Flood Science and Management with Dr Guenter Bloeschl

The Water Data Podcast

How and why does flooding take place? How are flood risks evolving with climate change and large-scale human alteration of riverscapes and watersheds? Does it even make sense to measure a ‘100-year-flood’ any more?

Stockholm Water Prize 2025 winner Dr Guenter Bloeschl shares a masterclass on the science and management of floods on the third episode of Season 2 of the Water Data Podcast. The Water Data Podcast is a talk show on the science, systems, and stories of water hosted by Veena Srinivasan.

Professor Guenter Bloeschl is a hydrologist, engineer and academic from Austria. Dr Bloeschl is Head of the Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management, Director of the Centre for Water Resource Systems of the Vienna University of Technology as well as Chair of the Vienna Doctoral Programme on Water Resource Systems.

He is also the 2025 recipient of the Stockholm Water Prize, awarded by the Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Stockholm Water Foundation. One of the highest honours in the water sciences, Dr Bloeschl received it for his extensive work on flood risk reduction, water resource management, flood scaling, and regional process hydrology.

In this episode, Dr Bloeschl talks about the science of flooding, what research shows about the evolving causes and impacts of floods in Europe, and flood mitigation and management lessons for India and the world.

For all references and further readings related to the episode, visit https://welllabs.org/wdp-bloeschl

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Recording by Nabina Chakraborty. Video editing by Vraj Acharya. Graphics and artwork by Aparna Nambiar. Audio mixing and mastering by Vijay Doiphode. Podcast production and management by Nabina Chakraborty and Pavan Srinath.

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1. Highlights (00:00:00)

2. Introduction (00:00:48)

3. Inspirations for Studying Floods (00:03:33)

4. Scaling of Floods: Small vs. Large Catchments (00:05:11)

5. Spatial Patterns of Flood Trends in Europe (00:15:15)

6. Flood Impacts: Lives vs. Economic Losses (00:26:33)

7. Follow us to not miss out on future episodes (00:31:22)

8. Role of Dams and Levees in Europe (00:31:42)

9. Risks of copy-pasting solutions from Europe to Africa and Asia (00:40:54)

10. Citizen Science & Future Opportunities (00:53:20)

11. Advice to Young Water Professionals (00:56:57)