Water management issues in the context of music festivals

Abstract In recent years, festivals, especially music festivals have become important vectors for promoting their host cities. Festivals are complex phenomena with high economic and socio-cultural impact. High CO 2 emissions and huge resource consumption are commonly related to the festivals’ negative environmental impact. Ensuring the suitable amount of water for a large-scale event is essential for both the audience experience and the city residents, especially when their access to water is hindered by excessive water usage for the festival. Therefore, an accurate estimation of water consumption during festivals is a prerequisite for rigorous water planning. In the Covid-19 world, due to the worsening crisis of resources and to the increasing pressure exerted by audiences asking for more eco-conscious events, festival organizers are called to get together with other stakeholders and re-examine the water management issues. Water companies have already started to embrace digital solutions. Their further implementation will result in a large amount of environmental data that could contribute to a paradigm shift concerning festival sustainability. The present paper was conceived around this topic, with the goal of increasing the awareness of all the actors involved in festival operational processes. Outcomes of a desk research and a case study focused on the UNTOLD and Electric Castle music festivals are presented.