EMWIS Flash N°36, June 2006

1. EMWIS Technical Unit announces the launch of its new multilingual international web portal (in English, French and Arabic). This new site which has an improved design and navigation scheme, allows a flexible integration of content and heterogeneous applications (using Internet standards such as xml or web services). It is based on the open source content management system developed for and used by the European Environment Agency for most of its websites applications. You will find the usual EMWIS information on legislation, who does what, monthly news flash, etc., plus new sections such as a multilingual water thesaurus and glossary, a database of water projects, an outline of the main Mediterranean initiatives related to water, etc. EMWIS and its partners are progressively loading more material onto the new website to provide essential water information at both international and national levels. See all that at the new website: www.emwis.org .

2. EMWIS, its Algerian NFP (ABH-CSM) and the Algerian Ministry of Water Resources are organising Regional workshop on "National water information systems -NWIS- & EMWIS" to be held in Algiers the days 26 and 27 June 2006. This workshop mainly aims to promote the exchange of experiences between the countries on the implementation of NWIS. The workshop will include plenary sessions with presentations of experiences and 3 working group sessions focusing on: Organizational/legislative aspects; Access to data; and Enhancement/added value of final product.  The results of the NWIS feasibility studies carried out in 2005 in 10 Mediterranean Partner countries, the output from the 4th World Water Forum on shared water information system and the proposal of Mediterranean mechanism of observation on water and sanitation will provide major inputs for the workshop. After this event, EMWIS will organise its 6th Coordination Committee seminar the 27 afternoon and 28 June in Algiers (only for EMWIS National Focal Points). See EMWIS website for details about both events.

3. The 5th World Water Forum will be held definitively in Istanbul (Turkey) in March 2009, according to the final edition of the 4th World Water Forum's Newsletter (number 18). The 4th World Water Forum took place two months ago and the Forum Secretariat is currently working on the final report, to be presented soon. To download the final Newsletter, consult the 4th World Water Forum's website.

4. The EC has published on 24th May the list of the latest EU funded projects under the 6th Framework Programme (FP6): Global Change and Ecosystems. These projects have been retained for negotiation. Final data might be different. Check Water cycle and Soil related aspects Abstracts of selected projects: "(Calls Global-1 and 2) & Scientific Support to Policies (Calls SSP-1 and SSP-2)" and "(Calls Global-3 and Global-4)".

5. A Consultative workshop on Financing and Cost Recovery in the African Water Sector organized in Tunis on 13-15 June 2006 by the African Development Bank (AfDB), brought together representatives of regional member countries, multilateral development partners, financial institutions, and other stakeholders such as Private sector and civil society organizations to examine Financial Instruments and Cooperation with development stakeholders with a view to supporting the Water Sector in Africa. Consult the African Development Bank Website to get more information and access the background documents and presentations of the workshop (See AfDB press release).

6. The European Parliament has voted to beef up EU standards to limit the levels of nitrates and pesticides in groundwater, which supply Europeans with some two-thirds of drinking water. The European Parliament on 13 June backed proposals to tighten a 1980's directive that seeks to prevent groundwater from pollution by agricultural residues such as pesticides and other harmful chemicals. The text will now return to the EU Council of Ministers for approval in second reading. See EurActiv website for further information. On the other hand, The European Parliament voted also on changes to an EU Groundwater Directive, rejecting the Council's position which contains few binding proposals, making this law little more than a statement of intent. According to EEB (the European Environmental Bureau) and RSPB (the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds), these loopholes sacrifice the safety and security of two-thirds of the EU's drinking water supplies to damaging agricultural practices and polluting industries. See EEB website for full details.

7. The series of ISO standards, to appear in 2007, should be used as tool to evaluate the organizations engaged in the service activities related to water (food and sanitation). Conceived from a point of view of maximum flexibility, these standards are applicable in the industrialized countries as in the developing countries, in the large megalopolis as in the small cities, and that the organization or the operator in charge of the management of water is a public utility or a private company. See ISO website for full details.

8. The second phase of the MEDSTAT-Environment project (MED-Env II) was implemented within the regional MEDA statistics cooperation programme (MEDSTAT) and covered the period 2003-2006. Among others, it has put the emphasis on three specific topics: air pollutant emission, biodiversity and the calculation of environmental indicators for sustainable development. During the final forum, which was opened by the Director of the National Statistical Office in Jordan last 13-14th June, the national statistical publications produced by the Mediterranean National Statistics Institutes as well as the 2005 regional compendium on environmental statistics in the Mediterranean countries were presented. Participants discussed the project’s main results as well as the integration of environmental statistics in the new MEDSTAT II programme which was launched in January 2006. The objective of MEDSTAT II is to improve the quality and supply of services and statistical data that are required within the framework of the Association Agreements with the Mediterranean Partners. It also aims to provide users with updated, reliable and relevant statistical data necessary for political decision-making and to ensure good governance. See Blue Plan website for further information.

9. The French national assembly adopted, last 30 May, the new law on water and aquatic environments, which aims at getting a good ecological state of water, as required in the EU WFD (European Water Framework Directive). This project of law must still continue its shuttle with the Senate for a second reading envisaged at the end of June. See the full text of this law at the website of the French National Assembly. (Only in French)

10. Algeria will adopt a law on the nuclear power: The atom in all transparency. The decision to start again the nuclear power and to work out a law to organize the activity introduces a new added value for the water and energy sectors in Algeria. For the sector of water, the nuclear power will make it possible to de-salt sea water as well as brackish water apart from the coastal areas. See EL WATAN for full details. (Only in French)

11. The European Investment Bank (EIB) is lending €25 million for the construction of the first phase for Bucharest's new wastewater treatment plant. It is the first installation of its kind in the Romanian Capital and will contribute to the improvement of the water quality of the Dambovita River and subsequently of the Danube.  The project will support the further implementation of EU environmental standards in Romania, as the plant will operate in full compliance with respective EU Directives. The plant – once both phases completed - will be one of the largest wastewater treatment plants in Europe covering almost 2 million citizens of Bucharest whose untreated effluents represent one of the main sources of water pollution of the Danube river basin. See EC website for more details.

12. A large region of central Hungary is turning into desert as a result of irrational planning and climate change, threatening the livelihood of 300,000 people, according to an expert advising government. Hungary's fertile plains have seen record floods this year, yet the sandy but arable soil on a tenth of Hungary's land between the rivers Danube and Tisza is getting alarmingly dry, according to Janos Nacsa, of Szent Istvan University in Godollo, 30 km east of Budapest. See SAHRA Water News for further information.

13. A state-of-the-art transboundary real-time flood forecasting system for the Mur River has now successfully been implemented. Since February 2006 the forecasting system has been tested and is now in real time operation. The forecasting system is implemented within MIKE FLOOD WATCH (Decision support system for real-time flow forecasting) framework and runs automatically from a central location in Graz, Austria where it issues new forecasts of the river status each hour for the next 2 days. The challenge of the project has been to establish one common flood forecasting system working for all countries of the Mur watershed (Austria, Croatia, Hungary and Slovenia), where exchange of real-time information, modelling (based on MIKE11) and dissemination can be performed rapidly and accurately through a robust system. The Mur Forecasting System has been supported from the EU INTERREG IIIB Cadses program. For further information, contact Gregers Jørgensen or visit DHI group. See here a detailed account of the Mur forecasting system.

14. A report published by the BIPE (France), proposes a method to analyse the performance of water and sanitation services according to sustainable development principles. This innovating step was carried out together with the whole of the key actors in the water and sustainable development sector. In the light of this approach, the situation of eight capitals of the European Union was analyzed: Amsterdam, Athens, Berlin, London, Madrid, Rome, Paris, Stockholm. In complement of this study, a discussion was carried out on the definition of the good economic indicator of the service management. Download the report from the BIPE website. (Only in French)

15. British researchers have recently analysed the different behavioural attitudes towards water saving in households in the United Kingdom. The authors have identified four different types of individuals according to their behavioural characteristics. They conclude that it is necessary to recognise behavioural complexity in order to ensure that policies and initiatives for water conservation are effective. See EC DG Environment newsletter for full details.

16. Japanese researchers have analysed the effects of climate and land use changes on underground freshwater resources in coastal areas, and estimated the groundwater loss due to saltwater intrusion. The results suggest that in arid areas, the fresh groundwater loss increases as the percentage of forest cover increases. Deforestation may increase the recharge of existing fresh groundwater sources in these arid areas. See EC DG Environment newsletter for full details.

17. EU law on groundwater pollution must be strengthened to protect Europeans from nitrate pollution caused by intensive animal farming, according to an an environmental group. The warning comes ahead of discussions of the EU Groundwater Directive in the EU Parliament in Strasbourg on 12 June. In its current form, the directive puts a 50mg limit on nitrates per litre, and obliges EU member states to monitor and counter pollution of groundwater by toxic chemicals such as pesticides, heavy metals and pharmaceutical residues. Friends of the Earth criticised the directive for its numerous exceptions that they say allow nitrates to penetrate into drinking water supplies. The NGO urged MEPs to vote against changes that would weaken the directive, which it said is already "inadequate" because of the loopholes included in it. See Edie News Centre website for full details.

18. Local communities in rural areas are becoming more involved in the management of water resources, besides the sole management of their water supply. Community management of water resources involves not only water resources protection and adequate waste water and solid waste disposal, but also engaging in a dialogue between water users within a community or between neighbouring communities in order to avoid wastage and overexploitation of the resource. In an urban setting the water resource management issue is not as clear as in rural areas, but it still can be approached at the user level through the perception and usage that people have of water or water culture. More awareness and consciousness-raising on the value of water can have an impact on water resource use. On the utility side, leakage control is a vital issue (sometimes, up to 40-50 percent water is lost). When dealing with community management of water supply, water resources management needs to be tackled as well. Contact Francois Brikke or see WSP (Water and Sanitation Program) newsletter for further information.

19. Different disasters require different responses and, in turn, multiple technological solutions, which is a costly duplication of resources. REMSAT II, a project supported by ESA’s Telecommunications Department, has, however, successfully extended its forest fire fighting capabilities to the domain of flood relief, saving both resources and lives. See ESA website for full details.

20. Since almost 80 per cent of European rivers flow across borders and coastlines are shared, MEPs are calling on EU countries to coordinate flood risk assessment and management. Legislation amended on 13 June, says the focus should be on risk rather than floods and urges Member States to draw up flood risk maps. While emphasising the environmental impact of floods, the law leaves it up to Member States to develop specific measures for special areas. See the website of the European Parliament for further information.

21. The Water Resources, Development and Management Service of FAO and the International Programme for Technology and Research in Irrigation and Drainage (IPTRID) have recently joined forces for the upgrading of the Irrigation Equipment Supply (IES) database. This tool seeks to establish an up-to-date list of Suppliers and Manufacturers providing specific irrigation equipment worldwide. The new version of the database is primarily Supplier/Manufacturer-driven in the sense that information contained in the database is inserted and maintained exclusively by the Suppliers/Manufacturers of irrigation equipment. Visit FAO website to see the new Irrigation Equipment Supply (IES) database.

22. Edgb2b is an environmental database, with more than 40.000 products of more than 1500 companies in several sectors, mainly: the water sector (treatment, wastewater, etc). See the EDGB2B website for further information. (Only in French)

23. The EU Water Initiative organises a workshop on IWRM (Integrated Water Resources Management) Science Communication for Impact in Brussels on 20-22nd June 2006. The main idea of this workshop is studying in an interactive mode on how researchers can best engage constructively with the mindsets of water users, water managers, practitioners and the water policy community. The purpose of the Workshop `IWRM Science Communication for Impact` is to: Contextualize today’s IWRM research in relation to the challenges of water policy reform and practice; and Acquire communication skills in relation to different target groups and communication means. See EC website for further details.

29. IWA Publishing, the wholly owned subsidiary of the International Water Association (IWA) provides information services on all aspects of water, wastewater and related environmental fields. The publishing programme includes Water21 (the IWA membership magazine) and a broad range of journals, books, research reports, manuals of best practice, and online services.

30. Benefits of multiple-use approaches to meeting the water needs of poor communities, published recently by IWMI, GWP and IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre. See IWMI website for further information.

31. New research report on "the competition for water between cities and irrigation" has been published. This report would be of interest to those interested in sectoral water allocation and conflicts. This report revisits this commonly-accepted wisdom and examines the nature of urban water scarcity, the relative importance of both physical and economic scarcity, and how cities secure funds for the development of their water infrastructure (or fail to do so). Visit IWRM website to download it and other reports too.

32. "Historical Transformations of the Lower Jordan River Basin: Changes in Water Use and Projections (1950 – 2025)", is the title of a recent report published by: Courcier, R., J.P. Venot and François Molle. The Lower Jordan river basin (LJRB) includes 83 percent of the total population of Jordan, and most of the main industries in the country, 80 percent of irrigated agriculture, and receives 80 percent of the national water resources. This report presents a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the history of water resources mobilization and uses within the LJRB. Visit IWRM website to download it and other reports too.

33. A new report: "Meta-Analysis to Assess Impact of Watershed Program and People's Participation" has been published recently. The study assessed the performance of watershed programs by employing meta analysis. Visit IWRM website to download it and other reports too.

34. "New UKWIR report: Sustainability of water efficiency measures" is the title of a recent publication, that contains a best practice framework, developed in collaboration with stakeholders, for determining the sustainability and cost-effectiveness of water efficiency measures. Data were collated for 44 water efficiency projects. A web-based tool was developed to allow users to interrogate the database, update existing projects and add new projects. Recommendations are made regarding the specific focus for future water efficiency research. See UKWIR website for full information.

35. The UN Environment Report: "Global Deserts Outlook" is the first thematic report in the Global Environment Outlook (GEO) series of environmental assessments by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Better management of water supplies will be the key challenge for the future of deserts but could, if successful, be a beacon of hope and good practice for other water-short parts of the globe. These are among the findings of UNEP's Global Deserts Outlook launched to mark World Environment Day on 5 June. See UNEP website for further information.

36. "Integrated transboundary water management in theory and practice; new experiences from the new EU eastern borders" by Geoffrey D Gooch & Per Stalnacke, is a new book that examine and analyse the problems inherent in integrated water management in transboundary conditions. Integrated Transboundary Water Management in Theory and Practice will provide new knowledge and policy recommendations based on the experiences and results of a major 3-year interdisciplinary research project (MANTRA-East). See IWA publishing for further details.

37. "Protecting groundwater for health; managing the quality of drinking-water sources" by O. Schmoll, G Howard, J Chilton & I Chorus, is a new publication, that addresses protecting drinking-water resources. For health professionals, it thus is a tool for access to environmental information needed for such a process, and for professionals from other sectors, it gives a point of entry for understanding health aspects of groundwater management. See IWA publishing for further information.

38. "Groundwater in International Law: Compilation of Treaties and other Legal Instruments" by Stefano Burchi and Kerstin Mechlem, (FAO/UNESCO 2005), brings together binding and non-binding international law instruments that, in varying degrees and from different angles, deal with groundwater. Its aim is to report developments in international law and to contribute to detecting law in-the-making in this important field.

39. "From Potential Conflict to Co-operation Potential (PCCP) International Water Law Publications" is a new publication (studies) of the UNESCO’s PCCP that presents the role of law and institutions in the transition from potential conflict to co-operation potential, and the tools available for the protection of water resources and related facilities in times of armed conflicts. It identifies the assets of the international legal system as well as its gaps. These legal studies are designed to be accessible to water managers with no professional legal background. Download these studies: ‘The protection of water facilities during armed conflicts’, ‘The role of law in the transition from PC to CP’, and ‘Institutions for water related management’ (pdf).

40. A new book: "In Time for the Flood", developed by the Polish Institute of Meteorology and Water Management, for local decision makers dealing with flash floods has been published. The first part brings information on the operational principles of warning systems. The second part deals with the most important data and information which needs to be obtained or prepared before one begins to plan the building of a local flood warning system. The third part is a compendium of knowledge concerning the elements of the system. The last part focuses on cooperation. See GWP website for further information.

41. "Benchmark Papers in Hydrology series" is a new Series from IAHS that collects together, by theme, the papers that provided the scientific foundations for hydrology in the 20th Century. The Series Editor is Jeff McDonnell.

42. 'Peak to Peak' is an opportunity to keep you up-to-date with the latest news, activities and events related to the Mountain Partnership. This monthly newsletter, prepared by the Mountain Partnership Secretariat, is sent by e-mail to all members and other interested partners and can be read on-line. One of the events announced in this newsletter' last issue is: the 2nd International Congress “‘Water in Mountains’, Integrated Management of High Watersheds.” (Megève, France, 20-22 September 2006).