Cooperating with all countries of the Baltic Sea catchment area is crucial for improving the environmental state of the region. The importance of such cooperation is recognized both by the UBC Sustainable Cities Commission and Council of the Baltic Sea States, which in December 2017 has led to launching a project, in which UBC SCC can involve Belarussian water experts in the Baltic Sea Region activities.

Disseminating Smart Water Competence is a project aiming at raising awareness about the latest available practices and technologies in the smart water management sector, particularly focusing on storm- and wastewater. The project is closely connected with the initiatives organized in the projects iWater and IWAMA, which focus respectively on integrated storm water management and interactive wastewater management, to learn various models of cooperation.

In the beginning of February, Belarussian partners of the project visited Tartu to take part in the organized workshops, site visits and the project meeting. As iWater project is currently finalizing its activities, it was very interesting for the partners to become familiarized with the project outcomes and learn, which practices are used in the Baltic Sea Region states. Further, IWAMA project workshop “Smart Sludge Management” became a more targeted event, as the issue of sludge handling is very important now in Belarus. Furthermore, apart from the discussions, partners of “Disseminating Smart Water Competence” got a chance to visit the local wastewater treatment plant in Tartu.

The activities in the project continue until the end of 2018 with a chance for the project partners to join other prominent events discussing the current state of affairs in the Baltic Sea Region. Further, developed materials will be translated for dissemination in Belarus to improve lifelong learning in the storm- and wastewater sector.