CONSISTENCY WITH INTERREG IIIB GENERAL STRATEGIES

Compliance with European and national spatial development policy

Actions or activities deriving from the following treaty headings will have positive implications for spatial development in the EU:

• Structural Funds (for regional spatial development)
• Environment Policy

The rainDROP project contributes to implementing activities related to these points. Spatial development policies on a European scale are being mentioned as an important guideline for the Baden-Wűrttemberg Country Development Plan (LEP, Landesentwicklungsplan Baden-Wűrttemberg 2005). RainDROP will contribute largely to the implementation and updating of the LEP and to meeting the guideline objective. Next to that, co-operation between Czech Republic, Germany, Greece and Slovakia contributes to the integration of new EU member states. And more importantly European SWM practice´s influence on national spatial development will show similarities and be comparable throughout the CADSES region.

Contribution on spatial development

The rainDROP project contributes to spatial development in a wider CADSES area by developing a generally applicable SWM guideline to be distributed and made accessible via a web-based tool.

Transnational added value

The transnational added value comes from the exchange of experiences, implementation and assessment of SWM measures throughout the CADSES region by the participation of partners in Czech Republic, Germany, Greece and Slovakia. Measures and knowledge developed in Eastern European countries will be compared and merged with measures and knowledge from long-time EU countries.

Impacts on competitiveness and regional cohesion

The rainDROP projects will deal partly with flood protection, which is in the pilots directed towards local relief from flooding. However, sustainable planning and construction concerning a river or stream will involve more than just the Municipality of one town along its river banks. Almost any flood protection measure has to be considered on a catchment area scale and this will certainly mean decision making on a regional (if not national or international) scale.

The Actions concerning re going to be dealt with on a regional scale, which contribute to regional cohesion on a water management level.

Impacts on employment and social cohesion

The rainDROP project will bring with it construction measures in all Partner cities. The majority of the activities involved in this construction work will be done by local contractors, which will generate work for almost the full duration of the project.

Other activities involved in the rainDROP project will create employment for periphery experts, such as communications experts, designers.

Monitoring and maintenance of the constructed SWM measures can be outsourced by the cities/municipalities as well, which will create employment long after the rainDROP project´s end.

The rainDROP project is proposing innovative SWM measures which are almost by definition source-control measures nowadays. Source-control involves measures lit. very close to the storm water source, which can be roofs, gardens, footpaths, roads.

This means close involvement of the public, which will enhance social cohesion. The community will get a common responsibility for SWM in their street or residential area.

Equal opportunities

Creating a common SWM "language" throughout the CADSES region will allow decision makers of any nationality (whether Czech, Slovak, Polish, Italian or Greece) to move easily between positions in the different countries. But more importantly it allows decision makers to communicate without barriers on an equal level with his or her colleagues in any other CADSES country and to participate in trans-national projects.

Environmental impacts

The rainDROP project will have a positive impact on the environment, both from an immediate local, and from a long-term general perspective.

The local positive impacts derive from the subprojects that are aimed at directly implementing state-of-the-art SWM and reducing the negative impact of surface runoff on water balance and water quality.

The main long-term focus is on creating guidelines and a framework for SWM throughout the region, bearing in mind the requirements of the European Water Framework Directive.

By promoting SWM:

• A positive impact for the environment will be achieved on the water quality level (pollution reduction).
• It is possible to mitigate floods in urbanized catchments if rapid stormwater runoff is avoided.
• The water cycle can be balanced (by infiltrating and retaining stormwater). This not only increases the base flow in rivers but also reduces droughts.

Innovative elements and innovative methods

The innovative elements that will be introduced in the rainDROP project are largely represented by state-of-the-art SWM and flood protection measures. Among other measures can be mentioned:

• Local stormwater infiltration
• "Trough-trench"-systems
• Constructed wetlands
• Cisterns

Furthermore, the introduction of a long-term master plan for integrated and sustainable SWM will be a great innovation for the pilot cities and later on for other cities throughput the CADSES region. To make a good assessment and planning for compiling such a SWM master plan, use will be made of rainfall-runoff modelling through the STORM model, which has been recently developed within the EU FP5-Project DayWater (An Adaptive Decision Support System ADSS for the Integration of Stormwater Source Control into Sustainable Urban Water Management Strategies).

Improvement of the institutional setting

With the creation of a Master plan for the partner cities, communication and planning by the different public authorities will improve considerably. Stormwater management (SWM) issues will be dealt with through integrated future planing, in compliance with European legislation.

Innovative methods will be implemented, which almost certainly require an integrated approach and involvement of more than one decision maker. No new institutional setting will be created, however the interaction between parties within the setting will be enhanced.

During and after the project, other external cities throughout the CADSES region will be able to benefit from the output and achieve similar institutional improvements.