For strengthening and dissemination

There have been several water problems globally, such as flooding, drought, water shortage, water pollution, and groundwater depletion. All these issues are related to rainwater: flooding occurs because of excessive rainwater; drought and water shortage are results of a reduced rainfall; non-point source pollution occurs during rainfall or runoff transportation; and groundwater depletion is caused by reduced rainwater infiltration because of increasing of impermeable surfaces and over-exploitation of groundwater. Traditionally, rainwater is treated as a “waste” in many cities, thus is drained away. Few engineers and citizens recognize the importance of rainwater, its social and environmental benefits and economic value. Therefore, proper rainwater management (RWM) is required to mitigate most of these global water challenges, ensuring sustainability and enhancing the resilience of the existing urban water infrastructure systems.

The fundamental questions regarding exploitation of rainwater and reusing grey water in Norway are:

• Can the Rainwater resources be collected and used safely for different purposes?
• How to transfer from the Rainwater problems to resources in urban catchments?
• How to increase the reuse potentials of grey water and recycling wastewater resources?

Based on the concept and approach from H2020 project Waste2Fresh and the recent research and innovation progress on rainwater harvesting and stormwater management in Norway, the project ENRICH introduces a new paradigm of rainwater and wastewater management to the targeting groups in Norway, including water and wastewater agencies in municipalities, innovation water companies, research institutes and universities to treat rainwater and wastewater as resources for recycling and reuse. The objectives of the project are to be achieved through tight collaboration of the project partners in collaboration with vannklyngen- Smart Water Norway and full support from the H2020 project team members.

The project is financed by the Research Council of Norway. Project No. 322715.