What planners asked most at IFAT 2026: stormwater pre-treatment and regulations
A positive look back at IFAT Munich (Germany) 2026: discover what customers want next in rainwater treatment and pre-treatment.
Rainwater is increasingly being treated as a resource — not just something to move away quickly. Across cities and industrial, commercial sites, projects are shifting toward smarter water management. Because every drop matters. When systems are designed well, that shift can deliver benefits: healthier receiving waters, better groundwater protection, smoother operations and infrastructure that stays reliable over time. Let's have a look what we learned from IFAT 2026.
Talking about stormwater regulations, treatment, and an integrated system approach at IFAT 2026
At IFAT Munich 2026, design questions about smarter rainwater management showed up in detailed conversations between our Orbia Wavin colleagues and their customers (e.g. planners, municipalities, stormwater engineers): what regulation is coming up, what those requirements imply for design, and how treatment helps protect performance across the whole system. IFAT brought together around 3,400 exhibitors and about 142,000 visitors from almost 160 countries and regions — a reminder that water management challenges (and solutions) are shared priorities worldwide.
Launch of the new Certaro Lamella HDS separator
For us, IFAT 2026 was also the first opportunity to show the Certaro Lamella HDS — a surface water treatment solution designed to capture sediment efficiently at the source. The highlights of the week were not only this product launch, but also the depth of the discussions: regulation-driven, project-focused, with an integrated system approach.
What made IFAT different this year
Trade fairs sometimes are more about speed: quick demos, quick scans, quick takeaways. This year, we experienced something more valuable. Many visitors came with specific questions and stayed for the technical dialogue.
A clear driver was regulation. In multiple markets, requirements for stormwater quality and treatment are evolving. For planners, the key is not only the wording of a rule, but its implications: how early treatment must happen, what needs protecting downstream, and how to design systems that remain compliant and maintainable over the long term.
The conversations customers wanted to have...
Across the week, the most valuable discussions tended to follow a similar path — from regulatory context to (integrated) design choices. Below are the topics that repeatedly led to the most in-depth, sustainable conversations:
- Regulation → implications → design decisions
Many planning engineers arrived with a specific regulatory pressure point in mind. But the discussion quickly became practical: What must be removed or retained? Where does treatment need to sit in the network? How do we avoid re-suspension (stirring settled sediment back into the flow) and protect downstream functions? These are design questions — and they reflect how regulation is translating into tighter engineering choices.
- Treatment as performance protection
When runoff carries sediment, it can influence everything downstream — from infiltration capacity to maintenance frequency. Visitors were keen to discuss treatment not as an add-on, but as a way to stabilize performance and protect the business case of the overall solution.
Sediment is not always the most visible part of stormwater. But it does influence system performance. In urban and industrial stormwater runoff, pollutants can attach to small particles — which then travel through the system. That is why ‘treat at source’ is gaining momentum: capturing sediment early can help protect receiving water quality and reduce operational burden later.
- Evidence, practicality and maintainability
Stormwater professionals tend to trust solutions when they can see how they will be installed, inspected and maintained. Many conversations therefore focused on access, cleaning, space constraints, and how to keep maintenance straightforward without compromising treatment performance.
Introducing Certaro Lamella HDS and what it’s designed to do
Certaro Lamella HDS is designed as a compact stormwater treatment solution that combines hydrodynamic separation with lamella sedimentation. The aim is straightforward: capture sediment efficiently, in a compact footprint, and keep maintenance realistic. Scroll down for more information about the technical features!
Certaro Lamella HDS technical features
Key elements that generated the most technical discussion at IFAT included:
• Compact configuration built around a DN1000 manhole set-up — relevant where space is limited.
• Sediment capture focus, with 80% sediment removal overall.
• Practical catchment sizing, handling surfaces of 2,000 m² and more and per unit (depending on configuration).
• Maintenance practicality, with sediment concentrated in a conical sump for straightforward removal.
At IFAT, these details mattered because they connect directly to how planning engineers evaluate solutions: will it fit the site, will it protect the downstream concept, and will it be maintainable in the real world.
Closing thought: the value of in-depth conversations
We left IFAT with a strong sense that the market is ready for more technical, implication-driven discussion around rain or stormwater treatment. Planning engineers want clarity: what regulations mean in practice, what will work on constrained sites, and what will still perform years after installation.
Kudos to the Orbia Wavin Infrastructure and Urban Climate Resilience team at IFAT 2026! If you’re currently working on a project where stormwater treatment and long-term reliability are central, we’d be glad to continue the conversation — and explore how compact pre-treatment (next to infiltration and attenuation) at source could support your overall design.