In September 2026, the MARISS international summer school at HTW Dresden brought together researchers and students to explore artificial groundwater recharge, with a particular focus on bank filtration.

Longer dry spells, falling groundwater levels and rising water demand are posing challenges for water management worldwide. The seventh MARISS Summer School at the HTWD focused on how groundwater resources can be managed sustainably. Twenty-eight participants from Germany and India explored groundwater recharge and bank filtration.

Targeted groundwater recharge, known internationally as Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR), enables aquifers to be replenished in a controlled manner and water resources to be managed sustainably. The summer school provides the scientific foundations and practical methods required for this task.

Combining theory and practice

The English-language programme was aimed at Master’s students, PhD candidates, early-career researchers and engineers. Lectures, practical exercises and field trips provided knowledge on assessing suitable sites, water quality and modelling groundwater flow. Participants worked with digital modelling tools and explored groundwater recharge in arid mountainous and coastal regions. A new focus was placed on the detection of micro- and nanoplastics during bank filtration. Field trips took place to bank filtration sites operated by the Elbaue-Ostharz long-distance water supply scheme in Torgau-Ost and to the Sdier waterworks. There, participants learnt about water abstraction processes and facilities on site.

German-Indian cooperation in the water sector

The summer school forms part of the project ‘Integration of managed aquifer recharge and the water-food nexus in higher education’. The Federal Foreign Office is funding the project through the DAAD programme “GIANT – German Indian Academic Network for Tomorrow”. The aim is to strengthen university cooperation in the field of groundwater recharge and at the interface between water and food security.

Partners include the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee and the National Institute of Hydrology in Roorkee. Specialist contributions were also provided by the Elbaue-Ostharz Long-Distance Water Supply, the Sdier Long-Distance Water Supply Association, and the Institutes of Groundwater Management and Water Chemistry at TU Dresden.

The Department of Water Resources Engineering at HTWD has been organising the MARISS Summer School since 2020 in collaboration with TU Dresden and regional water suppliers. The programme combines international cooperation with application-oriented training and strengthens specialist skills for the sustainable management of water resources.