In the last years, Gotland experiences a severe water crisis that negatively affected tourism and small-scale industries. Water shortages in parts of the island (like Storsudret in the south) hinder the economic development due to strict regulations for building of new houses and the start-up of new business that consumes water. A national funded testbed for circular solutions for the water sector is currently built up at the peninsula Storsudret at the southern part of Gotland. It consists of an integrated system based on small scale methods like rainwater harvesting from drainage ditches, automatic hatches in large ditches and artificial surface water dams, artificial infiltration for production of groundwater, construction of groundwater dams for subsurface water storage, wastewater reuse and climate neutral desalination based on solar energy. An important and critical part of the testbed project is the communication activities with the local stakeholders, e.g. farmers and citizens.

Project partners

• IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute (https://www.ivl.se/english/startpage.html)
• NextGen Circular Water Solutions (https://nextgenwater.eu/)

Further reading

NextGen Circular Water Solutions