Climate change, urbanization and the increasing water demand are challenging water infrastructures and the environment. Flood, drought, soil erosion and loss of biodiversity challenge human development and wellness. Ecosystem degradation often leads to the increase of water and environmental related risks. Ecosystem-friendly forms of water management (drainage, distribution and storage) tend to mitigate the catastrophic impact of man on the environment and improve environmental conditions and social related benefits. Although, effective risk analysis, conservative design criteria and long term observation of environmental-friendly infrastructures are still partially missed.

Sharing experiences defining new tools and opening to approaches and methods from other sectors (including economical and social sciences) should be the premise for effective hydraulic and environmental risk analysis.

We expect contributions in the field of modeling and design as well as experiences from the real world, in order to answer still open questions such as: are there environmental-friendly solutions which are more sustainable and cost effective than traditional grey infrastructures and reduce hydraulic risk? What are the optimal scales (local, regional, global) of intervention to reduce environmental and hydraulic risk? Where do we stand with sustainable water management policy and practice?