Euro-Mediterranean Information System on know-how in the Water sector

Israel Water Authority, ministry: Petrol pollution could affect drinking water

2007-05-02T00:00:00Z

As the records of the Water Authority and the Environmental Protection Ministry demonstrate, pollution from petrol stations and storage facilities has in the past years constituted an increasing environmental concern. The Water Authority has recently released alarming data, suggesting the problem might affect Israel's drinking water.

The good news, however, is that at the same time, the relevant parties have stepped up their efforts to contain the problem and counter pollution. The largest of Israel's petrol companies, Paz, has even agreed to initiate a treatment program for all stations posing an environmental threat.

Last month, during the annual conference of the Israel Water Association, the organization presented alarming data concerning petrol pollution in drinking water. The data, collected by the association's Water Quality Branch, pertained to 63 water reservoirs and sites. Forty-seven of them were found to contain varying levels of pollution. Last year, only 13 sites were surveyed. Ten were found to be polluted.

Israel: Reform in the water network

2007-05-02T00:00:00Z

The first meeting was held last 15th February 2007 between Minister of National Infrastructure Benjamin (Fuad) Ben-Eliezer and the Water Authority Council, under the leadership of Prof. Uri Shani (Water Director). The purpose of the meeting: Making the intended work arrangements of the Water Authority Council. At the meeting, the minister gave his backing to the Authority’s director and the members of the Authority’s council, pointed out the importance and immensity of the task they face, and expressed his readiness to help however necessary.

The idea behind the process of establishing the Government Water and Sewage Authority is the uniting of the government’s jurisdiction in the areas of water and sewage under one authority. Until the authority’s establishment, this jurisdiction was spread among many ministries, such that it was quite difficult to set a unified government policy, and created many conflicts and collisions among the various bodies.

The roles of the Water Authority Council are anchored in the Water Law, and include, among others:

Arranging, developing and supervising the water system;
Carrying out government policy which has repercussions on the water system;
Determining rules for the granting of licenses under this law;
Determining rates and levies for the various uses of water;
Determining rules regarding water production, supply, quantity, quality, price, and use within the water purposes framework, and (regarding) an attack affecting the water;
Determining standards for handling sewage water;
Supervision over the National Water Authority and the regional water authorities;
Assisting the National Infrastructure Minister in fulfilling his role as the initiating minister regarding international treaties on the issue of water.

The flooding ERA-Net (CRUE) launches first phase of research database

2007-05-02T00:00:00Z

The CRUE ERA-Net today launched a powerful new information resource (CRUISE) that gives users instant access to the results of flooding research programmes worth more than €430 million. Until now there has been no one-stop-shop for European countries to exchange relevant research experience on flood risk management.

CRUISE (CRUe Information System Europe) provides a web-based starting point for users interested in finding out more about European flood-related research, both at the research programme level and ultimately the individual project level. CRUISE is intended to be beneficial to a broad range of users, including policy-makers, practitioners, research funders, and the research community.

CRUISE allows the user to search for flood-related information on three different levels across Europe - research programmes, funding bodies and research units. The database provides users with the opportunity to summarise key information on selected research programmes, for example programme budget, research needs, or funding body chaacteristics. It provides extensive contacts details and links to relevant organisations’ websites.

Currently, the database comprises detailed information about more than 30 research programmes (worth more than €430 million), 60 funding bodies and about 300 organisations involved with flood risk management research.

Public consultation on an “Agenda for a sustainable and competitive European tourism”

2007-05-02T00:00:00Z

The European Commission has launched a public consultation for the preparation of an “Agenda for a sustainable and competitive European tourism”. Its purpose is to collect reactions and gather the views of all relevant stakeholders and the general public on possible new initiatives at EU level which could usefully complement Member States’ initiatives. This consultation exercise will feed the proposal on an “Agenda for a sustainable and competitive European tourism” foreseen to be adopted in September 2007.

If you would like to participate in the consultation please click here.

The consultation is open until 14th June 2007.

If you have any specific questions on the consultation please contact: mailto:ENTR-sust-tourism@ec.europa.eu

Computer-based decision support system for river basin management

2007-05-02T00:00:00Z

The LIFE-Environment "RiverLife" project “A cost-effective decision support system for management of boreal river basins” (LIFE98 ENV/FIN/573) was developed to maintain or improve the clean status of Finnish rivers and to promote ecologically sustainable land-use, develop assessments of river status, and improve environmental awareness of the ecological impacts of land-derived loading on river ecosystems.

Known as “RiverLife”, the project recognised that the load of suspended solids, nutrients, metals and acidifying substances from land-uses including agriculture, forestry and peat production impact on all levels of a river's ecosystem and that to counter these negative effects, the river basin needs to be seen holistically and full use made of existing water pollution control measures.

The project drafted guidelines for general river basin management that would be useful to any authority planning land use or any body – including businesses – engaged in activities based on the good value of rivers as places of recreation or nature, particularly at local level. The project was fully in line with the EU objectives of integrated management of drainage basins and sustainable land use.

Wide dissemination of the project results was carried out through articles, seminars and conferences, as well as the project website, project publications and a video. The experience and results of the project, including the DSS tools have been used extensively by subsequent projects in related fields, including under the Fifth Framework Programme (FP5). Certain aspects of RiverLIFE were also included in another very successful LIFE-Environment project led by the same beneficiary, Bothnian Bay LIFE (LIFE00 ENV/FIN/646)

2007-05-03T00:00:00Z

Call for Contributions to the World Conservation Congress open

2007-05-03T00:00:00Z

The World Conservation Congress has announced the call for contributions. It is the premier environmental event of 2008, that will take place in Barcelona, Spain from 5-14 October 2008. The first half of the Congress will be the World Conservation Forum, from 6-9 October. This will be the place to debate pressing environmental issues and solutions for sustainable development. The Forum seeks to reach agreements, share solutions and create new partnerships for a diverse and sustainable world.

Building on IUCN’s long history of bringing together diverse stakeholders and providing scientific leadership, the Forum will bring different sectors together from all over the world to share knowledge and experiences, develop innovative and inspiring solutions and make commitments to help us to move forward together on the path to sustainability.

The deadline for proposals submission is: 1st June 2007.

Egypt: First earth observation satellite (Egyptsat-1) launched

2007-05-03T00:00:00Z

An Egyptian satellite, Egyptsat-1, was successfully launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan last 17th April, the official news agency MENA reported. Egyptsat-1 will be devoted to scientific research and photography to support development in the fields of construction, cultivation and fighting desertification, said MENA.

The Egyptian satellite is one of the 14 foreign satellites carried in one rocket launched by the Russian Federal Space Agency in the day, which also included a satellite from Saudi Arabia. Egyptsat-1, Egypt's first satellite for scientific research, carries two remote sensing devices -- an infrared one and a multi- spectrum one, according to MENA. Before Egyptsat-1, Egypt has launched a number of satellites, including Nilesat 101 and Nilesat 102, for nonscientific purposes. These satellites are now delivering more than 150 digital TV channels as well as radio and multimedia services to North Africa and the Middle East, from Morocco to the Gulf region.

Submit your recent research results to HESS: Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Journal

2007-05-03T00:00:00Z

Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS) is an online and open access international journal published by the European Geosciences Union (EGU) for the dissemination of original research in hydrology. HESS complies with the EGU concept of "Public Peer Review" and "Interactive Public Discussions". After having passed a rapid access peer review process manuscripts submitted to HESS will be published first of all in the "Discussions" part of the website of the journal, being then subject to interactive public discussions initiated by alerting the scientific community. The results of the public peer-review and the interactive public discussions are then used for the final evaluation of the manuscript by the Editor and, eventually, for its publication on the website of the actual journal.

The page charges of HESS are reduced 35% for the period 1 May 2007 - 31 December 2007. Please consider this opportunity to submit your recent research results to HESS.

2007-05-03T00:00:00Z

The web portal of the Ministry of Regional Municipalities, Environment and Water Resources in Oman won the prize of the best web portal in the Arab World

2007-05-04T00:00:00Z

The web portal of the Ministry of Regional Municipalities, Environment and Water Resources in Oman: www.mrmewr.gov.om won the prize of the best web portal in the Arab World during a ceremony celebrated recently in Dubai, with the presence of several governmental, public and private sector representatives from the whole Arabic countries.

The programme and the presentations of the UN/Morocco/ESA International Workshop on the Use of Space Technology for Sustainable Development, 25 - 27 April 2007

2007-05-08T00:00:00Z

The importance of the workshop was its effort to assess and identify further actions that would contribute to the use of space technology to support sustainable development. The participants defined ways and means to implement the projects in the identified fields. Note that the programme and the presentations made during the workshop are available on the UNOOSA website.

The objectives of this Workshop were: (a) to increase the awareness among decision makers, and users on the potential benefits of applying space technology to environmental monitoring and management; (b) to expand the information and data exchange networking on the use of Earth Observation data; and (c) to develop regional/national pilot projects that use space technology to support the sustainable development for Africa.

The main topics discussed at the workshop were the use of space technology for:
• Improving integrated management and sustainable development of water resources;
• Improving the management and protection of coastal and marine ecosystems;
• Supporting sustainable agricultural land-use and combating desertification and drought;
• Supporting sustainable forest management;
• Supporting sustainable development for Africa

Death of François Casal

2007-05-22T00:00:00Z

François Casal is deceased last week of an internal bleeding, less than one week after the death of his wife taken by a long disease. The burial will take place Wednesday May 23, 2007 in Loiret. While he was deputy Director of Water within the French Ministry for Ecology and Sustainable Development, François CASAL was one of the pillars of EMWIS development since its launching and during its first phase. He will remain in our memory as strong support of the cooperation in Mediterranean for the water sector.

Europe’s Space Policy becomes a reality today

2007-05-22T00:00:00Z

ESA PR 21-2007. A stronger Europe in space, better equipped and better coordinated to face the future needs of its citizens. A wider strategic scope to address new challenges, including the areas of security and defence space programmes, and space as an added dimension to the EU’s external relations: all this in a novel policy designed to fit European interests and values.

Establishing a network of experts in the area of environmental health

2007-05-23T00:00:00Z

The WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO) is in the processes of establishing a regional network for Experts in various aspects of emergency response. The Center of Environmental Health Activities (CEHA) is the focal agency in the region for environmental health in emergencies. The center is now in the process of establishing a network of experts in the area of environmental health. The members of the network will be entitled to intensive trainings on environmental health issues in emergencies as well as a series of modular training courses on various aspects of Environmental Health. The network members after going through the basic needed trainings will be included in the pool of emergency experts in the region. In case a need arouse to deploy staff to respond to emergencies on national and regional level, this pool of emergency experts will be used to identify suitable candidates for various vacancies.