This year’s German Hydrology Day (Tag der Hydrologie or TdH) was held from March 4-6 2026 at the University of Kassel. TdH is the most important event for the German hydrological community, as it is always held in conjunction with the annual meetings of the German Hydrological Society (DHG) and the German Association for Water, Wastewater and Waste (DWA). As such, TdH is also a regular fixture on ICWRGC’s calendar of events, in close cooperation with the Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG).
In 2026, the conference was held under the theme ‘Water resources under pressure – the impact of global change on water availability and water quality’, which created a particularly close thematic link between the ICWRGC and the global water quality database GEMStat. Staff from ICWRGC therefore presented on four topics:
Group picture of attendees at TdH 2026.
- Stephan Dietrich presented
- Findings from the OUTLAST project, which developed a global drought monitoring and forecasting system, and
- An overview of monitoring and data availability in small basins of up to 50 km².
- Moritz Heinle presented the UNEP GEMS/Water Global Freshwater Quality Archive, an extract from GEMStat data, which is published on Zenodo as a standalone dataset under a fully open data licence.
- Dr Layla Hashweh provided an overview of the two postgraduate programmes, WASCAL and SASSCAL, which are successfully contributing to capacity development in West and Southern Africa respectively.
Further details on the presentations can be found in the book of abstracts (LINK, mainly in German).
ICWRGC director Dr. Stephan Dietrich presenting results of the OUTLAST project at TdH 2026.
In addition to the presentations, ICWRGC, jointly with BfG, showcased a project at the accompanying trade exhibition. Here, conference participants were also able to visit the Virtual Reality Museum on German contributions to UNESCO’s water research. The museum was developed by ICWRGC in collaboration with the UNESCO Chair in Hydrological Change and Water Resources Management at RWTH Aachen University to mark the 50th anniversary of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (IHP).
As in previous years, there were plenty of opportunities for professional discussion and new contacts were made; the VR Museum was also very well received.
We are therefore already looking forward to the next Hydrology Day, which will take place in Leipzig in 2027.
ICWRGC team members Dr. Stephan Dietrich, Dr. Layla Hashweh, Dr. Tunde Olarinoye and Dr. Moritz Heinle (right to left) at TdH 2026.
