’We have to make the urban water cycle close to nature again’

For modelling future groundwater levels, Daniela Fuchs-Hanusch would like to see detailed data on water consumption, especially in agriculture. At present, researchers still have to rely on estimates. Image source: Lunghammer - TU Graz - By Philipp Jarke und Falko Schoklitsch How can we deal with droughts and floods? To what extent are we ourselves to blame? An interview with Daniela Fuchs-Hanusch from the Institute of Urban Water Management and Landscape Water Engineering at TU Graz. News + Stories: We seem to move back and forth between extreme states: either we have far too much water or far too little. Are we ourselves to blame for this situation?. Daniela Fuchs-Hanusch: By intervening in the water cycle, we become jointly responsible. Take the heat island effect in cities - rising heat increases the intensity of thunderstorms and the intensity of precipitation.