By Andrei-Mugur Georgescu and Sanda-Carmen Georgescu

1. Introduction

Hydroinformatics focuses on the application of information and communications technologies, to address problems in the water industry, water resources management, and other fields connected to the aquatic environment. New trends, like the digital transformation of urban water systems, smart water networks and smart cities demand multidisciplinarity and interoperability, to ensure a sustainable management of water resources. As the Hydroinformatics scientific community continuously grows, its interests encompass a wide range of topics, from the numerical modelling to the development of new sensors and tools, the interpretation of increasing amounts of data, the analysis and management of complex water systems, the integration of models, data and controls for practical applications.

The International Conference on Hydroinformatics (HIC) is organized since 1994, every 2 years, by the IAHR/IWA Joint Committee on Hydroinformatics.

After a 4-years gap due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 14th International Conference on Hydroinformatics - HIC 2022 was jointly organised in Bucharest, Romania, on 4-8 July 2022, by the Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest and the University “Politehnica” of Bucharest. The conference was hosted at the University “Politehnica” of Bucharest.

2. HIC 2022 relevant details and statistics

Adding to the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine imposed new travel restrictions to the existing ones, so the HIC 2022 conference experienced, for the first time, a new hybrid format that was most challenging for the hosts, with a total number of 208 participants, out of which 70% were present onsite and 30% online.

Nevertheless, judging on opinions expressed during or after the conference, by the members of the Hydroinformatics community that participated onsite (146 attendees onsite, out of which 69 from abroad), HIC 2022 offered a frame for direct exchanges after a 4-years gap, namely, a good opportunity for knowledge integration among scientists, practitioners and technology experts, to tackle the complex challenges of Hydroinformatics in a changing world.

The conference-logo is presented in figure 1, together with an image of the conference webpage.

HIC 2022 was structured around the following 6 main topics:

1. Technologies for Water Management and Monitoring;

2. Big-Data, Knowledge and Water Data Management;

3. Digital Transformation of Urban Water Systems;

4. Digital Approach in Water Engineering;

5. Hydraulic and Hydrological Modelling;

6. Water – Energy Nexus.

HIC 2022 received 165 papers from 39 countries; 110 papers were accepted for presentation. The conference contributions were presented in parallel sessions from the 5th to the 7th of July - they were divided into 22 sessions, based on the main topics. A plenary session was held on the 4th of July, after the Opening Ceremony. We acknowledge here the outstanding lectures given by the HIC 2022 Plenary Speakers:

• Professor Kalanithy Vairavamoorthy (IWA Executive Director), lecture title How Hydro-informatics Can Help the Water Sector Navigate the New Normal;

• Professor Orazio Giustolisi (Technical University of Bari, Italy), lecture title Digital Transformation in Water Distribution Networks: from Digital Twin to Digital Water Service Concept;

• Professor Anton Anton (Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest, Romania), lecture title Digitization Path of Hydropower and Water Supply in Romania.

All HIC 2022 submissions were peer-reviewed through a double-blind review process (using the EasyChair Smart CFP environment), by at least two international experts, and decisions were taken based on research quality; 34 reviewers (members of program committees) were involved in this process. We are very pleased to report that the quality of the submissions turned out to be very high. A total of 62 papers, out of 110 accepted papers, were selected to be published as full papers in the present volume, which is around 56% paper acceptance rate. Most reviewers provided detailed and constructive comments, which were valuable for the authors to continue improving their papers, even if their submissions were not selected for the conference proceedings.

Given the high-quality works done by authors and program committee members, we are confident that the HIC 2022 Proceedings capture the current state of the art research in Hydroinformatics and will have significant impact to the research on longer term.

3. HIC 2022 Program Committees

We acknowledge here the invaluable assistance of all program committees’ members.

3.1. Conference Leading Team

Chairs:

• Andrei-Mugur Georgescu, Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest, Romania

• Lăcrămioara Diana Robescu, University “Politehnica” of Bucharest, Romania

Members:

• Gabriele Freni, University of Enna ”Kore”, Italy

• Philippe Gourbesville, Polytech Nice Sophia, Université Côte d’Azur, France

• Sanda-Carmen Georgescu, University “Politehnica” of Bucharest, Romania.

3.2. Conference Steering Committee Members

• Orazio Giustolisi, Technical University of Bari, Italy

• Dragan Savić, KWR Water Research Institute, The Netherlands

• Duan Chen, Changjiang River Scientific Research Institute, China

• Maria C. Cunha, University of Coimbra, Portugal

• Ibrahim Demir, Iowa University, U.S.

• Raziyeh Farmani, University of Exeter, U.K.

• Gabriele Freni, Kore University of Enna, Italy

• María Pilar García-Navarro, University of Zaragoza, Spain

• Philippe Gourbesville, Polytech Nice Sophia, Université Côte d’Azur, France

• George P. Karatzas, Technical University of Crete, Greece

• Gwo-Fong Lin, Taiwan University, Taiwan

• Ole Mark, Krüger A/S, Denmark

• Miguel Rico-Ramirez, University of Bristol, U.K.

• Dimitri Solomatine, UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, The Netherlands.

3.3. International Scientific Committee

Members:

• Jean-Luc Achard, Grenoble National Polytechnic Institute, France

• Anton Anton, Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest, Romania

• Luigi Berardi, University G. d’Annunzio of Chieti-Pescara, Italy

• Sandor Ianos Bernad, Romanian Academy – Timisoara Branch, Romania

• Bruno Brunone, University of Perugia, Italy

• Epsică Chiru, ARA – Romanian Water Association, Romania

• Xin Dong, Tsinghua University, China

• Ioana Făgărășan, University „Politehnica” of Bucharest, Romania

• Zoran Kapelan, Delft University, The Netherlands

• Branko Kerkez, University of Michigan, U.S.

• Daniele Biagio Laucelli, Technical University of Bari, Italy

• Florentina Moatar, National Research Institute of Science and Technology for Environment and Agriculture (INRAE), France

• Frank Molkenthin, Brandeburg University of Technology, Germany

• Sebastian Muntean, Romanian Academy – Timisoara Branch, Romania

• Ilinca Năstase, Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest, Romania

• Konstantinos Papatheodorou, International Hellenic University, Serres Campus, Greece

• Olivier Piller, National Research Institute of Science and Technology for Environment and Agriculture (INRAE), France

• Dušan Prodanović, University of Belgrade, Serbia

• Liang Qiuhua, Loughborough University, U.K.

• Gabriel Racovițeanu, Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest, Romania

• Maurizio Righetti, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy

• Nicolas Riviere, INSA Lyon, France

• Dan Niculae Robescu, University „Politehnica” of Bucharest, Romania

• Sandra Soares-Frazão, Louvain School of Engineering, Belgium

• Romeo Florin Susan-Resiga, „Politehnica” University of Timisoara, Romania

• Nicolaos Theodossiou, Aristotel University of Thessaloniki, Greece

• Ken Thomas, Waterford Institute of Technology – WIT, Ireland

• Lydia Vamvakeridou-Lyroudia, KWR Water Research Institute, The Netherlands

• Emmanouil Varouchakis, Technical University of Crete, Greece.

3.4. Local Organising Committee

Honorary Committee:

• Mihnea Cosmin Costoiu, Rector of University „Politehnica” of Bucharest, UPB

• Radu Văcăreanu, Rector of Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest, UTCB

• Jorj-Mădălin Mihailovici, Country Manager VEOLIA Romania

• Aurel Presură, General Director S.C. RAJA Constanța S.A.

• Ilie Vlaicu, President of ARA – Romanian Water Association

Members:

• Alexandru Aldea, UTCB

• Cristina Sorana Ionescu, UPB

• Mircea Bițoiu, Association of Energy and Electrical Engineers – AEEE

• Nicolae Marcoie, ”G. Asachi” Technical University of Iasi, TUIASI

• Florin Bode, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca

• Horia Necula, UPB

• Otilia Oproescu, UTCB

• Diana-Maria Bucur, UPB

• Vlad Florin Pîrăianu, UPB

• Florian Burnar, Partnership Association for European Funds and Projects, APPFE

• Bogdan Popa, UPB

• Carmen Anca Safta, UPB

• Costin Ioan Coșoiu, UTCB

• Mihnea Sandu, UTCB

• Cristiana-Verona Croitoru, UTCB

• Adrian Stuparu, ”Politehnica” University of Timisoara

• George Darie, UPB

• Alexandru Dimache, UTCB

• Nicoleta Octavia Tănase, UPB

• Mihaela Amalia Diminescu, UPB

• Daniela Teodorescu, UTCB

• Georgiana Dunca, UPB

• Eliza Isabela Tică, UPB

• Dragoș Găitănaru, UTCB

• Daniel Toma, TUIASI

• Matei-Răzvan Georgescu, UTCB

• Bianca Ungureanu, AEEE

• Daniela Elena Gogoașe, UPB

• Grigore Ursu, UTCB

• Constantin Radu Gogu, UTCB

• Alexandru Cezar Vlăduț, UTCB

• Iulian Iancu, UTCB

• Elena Vulpașu, UTCB

Acknowledgments

On behalf of the HIC 2022 Leading Team, we express our sincere gratitude to all authors and presenters. We are also grateful to all members of the HIC 2022 Steering Committee, International Scientific Committee and Local Organising Committee, for their valuable support.

Last but not least, we are grateful to all student-volunteers, from the University Politehnica of Bucharest (members of Association of Energy and Electrical Engineers, and of Students’ Association of Energy Engineering Faculty), as well as from the Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest, for their enthusiastic and efficient support to the HIC 2022 Registration and Information Desks.

The joint effort of everyone contributed to the great success of HIC 2022 - one of the first scientific conferences organised face-to-face in 2022 in Bucharest, with a great number of participants that travelled to Romania from abroad.

Related

• Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Hydroinformatics (Bucharest, 2022)

• HIC 2022 Website

• Conference Final Program (.PDF)