IHCantabria hosted the visit of experts who participated in the ‘redSUDS’ 2025 Conference, held at the UC School of Civil Engineering
IHCantabria’s facilities were visited by representatives of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, Palma City Council, Bilbao City Council, Canal de Isabel II and the Basque Water Agency, among others
The institute showcased its scientific, technology transfer and capacity building to a national delegation of experts interested in analyzing the role of sustainable urban drainage and its contribution to climate resilience
Yesterday afternoon, the Environmental Hydraulics Institute of the Universidad de Cantabria (IHCantabria) welcomed the visit of fifty representatives of entities that participated in the redSUDS 2025 Conference, a meeting held on April 7 and 8 at the School of Civil Engineering (ETSI) of the University of Cantabria (UC).
During the visit to IHCantabria, the attendees were welcomed by the General Director of IHCantabria, Raúl Medina; the Director of Knowledge Transfer, Jara Martínez; the Director of Strategies, José A. Juanes; the head of the Hydraulics, Coastal and Offshore Laboratory, Álvaro Álvarez; and the Director of the Hydrobiology Laboratory, María Luisa Pérez. This meeting allowed the visitors to learn about IHCantabria’s research lines, scientific equipment and capabilities to address the management of water-related socio-ecological systems from research, technology transfer, training and continuous training.
Among the people who visited IHCantabria’s facilities were representatives of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, the City Council of Palma, the City Council of Bilbao, Canal de Isabel II and the Basque Water Agency (URA), among other entities.
Relevance of the redSUDS 2025 Conference
Sustainable urban drainage is a way of managing rainwater in cities in an ecological way, imitating the natural processes of infiltration, evaporation and water retention. “Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) are surface elements, permeable, preferably vegetated, integral to the urban-hydrological-landscape structure and prior to the sanitation system. They are intended to filter, retain, transport, accumulate, reuse and infiltrate rainwater into the ground, so that they do not degrade and even restore the quality of the water they manage”. This is explained by the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO) on its website.
The redSUDS network, created in 2008, acts as a national reference forum to promote the use of SUDS. Since 2016, the promoters of this initiative have been working to consolidate a paradigm shift in Spain, integrating SUDS as common solutions to the limitations of traditional approaches in urban drainage.
On April 7 and 8 of this year, the ETSI de Caminos, Canales y Puertos of the University of Cantabria hosted the fifth edition of the redSUDS Conference, which brought together representatives of companies, municipalities, institutions, universities and research centers (approximately 180 people), in order to exchange experiences and knowledge, to present projects, local initiatives and research results. Under the theme “Sustainable urban drainage and its contribution to climate resilience”, this event included oral and poster presentations, round tables and exhibitions of companies specialized in sustainable solutions for urban water management. Jorge Rojo Gómez, representing IHCantabria, intervened yesterday in this event with the paper entitled “Preliminary assessment of the suitability and effectiveness of nature-based solutions to mitigate urban flooding”.
The redSUDS 2025 Conference was organized by the Construction Technology Research Group of the University of Cantabria (GITECO-UC), the Water and Environmental Engineering Group of the University of A Coruña (GEAMA), the Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering of the Polytechnic University of Valencia (IIAMA-UPV) and the company Green Blue Management. For its execution, this event had the support of the City Council of Santander, the Government of Cantabria and leading entities in the sector, such as IHCantabria.
