decision support methodology how to assess planning decisions and budget proposals in terms of their climate mitigation and adaptation relevance and their potential to contribute to mitigation and adaptation efforts in a systematic fashion.
Read more about the project

City Blues

Bluegreen nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation and citizen wellbeing
In the project City Blues, cities develop plans for their urban waters and green areas to better respond to the negative effects of climate change, like floods and pollution, and create liveable areas for people at the same time.
Read more about the project

3I solutions for PS

Enabling better public services in BSR with immersive, intelligent and innovative solutions
The project 3I solutions for PS helps public authorities make good use of digital technologies, e.g. augmented or extended reality, to deliver public services more efficiently.
Read more about the project

MainPotRe

Maintenance and scaling up potato growing and consumption heritage in Northern Baltic region to build up resilient communities
In the project MainPotRe potato breeders, gene bank holders, research institutions, authorities, and NGOs work together to enhance the self-sufficiency of communities and food security in the region by improving access to planting material of local potato cultivars.
Read more about the project

BATS

Baltic Sea region Active mobiliTy Solutions - in darkness and all weather conditions
The project BATS helps local authorities plan and set up suitable infrastructure for year-round walking and cycling, and build an active mobility culture among people, as a green and healthy transport option regardless of the season.
Read more about the project

ValueStreams

Cross border value streams from nature - valuable natural products from industrial side streams for natural cosmetic, food and beverage industry
There is already a number of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Baltic Sea region that have developed and are marketing natural products based on local raw materials. However, most of them lack resources to develop new products and to improve their business. The project ValueStreams aims is to provide expert and technological support to companies in order to enable them to progress ideas of their own, and to help them find collaborators with similar interests. The planned main project shall focus on side streams and raw materials regularly and richly available.
Read more about the project

REVITALISE HERITAGE

Architectural & Landscape Heritage as a Driver for Economic, Cultural and Community Development in Peripheral Regions
Architectural and landscape heritage is an expression of history, and it helps us to understand the relevance of the past to contemporary life and cultural identities. Despite their potential, many heritage places remain underused – in particular in peripheral regions. REVITALISE HERITAGE aims at empowering peripheral communities across the Baltic Sea region to transform underused heritage sites into interventions for economic, cultural and community development – and promote these approaches to potential adopters and decision-makers through media, film and gaming.
Read more about the project

STM BALT SAFE

Safety of Navigation in the Baltic Sea by Sea Traffic Management
The STM BALT SAFE project introduced new digital services onboard and onshore that improve the speed and accuracy of ship-shore information exchange.
Read more about the project

FoodLoops

Local cooperation for circular biowaste in schools and beyond
The project FoodLoops establishes cooperation among schools, caterers (SMEs), farmers, and professionals in a circular economy to improve biowaste separation at source, prevent excessive food waste and reuse it as organic compost.
Read more about the project

Blue Supply Chains

Blue Supply Chains for a better integration of Motorways of the Sea and Inland Waterways
Blue Supply Chains is about achieving climate neutrality in the shipping sector. Utilising the potential of inland waterway, short sea shipping and railway transport plays a crucial role in decarbonising freight transport in the Baltic Sea region. This requires intensified actions by ports and transport operators. The projects aims at reducing CO2 emissions from freight transport in two ways: 1. Supporting a modal shift from road to more environmentally friendly modes such as rail or waterway and 2. Improving the CO2 balance of rail and especially waterborne transport through the implementation of new technologies.
Read more about the project

BALTFLOODS

Baltic Flood Resilience and Digital Solutions
The project BALTFLOODS helps public authorities better monitor and respond to floods, reduce polluted stormwater discharges, and encourage community engagement in addressing environmental threats.
Read more about the project

ERREC 2.0 prep

Environmental Responsibility and Resource Efficiency - Preparing ERREC 2.0 project
The project strives to strengthen cooperation between higher education institutions and industrial companies to better implement the circular economy approach in the industrial sector. By bringing together students, companies and university faculty members for research & development of topics relevant to the industry, the possibilities will be examined to improve the companies’ management of resources and environmental efficiency.
Read more about the project

IWAMA

Interactive WAter MAnagement
The Interreg project IWAMA equipped waste water managers with new audit tools and a durable platform for life-long learning and exchange so that they can better protect our environment, in particular by optimising the energy use and sludge management of waste water treatment plants.
Read more about the project

GREEN CRUISE PORT

GREEN CRUISE PORT - Sustainable Development of Cruise Port Locations
In the Interreg project Green Cruise Ports, eight major cruise ports at the Baltic Sea lifted sustainability up on their agenda and committed themselves to decoupling growth from negative environmental impact of port and vessel operations; they jointly established an action plan for more sustainable investments over the next ten years.
Read more about the project

SchoolChanger

Empowering young generations to help municipalities and public institutions in the Baltic Sea Region develop smart, nature-based, sense-friendly, and socially responsible solutions reinforcing their well-being
The project SchoolChanger involves students in co-creating school spaces with teachers, school management, and experts to better address their psychological and social needs and prepare them for community-minded roles in the future.
Read more about the project

AREA 21

Baltic Smart City Areas for the 21st century
The Interreg project AREA21 involved local and regional public authorities, energy providers, public property owners and citizens from six countries and improved cooperative planning processes by applying ICT-based tools for visualisation of energy consumption and upscaling good practices in energy saving to a district level.
Read more about the project

CAMS Platform

Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Synergies in Energy Efficiency Projects
Local authorities and energy auditors learned how to provide higher quality, quicker, and more holistic energy audits harmonised across the Baltic Sea region based on the knowledge synthesised from a dozen of EU funded projects.
Read more about the project

GoSmart&Excel BSR

Strengthening smart specialisation by fostering transnational cooperation and practical application of novel solutions for regions and SMEs
GoSmart&Excel BSR helped SMEs and other innovation actors to become more innovative and internalionalised.
Read more about the project

Reg4Future

Regions 4 Future: enabling policy mix tool and training to expand 5G&AI for regional single market development.
Reg4Future is a 5G and AI application-oriented consortium focusing on creating a regional policy-mix tool and mission-oriented networks for the successful integration of disruptive technologies in the regions. The Consortium plans to establish stakeholder alliances consisting of local government officials, universities, business associations. The key method in this will be exchanging the best practices and experiences concerning the best policy instrument to be shared to improve governance in all regions.
Read more about the project

GYPREG

Tackling agricultural phosphorus load by soil amendments
The project GYPREG brings together national and public authorities, NGOs, farmers and farmers´ associations to increase the uptake of gypsum treatment of agricultural fields that allows to reduce phosphorus losses from agriculture.
Read more about the project

BaltSe@nioR

Innovative solutions to support BSR enterprises in product development aimed at raising comfort and safety of seniors home living
In this Interreg project, furniture manufacturers, designers, architectures and other experts gain knowledge about the senior’s needs and preferences in order to win a competitive edge in designing customised and smart products for seniors, and by this to improve their quality of life.
Read more about the project

BFCC

Baltic Fracture Competence Centre
The project BFCC engaged four hospitals supported by business development organisations and universities in creating a joint registry to store and process data about bone fractures in four countries. Medical companies used this data for improving their products to offer better treatment possibilities for patients, thus preparing our ageing society for the numbers of bone fractures and linked health disorders to increase.
Read more about the project

EnTRA

Energy Transition for Climate Neutrality in the BSR
EnTRA builds a resource hub with planning and management tools, training materials, self-audit guides, and a mentoring programme that anchors practical know-how to help public authorities and sectoral agencies scale up the energy transition in the region. EnTRA consolidates outcomes from 18 EU projects.
Read more about the project

CEforestry

Innovation in forestry biomass residue processing: towards circular forestry with added value products
The project CEforestry establishes cooperation among researchers, SMEs and large companies to support industrial symbiosis using forestry biomass residues in a more efficient way.
Read more about the project

SUMANU

Sustainable manure and nutrient management for reduction of nutrient loss in the Baltic Sea Region
The Interreg platform SuMaNu synthesised best practices and recommendations on nutrient management from four projects in order to guide authorities, policy makers, advisors and farmers on how to reduce the negative impact of farming on the Baltic Sea.
Read more about the project

ResQU2

ResQU2
The Interreg platform ResQU2 improved the preparedness of rescue authorities, services, seaports and other authorities for large-scale incidents in the Baltic Sea.
Read more about the project

BioBoosters

BioBoosters - Boosting the circular transition
The project BioBoosters brings together bio-based businesses in rural areas to share the know-how in circular production, and trigger green business opportunities.
Read more about the project

Liveability

Liveability - Designing public services for resilient neighbourhoods
The project Liveability trains public administrations in innovative ways to engage people to create liveable and attractive city environments that adapt to people’s needs.
Read more about the project

Green Small Craft

Green Cruising for High-speed Small Craft in The Baltic Sea
An increasing number of high-speed crafts (or fast ferries) in the Baltic Sea leads to the critical sea and coastal area pollution. The project contributes to pollution reduction and emission mitigation of small craft operation in the Baltic Sea, emphasizing on high-speed. Moreover, noise emission from these boats will be addressed. We plan to solve the problem by considering three different solutions related to hydrodynamic design, propulsion systems, as well as to digitalisation and control.
Read more about the project

Solutions stay with the people: listen to our #InterregVoices

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

© UBC SCC/Mariia Andreeva

Thanks to Interreg (...), we created momentum for essential aspects of sustainable water management connected to climate change, for example improving the wastewater and storm water management, reducing water pollution, and increasing the application of circular economy principles. [IWAMA; BSR Water]

 

 

 

Agnieszka Ilola 

Head of Secretariat, Union of the Baltic Cities, Sustainable Cities Commission

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

© Dmitry Frank-Kamenetsky

I can name a large number of examples of project outputs directly integrated into the regional policy framework. The first one is the recommendation on sludge handling. It was largely based on the PURE project. What’s more, the technologies tested in the project PURE to treat wastewater are in regular use now.

 

 

 

Dmitry Frank-Kamenetsky

 Special Advisor to HELCOM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

© City of Turku

Thanks to Interreg projects, we have improved our public services for our citizens. Our water treatment facility has been involved in benchmarking water management processes and our water management processes have continuously been improving. Now, we have even better water quality and managed to keep the price of our water services at a moderate level.

Minna Arve

Mayor of Turku, Finland

#MadeWithInterreg solutions by topic

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