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

Space-borne sensors help Africa tackle water shortage problems

2007-08-03T00:00:00Z

Zambian water authorities are integrating information based on satellite imagery to alleviate water shortages. With inadequate information causing many water-related problems, an ESA project has generated a variety of environmental maps to provide local policy makers with the necessary tools for effective water resource management.

As part of the IWAREMA (Integrated Water Resource management for Zambia) project, funded through ESA’s Data User Element, data from ESA’s multispectral MERIS sensor aboard Envisat was used to create maps depicting existing water resources, suitable dam locations and land cover. The project is carried out by the Belgium Company GIM (Geographic Information Management) in partnership with the University of Zambia and the Zambian water authorities.

IWAREMA was one of the projects initiated under ESA’s TIGER initiative, launched in 2002 to assist African countries to overcome water-related problems and to bridge Africa's water information gap using satellite data. To date, more than 100 African water basin authorities, universities and other organisations have become involved in TIGER projects across the continent.

LIFE+ draft application guidelines just published

2007-08-03T00:00:00Z

The European Commission has just published draft application guidelines for the 2007 call for proposals under the LIFE+ programme. These draft guidelines have been published in order to help project applicants begin work on their project proposals, ahead of the submission deadline of the first LIFE+ call for proposals (30/11/2007). The final application guidelines will be published together with the formal call of proposals in the second half of September.

LIFE+, the new Financial Instrument for the Environment, has entered into force with the publication of the Regulation in the Official Journal L149 of 9 June 2007.

With a budget of €2.143 billion, LIFE+ is a limited but focused funding instrument providing specific support for the development and implementation of Community environmental policy and legislation, in particular the objectives of the 6th EAP (Decision 1600/2002/EC) and resulting thematic strategies. It comprises three components:

LIFE+ Nature & Biodiversity
LIFE+ Environment Policy & Governance
LIFE+ Information & Communication

At least 78% of LIFE+ will be for the co-financing of project action grants, of which at least 50% will be for nature and biodiversity projects. The European Commission will use the remaining sum for operational expenses.

Only expenditure in EU27 countries is eligible at present, although the future participation of certain third countries is possible if supplementary appropriations are received (see Article 8 of the LIFE+ Regulation).

The Commission will organise the annual call for proposals and, with the help of external experts, will select, revise and monitor the projects and be responsible for making the appropriate payments. Member States will forward the project proposals to the Commission, may set national priorities and objectives (from 2008 onwards) and may prepare comments on proposals, in particular in relation to national annual priorities.

EIA: Vez Svoghe mini hydro project, Bulgaria

2007-08-03T00:00:00Z

The proposed project is the construction of nine small hydro power plants (combined installed capacity of 25.7 MW) along a 33 km stretch of the middle section of the river Iskar. The plants will be built, owned and operated by Vez Svoghe Ltd – a special purpose company owned by Petrolvilla Bulgaria (90%) and the municipality of Svoghe (10%). Petrolvilla Bulgaria is controlled by the Petrolvilla & Bortolotti S.p.A. group, which is primarily engaged in the provision of energy and energy-related products and services in northern Italy.

UK: DFID opened an E-Forum on water policy

2007-08-03T00:00:00Z

As part of the consultation process on the update of its water and sanitation policy, the UK Department of International Development (DFID) opened a public e-forum during the period: 16 July until 6 August 2007. In the e-forum, DFID asks for opinions on specific questions related to its current and future work priorities, working with multilaterals, its priorities at country and at international level, and fragile states. The same questions were posed in a face-to-face meeting on 17 July 2007 between DFID and UK sector organisations. The two key messages which emerged from this meeting were that DFID should do more
to involve civil society in water debates and that there was a huge lack of capacity in the water sector.

Another input in the policy update process was an inquiry by a parliamentary select committee into water and sanitation. In DFID’s response to the committee’s report, it agreed with the majority of
the recommendations, but voiced disappointed at the lack of recognition for its work on (school) sanitation and its work with multilaterals. DFID also had doubts about the replicability of the community-based Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) approach, saying that government involvement with communities
was a requirement for sustainability. DFID also dismissed the committee’s criticism of the Global Water Partnership (GWP).

A noticeable omission in the consultation process so far, when compared for example to the review of Finnish water policy, is the involvement of stakeholders from developing countries. DFID plans to present its new water policy by the end of 2007.

Aid systems thwarts MDG progress, says WaterAid

2007-08-03T00:00:00Z

To mark the midpoint in the agreed timescale for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), WaterAid has launched a report asking donors to balance their investments more evenly across the essential services: health, education, water and sanitation. WaterAid says that progress towards meeting the MDGs is being held back because donors prefer to support 'global causes' rather than the development priorities of recipient countries. “Access to clean water is usually the first priority for the
poor, but since 1990, aid spending on water has remained stagnant whilst spending on health and education has doubled”, WaterAid adds.

Meeting the MDG target will require extraordinary efforts, says UN report

2007-08-03T00:00:00Z

With half the developing world without basic sanitation, meeting the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target will require extraordinary efforts, according to a new UN report. At the current rate, the target of halving the proportion of people without basic sanitation by 2015, will be missed by 600 million. The region demanding most attention is sub-Saharan Africa, where the absolute number of people without access to sanitation actually increased – from 335 million in 1990 to 440 million people by the end of 2004.

Open defecation, poor hygiene and lack of safe drinking water contribute to about 88 per cent of the annual deaths due to diarrhoeal diseases – more than 1.5 million – in children under age five. Poor nutrition in combination with infestation of intestinal worms caused by open defecation affects hundreds of millions of predominantly school-aged children, resulting in reduced physical growth, weakened physical fitness, impaired cognitive functions, and eventually in a decline in academic performance and school attendance. Intestinal worms can also lead to anaemia, which, for girls, increases the risks later of complications in childbirth.

UNESCO Names Olcay Ünver coordinator of WWAP

2007-08-03T00:00:00Z

Olcay Ünver, professor of water resources at Kent State University, has taken over as the new coordinator of UNESCO’s World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP).

Mr. Ünver, who is a native of Turkey, brings to WWAP a tremendous amount of global experience. While at Kent, he was one of the founding members of the Euphrates-Tigris Initiative for Cooperation (ETIC).

For 13 years he was president of the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) Regional Development Administration, which aims to develop water resources through an integrated, multi-sectoral approach.

Amongst various posts, Mr. Ünver was on the Board of the World Water Council from 1995-2003, acting as Vice-President for Europe. He holds a PhD in Civil Engineering from The University of Texas and holds Master's and Bachelor's degrees from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara.

WWAP is a UN programme that seeks to develop tools and skills to achieve a better understanding of management practices and policies that will improve the supply and quality of global freshwater resources.

Communication on water scarcity and droughts

2007-08-03T00:00:00Z

The Communication on water scarcity and droughts adopted on 18 July 2007 and all related documents are now available online.

Take note that this webpage also presents a recent report on the estimation of the EU water saving potential (see the end of the webpage, section 'recent study'). The outcomes of this report indicate that this potential is close to 40%.

Desalination could aggravate global warming

2007-08-03T00:00:00Z

In Geneva, Switzerland, the World Wildlife Fund released a report warning that the growing popularity of seawater desalination plants had the potential to aggravate global warming. Desalination is a popular solution to water shortages in Spain, Australia, and other arid countries and is becoming more common in the United Kingdom, the United States, China, and India; it supplies 60% of the potable water in the Persian (Arabian) Gulf. Unfortunately, the desalination process emits climate-damaging greenhouse gases and facilities dump briny residues back into the sea, harming nearby marine organisms, said Director Jamie Pittock of the WWF's World Freshwater Program.

River Information Services in Serbia, Programme Manager

2007-08-03T00:00:00Z

The Ministry of Capital Investments of the Republic of Serbia is looking for a programme manager for the River Information Services Programme. The Goal of this Programme is to improve the safety and efficiency of inland waterway navigation on the Danube.

The third issue of th e AquaStress Newsletter

2007-08-06T00:00:00Z

This number is focusing on the EU initiatives to face climate change and on the AquaStress General Assembly (Nafplion, Greece, 12-16 February, 2007).

In the "Project News in brief" columns several activities carried out in the project are described.

2007-08-07T00:00:00Z

First prototype of the Integrated Solution Support System (i3S) of the AquaStress project

2007-08-07T00:00:00Z

The i3S (say i-tripple-S) is a web-based application intended to facilitate the use of available AquaStress data, information and software tools. User oriented, the i3S should help understand water stress from an integrated multi-sectoral perspective and will allow the combination of a wide variety of analysis and mitigation options to deliver optimal and adaptable solutions to water stress.

The prototype is currently in its final phase of development. The first version is available for public testing on http://test.wisl.nl/aquastress and later on through the project's web site http://www.aquastress.net/. Contributions and suggestions about its functionality and content are appreciated.

Progress review of solar desalination

2007-08-07T00:00:00Z

The MEDESOL project has released its public deliverable "Critical assessment of the state-of-the-art and bibliographic review on membrane distillation technology, solar collector technology and low-fouling heat transfer modified surfaces". The document's purpose is to address the project's relevant aspects of conventional desalination technologies, costs of reverse osmosis plants connected to the grid, renewable energy powered desalination, solar resources and databases available for EU and Mexico, solar collector technology, membrane distillation technology, thermal storage systems for storing solar heat and state-of-the art of low-fouling heat transfer surfaces.

EU Report Series available from IWA Publishing

2007-08-07T00:00:00Z

This EU Reports series resulted from a special agreement between the International Water Association and the European Commission and its Directorate-General for Research, aiming to articulate to researchers, policy makers and water practitioners scientific knowledge and innovative technologies for the sustainable management of natural resources, generated by multidisciplinary research projects supported in successive European Union's environmental research programmes.

This series also intends to disseminate results for dedicated policy-oriented research undertaken in the context of Community Research Framework Programmes, especially research to support the implementation of the Water Framework Directive, the Drinking Water and Urban Waste Water Directives, as well as research to support the implementation of EU Water Initiative, a European commitment towards the Millennium Development Goals.

List of available publications - EU Report Series:

Integrated Evaluation for Sustainable River Basin Governance - ADVISOR

Editors: N. Videira, G. Kallis, P. Antunes and R. Santos

http://www.iwapublishing.com/template.cfm?name=isbn1843391481

Urban Water Resources Toolbox - AISUWRS

Editors: L. Wolf, B. Morris and S. Burn
http://www.iwapublishing.com/template.cfm?name=isbn1843391384

Integrated Deliberative Decision Processes for Water Resources Planning and Evaluation - ADVISOR

Editors: G. Kallis, N. Videira, P. Antunes and R. Santos
http://www.iwapublishing.com/template.cfm?name=isbn1843391678

Water and Liberalisation - European Water Scenarios - EUROMARKET

Editors: M. Finger, J. Allouche, P. Luís-Manso

http://www.iwapublishing.com/template.cfm?name=isbn1843391139

Comparative Evaluation of Sludge Reduction Routes - W.I.R.E.S.