Daia Living Lab

A Living Lab is a real-life experimental space where municipalities, universities, companies, experts, and local communities jointly develop and test new services or technologies in real conditions. In our case, we are exploring landscape water retention methods in Daia - also called Székelydálya in the local Hungarian languge.

To establish the Living Lab, we applied to the Agroecology Partnership program of the European Union. Our successful project is called REAGRY, involving partner organizations from five countries: Hungary, Spain, Portugal, Turkey and Romania.

In each participating country, a Living Lab will be established, all focusing on researching the introduction of agroecological practices under different ecological and economic circumstances.

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You can read our project summary on the official website of Agroecology Partnership by clicking here.

We have installed a weather station on the pasture in Székelydálya (Daia), providing data that is freely accessible to everyone. The most important real-time readings can be viewed at the top of this page (the page must be refreshed to update the data).

More detailed data, including soil temperature, as well as historical data series and weather charts, are also available if you create an account at https://www.ecowitt.net/. Once you have an account, you can access our weather station’s data centre at https://www.ecowitt.net/home/index?id=340868, or simply click on the weather panel at the top of this page.

As a first step of the project, we organized an event in Daia titled “Székelydálya Living Lab Opening and Nature-based Water Management Training.”

The presentations explored the key themes of the emerging Living Lab, focusing on landscape-level water retention interventions and agricultural practices that support water retention.

By clicking HERE, the detailed program of the conference can be viewed, and the workshop materials can be downloaded below.

The presentation materials of Michal Kravčík, the expert behind the water management plan in Daia, can be downloaded below, along with one of his studies on the ecological and economic benefits of water retention measures for a region.

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Part I – Nature-based solutions for water, soil and climate regulation

Part II – Technical solutions of water retention measures

Holistic plan for climate recovery in the Roňava river basin – a study funded by the Horizon Europe programme’s LAND4CLIMATE project
Website: Home | Land4Climate

Credit: People and Water
Website: Project Examples

The plan was prepared by Water Holistic, a Slovakia-based organisation, represented by Academician Michal Kravčík and engineer Danka Kravčíková, commissioned by the Székelydálya Living Lab.

The 84-page plan outlines the proposed types of water retention measures and describes the expected environmental and economic benefits of their implementation.

The plan is available for download here (in English).

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Content
1.    Introduction    
1.1    Customer identification data
1.2    Identification data of the project developer
1.3    Justification for conducting the study
2.    Analysis of the current situation
3.    Runoff analysis
3.1    CN Curves Method
3.2    Representation of individual types of landscape structure
4.    Proposal of water retention measures and their integration in spatial planning documentation
4.1    Benefits of water retention measures
5.    Design of water retention measures
5.1 Measures in forest landscapes
- Brushwood check dams
5.2 Measures on roads
  - Surface cross drains with soaking pits
  - Infiltration ditches along roads
5.3 Measures in land management in agricultural landscapes
  - Contour tranches
  - Soaking pits
5.4 Measures in built-up areas
  - Bioclimatic Rain gardens
  - Infiltration Areas
5.5 Measures in spatial planning documentation in rural areas
6.    Good practice
7.    Restoration of ecosystem services in the DAIA basin
7.1    Restoration of degraded landscapes
7.2    Necessary change in the approach to community development

Download the document by clicking on the cover page below: