This year’s Tag der Hydrologie (TdH; Hydrology Day) took place at the University of Augsburg from 19 to 21 March. The TdH is the annual meeting of the German hydrological community and is organised by various research institutions with the support of the German Association for Water, Wastewater and Waste (DWA), the Association of Hydrological Sciences in the DWA (FgHW) and the German Hydrological Society (DHG). The theme of this year’s TdH was ‘Resilience of the landscape water balance – coping with floods, heat and drought’.
ICWRGC and BfG were again represented with a stand and several contributions.
Dr. Stephan Dietrich explaining the ISMN platform at TdH 2025.
Dr Renee van Dongen-Köster presented results from the URSACHEN project on the spatio-temporal variability of dissolved and suspended matter in rivers. She emphasised the different spatio-temporal trends of suspended matter concentrations in rivers in a global context and highlighted the importance of the spatial variability of suspended matter concentrations in the Rhine, with clear differences between the riparian areas and the middle of the river. In addition, she presented the SASSCAL and WASCAL study programmes in a poster and highlighted the offer to supervise West African PhD students.
Dr Stephan Dietrich gave an overview of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (IHP), which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. In addition, UNESCO has now been active in the field of water for 60 years. Dr Dietrich also referred to a survey being conducted by the ICWRGC to collect important events in hydrological science over the past 60 years. Interested parties can participate until the end of April. Information on these events will be compiled in a virtual reality tour to be presented at a side event of the UNESCO IHP anniversary celebrations in Paris in June. This journey through time is being realised by the ICWRGC, the German IHP National Committee and the UNESCO Water Chair of Prof. Dr Heribert Nacken.
Dr. Renee van Dongen-Köster explaining her conference poster at TdH 2025.
Dr. Stephan Dietrich giving his presentation at TdH 2025.
The ICWRGC survey was also promoted at the ICWRGC and BfG stand. Other focal points were the presentation of the international data centres of ICWRGC and BfG, the offer to supervise West African PhD students, and the recently published annual report of the BfG for 2022-2024.
The TdH in Augsburg was, once again, an excellent opportunity to exchange ideas with partners from the hydrological science community and to make new contacts, so that the TdH 2026 in Kassel will also be a fixed date in the calendar of ICWRGC and the BfG.
