Welcome to our Institute for Water Management and Eco-Technologies (IWO)
The Institute for Water Management and Eco-Technologies (IWO), founded in January 1994, serves the University of Applied Sciences Magdeburg-Stendal as a scientific institute belonging to the department of Water Management, Environmental, Civil and Safety Engineering. As a result, practice-oriented research topics in the broad fields of water management and recycling & waste disposal management play a central role. The founding of this institute made it possible to integrate the students in a variety of research activities with special emphasis placed on the interconnection between research and teaching.
Research
The focus of the institute's work lies in the interlinking of applied research and teaching. The focus on practice-oriented research tasks is at the centre of the water and environmental service projects.
Specialist field of flood risk management
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Flood protection and flood risk management is one of the most important task of water management. Approximately 5000 fatalities and. € 46 billion damage due to hydrological events in 2016 worldwide, prove the relevance of this topic.
Therefore, the primary goal of our research work is the development of methods and tools that contribute to the improvement of flood protection and support a sustainable flood risk management. Hydrology, statistics, hydrodynamics, consequences for economy, critical infrastructures, ecology and people, reliability of structures and the risk analysis itself have to be integrated into approaches and tools.
You will find further information here.
Contact:
Specialist field of hydrobiology and river ecology
The specialist field of hydrobiology and river ecology focuses on research in the following areas:
- River type-specific assessment according to EU-Water Framework Directive
- Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the biological quality components: fish, plankton, macrophytes/phytobenthos and macroinvertebrates.
- Microbiological water analysis (surface water, drink and wastewater)
- Additional hydro-chemical river analyses.
Contact:
Specialist field of hydrology and geoinformatics
The specialist field of hydrology and geoinformatics focuses on research in the following areas:
- Metrological recording of the most important hydrologic balance components (precipitation, drainage, groundwater & evaporation)
- Hydrological forecasts and prognoses
- Qualitative and quantitative assessments of water and material transport processes in different scalable units of landscapes
Contact:
Specialist field of Ecological Engineering
Ecological Engineering
The Ecological Engineering working group focuses on the following research topics:
- Green infrastructure and ecosystem services
- Integrated Resource Management
- Ecosystem analysis and Life Cycle Assessment
- Topic focus:
- Urban climate and water balance, climate adaptation
- Environment and health
- Peatland rewetting
Details about the research activities of the Ecological Engineering working group can be found here:
Scientific Management:
Specialist Field of Resource Management
The Specialist Field of Resource Management concentrates on the following research topics:
- Determining the platinum content of membrane electrode units in fuel cells: exact knowledge of the platinum content of fuel cell membranes is of great importance for the preparation process and for calculating value creation. Due to the chemical composition, above all else the heightened fluorine load, the analysis and preparation is made especially difficult. The focus of the research project is the examination of the sampling process, sample preparation and analysis with regard to their appropriateness for determining the platinum content of the membrane electrode units.
- Microwave assisted preparation of lignocellulosic residual materials in order to raise fermentability: an essential procedural step for the use of lignocellulosic residual materials, such as straw for the fermentation process is the substrate digestion. The goal is to reduce the degree of cellulosic crystallinity as well as the lignin content and to loosen the fiber composite in order to improve the enzymatic accessibility. In the research project the suitability of microwave-assisted catalytic substrate digestion will be considered.
- Recycling carbon fiber reinforced plastics: Substituting conventional construction materials with carbon fiber reinforced plastics has become a means of increasing the efficiency of numerous systems. The aviation and automotive industries have been exemplary in already making use of these materials. However, these products will also need to be disposed of in the foreseeable future. Yet, with the exception of pyrolytic approaches, there are no material recycling processes to recover the expensive fibers, which are not optimal. The focus of the research project is therefore the search for suitable alternatives to material recycling processes.
Click here to go to Website of the work group
Contact:
Specialist Field of Community Water Management with a focus on Wastewater
The Specialist Field of Community Water Management with a focus on Wastewater conducts research in a wide variety of fields as well as in the fields of research relating to the practical applications of biogas. Here is a brief introduction to the individual specific fields of research:
- Wastewater treatment/sludge treatment: the simulation and optimization of processes; feasibility studies; state analyses and concepts to avoid operational problems; improving energy efficiency; special concepts for measuring and controlling ventilation; tests of additives and the monitoring of sewage treatment plants.
- Biogas: modelling and simulating process optimizations of biogas plants; feasibility studies; improving the resource efficiency, concepts for the processing, treatment and recovery of fermentation residues.
Contact:
Follow this Link to go to Website of the work group of Community Water Management with a focus on Wastewater.
Specialist Field of Community Water Management & Infrastructure Development
The vast networks of infrastructure, supply and disposal are permanent fixtures in our portfolio of teaching, research and service. This includes status detection and assessment, restructuring measures, network management and adaptation to changing conditions and economic considerations especially for municipal drinking and wastewater networks.
The Specialist Field of Community Water Management & Infrastructure Development concentrates on teaching and research in the following fields:
Sustainable planning:
- Adaptation of infrastructure networks to changing demographic, climatic and structural conditions
- Assessing the sustainability of infrastructure building projects
- Long-term coordination of urban development and infrastructure.
Grid Management:
- Modelling the ageing behaviour of infrastructure elements
- Forecasting the renewal requirement of infrastructure networks
- Forecasting the remaining useful life of infrastructure networks
- Selecting and defining appropriate renewal strategies
Economic Efficiency:
- Price systems
- Asset value analyses
- Economic efficiency of restructuring alternatives
Research Projects:
- SubKanS: „Development of a standard to assess and classify the structural condition of wastewater manholes and canals”
- Diverse small projects in cooperation with the municipal utilities of Magdeburg (SWM) and drink water supply Magdburg (TWM)
Contact:
Specialist Field of Environmental Statistics
The focus of the Specialist Field of Environmental Statistics can be summarized as follows:
- Education in mathematics with deeper education in statistics – practical applications of statistics in addition to the theoretical content
- Education in informatics tailored to the requirements of statisticians
- Basic training in various areas of application such as engineering, economic and natural sciences
- Stochastic modelling and data science
Contact:
Specialist Field of Hydraulic Engineering & Experimentation
Research projects are carried out in the Specialist Field of Hydraulic Engineering in order to answer project related questions from the real world of hydraulic engineering. The focus of our research includes:
- Experimental investigations in hydraulic engineering laboratory and morphologic processes in flowing waters such as hydro-electric power plants, weirs and stilling basins, levees, bottom slides, sedimentation and erosion processes, sediment transport, etc…
- Hydrodynamic modelling (1D, 2D, 3D) e.g. levee dimensioning, levee breach simulations, foreland cultivation as well as sediment transport modelling.
- Field investigations with our own survey boat and equipment for sonar, surveying, debris and suspension measurements and water level measurements
Contact:
Follow this Link to go to the Website of the work group of of Hydraulic Engineering & Experimentation.
2D-hydrodynamic-numerical calculation of the flood event 2013. Water depth and flow vector representation.
Specialist Field of Water Supply
The Specialist Field of Water Supply concentrates on the issues of the treatment and transport drinking water and resource protection. The following is an introduction to some of the topics on in our research and projects, among many others:
- Process optimization in water works; modelling experiments filtration and backwashing processes and the use of alkaline filter material; laboratory experiments with flocculent agents and dosing; assessing rinse water for phosphate bonding in sewage treatment plants and in biogas plants; energy efficient pumping
- Gathering and describing particle content in water works as well as their behaviour in the distribution network
- Calculation of mixed water and evaluating the corrosion behaviour
- Monitoring surface water and ground water
Contact:
IWO publication series
In 2005, the series of publications of the Institute of Water Management and Eco-Technology "Magdeburger Wasserwirtschaftliche Hefte" was launched. A total of 15 volumes have been published so far:
Contributions to the institute colloquium "The Elbe in the area of conflict between flood protection, nature conservation & navigation".
| Band | Year | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Bd. 1 | 2005 | Flood management |
| Bd. 2 | 2005 | Comparative study and critical assessment of current methods for the evaluation of surface waters according to the requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive using the example of waters in large protected areas of Saxony-Anhalt |
| Bd. 3 | 2006 | Sustainable Approaches in Water Management, Urban Planning and Effective and Renewable Energy Uses, Indianapolis, September 16 and 17, 2005 |
| Bd. 4 | 2006 | Festschrift: 50 years of water management education in Magdeburg (1956 - 2006) |
| Bd. 5 | 2006 | Technical, ecological and social aspects of modern wastewater treatment |
| Bd. 6 | 2006 | Contributions to the conference "Strategies and Instruments for the Improvement of Preventive Flood Protection |
| Bd. 7 | 2007 | Study "Competitive and Liveable Altmark - Services of General Interest in a Rural Region |
| Bd. 8 | 2007 | Contributions to the institute colloquium "Assessment of water bodies in the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive". |
| Bd. 9 | 2008 | Protection and regeneration of water ecosystems and water resources through engineering-ecological methods |
| Bd. 10 | 2010 | Contributions to the Institute Colloquium "Effects of Interventions in Running Waters |
| Bd. 11 | 2011 | Resource Management in Settlement Areas - Framework Conditions for Novel Sanitation Systems in Urban Environments |
| Bd. 12 | 2012 | Transformation processes of public services in rural areas - the example of the Altmark region |
| Bd. 13 | 2012 | Assessment of constructed wetlands in arid regions with special regard to ecology and multifunctionability |
| Bd. 14 | 2013 | Contributions to the institute colloquium "The Elbe in the area of conflict between flood protection, nature conservation & navigation |
| Bd. 15 | 2017 | Natural use of wood for the development of watercourses in the North German Lowlands |
Information on the authors and the order number can be found here:
Annual Reports
The focus of the institute lies in the bundling of the most diverse research activities of the department, whereby application-oriented and practice-related regional tasks were the focus of the work. The IWO presents the many research projects in annual reports:
Organization
The current institute management consists of the institute director and the scientific management. Since April 2010, the tasks of the Institute Director have been carried out by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Bernd Ettmer.
Director of the Institute
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Bernd Ettmer
Phone.: (0391) 2187 44 29
E-Mail: bernd.ettmer@h2.de
visitors adress: Building 6, Room 2.16
Subject Area: Hydraulic engineering and hydraulic experimental design
Scientific management
Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Volker Lüderitz
Phone.: (0391) 886 43 67
E-Mail: volker.luederitz@h2.de
visitors adress: Building 6, Room 2.23
Subject area: Hydrobiology and aquatic ecology
![[Translate to English:] Frido Reinstorf](typo3temp/localfilecopy-cumulus_hs-magdeburg_de-typo3-ps-306.jpg)
Scientific management
Prof. Dr. rer. nat. habil. Frido Reinstorf
Phone: (0391) 886 44 80
E-Mail: frido.reinstorf@h2.de
visitors adress: Building 6, Room 2.26
Subject area: Hydrology und Geoinformatics
Scientific management
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Torsten Schmidt
Phone: (0391) 886 46 79
E-Mail: torsten.schmidt@h2.de
visitors adress: Building 6, Room 2.16
Subject area: Urban water management and infrastructure development
Scientific management
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jürgen Wiese
Phone: (0391) 886 43 73
E-Mail: juergen.wiese@h2.de
visitors adress: Building 6, Room 2.12
Subject area: Urban water management, focus on waste water
Publications
Contact
Director of Institute
Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Jürgen Wiese
Tel: +49 (0) 391 886 43 73
Email: juergen.wiese@h2.de or iwo@h2.de
Location: Campus Magdeburg, Building 6, Room 2.12
