Hydrologist Günter Blöschl Awarded The “Water Nobel ”

Hydrologist Günter Blöschl, professor at the University of Bologna and at the Vienna University of Technology, has been awarded the Stockholm Water Prize, an international prize often referred to as “ Nobel Prize of Water” due to its great prestige.

Video of the announcement

Professor Blöschl’s research focuses on predicting and reducing flood risk, developing water management strategies and studying regional process hydrology, which is why he is acknowledged as a pioneer of hydraulic engineering.

His analyses have transformed our knowledge of flood risk reduction and water resource management on a global scale under climate change.

Thanks to his research work, Günter Blöschl is acknowledged as the founder of a new and constantly growing scientific field that concerns regional process hydrology. He is also the co-creator of socio-hydrology, a new branch of hydrology that includes individuals within the water cycle.

“Professor Günter Blöschl is the world’s leading flood hydrologist”, wrote the Prize Committee for the Stockholm Water Prize’s citation. “He has made groundbreaking contributions to understanding the drivers of increasing flood risks under climate change coupled to the strong influence of regional flood processes. His observation-based connection between climate and floods revealed that the last two decades have been markedly flood-prone compared to the historical record”.

Thanks to his analyses, it is now possible to understand exactly which regions are affected and how, and thus how they can be protected from floods.

“We must take floods more seriously in the long term. That means not only after a flood has occurred but also before”, says Professor Blöschl. "We must overcome the taboo that floods much larger than those observed in the past—the so-called mega-floods—are a real possibility, especially under climate change. These are challenges that, as a society, we must face.”

“This news brings us double joy: first, because it concerns a University of Bologna professor and researcher, and second because it pertains to issues that are particularly dear to us, such as climate change research, which is crucial for more forward-thinking actions and policies” says Rector Giovanni Molari. “I express my heartfelt congratulations to Professor Günter Blöschl, and I wish him and all his research team increasingly fruitful and innovative work, so that the University’s scientific contribution may continue to be at the service of the common good”.