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

Palestine: EMWIS national water website updated

2008-09-01T00:00:00Z

Palestine is a member of EMWIS since 1999 being a member of its steering committee until 2004 (water director meeting in Italy). Palestine has an EMWIS website, run by its National Focal Point (NFP), the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) since 2001, and it is hosted in EMWIS server. It gathers information on: institutional framework, water legislation and regulations, education and training programmes and research & development, data administration (GIS, projects, etc). The NFP is coordinating its activities with all national water stakeholders.The website was updated recently with a new design and features.

Dirty waters: corruption infects global water services

2008-09-01T00:00:00Z

From Manila to Milan, fraud, bribery and organized profiteering are rampant in the water sector says a new report by Transparency International (TI), a global non-profit aimed at exposing and preventing corruption.

The organization's annual corruption report, presented last week in Stockholm, reveals the financial and human costs of water corruption.

Hardest hit are the world's poorest, the report finds. In impoverished neighborhoods from Kenya to Honduras, residents pay unscrupulous water vendors and entrepreneurs ten to a hundred times the normal rate for access to water where municipal supplies fail. This price gouging makes the actual cost of water more expensive for the poorest in Nairobi than for the richest in London.

"Let me make a bold statement: corruption kills," said Håkan Tropp, contributor to of the study and chair of the Water Integrity Network (WIN), in a recent United Nations press conference. "To some of you it may sound very dramatic, but that is in fact the reality for millions of people around the world."

From the slums of Jakarta to the suburbs of Atlanta, the global report highlights the pervasive nature of water corruption - jeopardizing food supplies, hydroelectric facilities and sanitation services worldwide read more...

Call for Submissions: The World Bank's Film Contest on Climate Change

2008-09-01T00:00:00Z

The World Bank's Social Development Department would like to announce the launch of a world-wide documentary competition, "Vulnerability Exposed: Social Dimensions of Climate Change". Submissions of "2-5 minute documentaries which creatively showcase the social implications of climate change in the areas of conflict, migration, urban space, rural institutions, drylands, social policy, indigenous peoples, gender, governance, forests and/or human rights"; are welcome.

WIN A TRIP TO WASHINGTON, D.C.
There are two award categories: 1) Social Dimensions of Climate Change Award (general category) and 2) Young Voices of Climate Change Award (youth category). The general category is open to everyone; the youth category is open to entries submitted by filmmakers who are under 24 years old. Award winners will be chosen through a combination of public voting and a judging panel.

The award winners will be invited to Washington, DC for a screening of their film and to attend a series of networking and learning events organized by the Social Development Department, World Bank. The tentative schedule of events to be organized for the award winners includes: awards ceremony, film showcase event, cocktail reception, career development workshop, and seminar series on the Social Dimensions of Climate Change.

SUBMIT YOUR FILM TODAY!
Post your film on YouTube and fill out the online Registration Form at http://www.worldbank.org/sdccfilmcontest Can't post your film on YouTube? Send a compressed .wmv or quicktime file to socialdevelopment@worldbank.org. Slow Internet connection? Mail a DVD of your film to the Social Development Department:

ATTN: Megumi Makisaka
Social Development Department
The World Bank
MSN: MC5-800
1818 H Street NW
Washington DC 20011
USA

GOT QUESTIONS?
Send an email to: socialdevelopment@worldbank.org

MORE INFORMATION
Visit www.worldbank.org/sdccfilmcontest

PRESS RELEASE (ENGLISH, SPANISH, FRENCH)
English - http://go.worldbank.org/MESUTV3XP0
Spanish - http://go.worldbank.org/HTZBOH4KN0
French - http://go.worldbank.org/7NDKYQ3WJ0

Vacancy announcement - IWRM, Scenario based Water Resources Planning and Water Governance experts

2008-09-01T00:00:00Z

Mekong River Commission Secretariat under the framework of BDP programme has announced 3 positions consultancy:

1 Training Expert - IWRM (2 working months)
2 Training Expert - Scenario-based Water Resources Planning (1 working month)
3 Training Expert - Water Governance (1 working month)

All individual, team applicants and organizationsin a form of joint partnership or sub-contracter are welcome.

The annoucement will be opened until the the positions are filled. However, you are encouraged to submit your application as soon as you could.

Desalination and extraction of salt from sea water based on solar energy

2008-09-01T00:00:00Z

The ongoing water crisis and the attempts to preserve the uniqueness of the Dead Sea prompted the current proposal for desalination and extraction of salt from sea water based on use of solar energy. A plant using the proposed technology has no harmful impact on either environment or the interests of neighboring countries. In addition, it allows creation of a hydroelectric power plant with the capacity proportional to the surface of the salt gradient solar pond.

The proposal deals with an industrial reconstruction of the Dead Sea area, as opposed to "preservation of its uniqueness." All the proposals considered today aim at preserving the level of the Dead Sea with the help of a channel with a water capacity sufficient to compensate for the river water used for agricultural needs. All these projects are seriously flawed and cannot be implemented today for the following reasons:

The exorbitant cost of such a project (about $5B) and planned construction time (10 years); under present circumstances the debates involved will delay the implementation of such a project by another 40 years.

These projects don't restore the native environment of the Dead Sea because they involve dumping about 50M tons of minerals foreign by composition into the sea yearly. The mineral and thermal structure of the Dead Sea is heterogeneous and therefore non-resistant to changes in the mineral composition, which could result in unpredictable consequences (beneficial or perilous). There is no definitive scientific prognosis to that effect. Once such a project is implemented, its consequences are irreversible!

The essence of the current proposal is a stage-based, modular development of the Dead Sea area based on its topography and waters of the external sea (as opposed to the waters of the Dead Sea proper). The technology is based on the Israeli patent #67054. Financial risks (the cost of a pilot installation) amount to $250,000.

Thermodynamic calculation shows that a salt gradient solar pond with a surface of 0.3 sq. km can produce 1M m³ of desalinated water yearly.

Its technical specifications are:

Feed water from Mediterranean: 2.4M m³/year
Water consumption:
Evaporation: 1.08M m³/year
Condensation in the Flash Evaporator: 1.08M m³/year
Reject brine: 240M m³/year at the 36% concentration
Total power output: 2 GW-h/year, half of it marketable
Connection between terminals: standard 16'' - 18'' pipe.

After a successful exploitation of the pilot installation, the total surface of the salt gradient solar pond can be increased to 80 sq. km. This will enable processing 0.58 km3/year of external sea water to produce 244 GW-h/year of electric power and 244M m3/year of desalinated water (24% of total agricultural consumption) without any harmful environmental impact. In addition, it will produce 0.059 km3/year of 36% mineral brine (including 15M tons table salt, world consumption being 225M tons).

First Inter-ministerial Conference on Health and Environment in Africa - Final Summary

2008-09-01T00:00:00Z

The first Inter-ministerial Conference on Health and Environment (AMHE) in Africa convened on 26-29 August 2008 at the Cité de la Démocratie in Libreville, Gabon. The aim of the Conference was to secure political commitment for catalyzing the policy, institutional, and investment changes needed to reduce environmental threats to health in order to realize sustainable development. The conference was attended by approximately 300 participants, including 22 ministers of environment and 26 ministers of health. The session comprised a two-and-a-half day meeting of experts, the technical segment, and a day-and-a-half ministerial segment, which was opened by Gabon’s Vice-President Didjob Divungi Di Ndinge. The Conference was co-organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Environment Programme (UNEP), in partnership with the Government of Gabon.

The African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) was established in Cairo, Egypt in The African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) was established in Cairo, Egypt in

Call for papers: 7th IAA Symposium on Small Satellites for Earth Observation

2008-09-01T00:00:00Z

This symposium will be held in Berlin (Germany) in 4-5 May 2009. It is organised by the International Academy of Astronautics, and Supported and hosted by the DLR.

The great number of scientists, engineers, and manag-ers who participated in the hitherto existing symposia reflects the high interest in the use of small satellites for dedicated missions applied to earth observation, from scientific earth observation missions to technol-ogy demonstration missions.

These types of missions can be conducted relatively quickly and inexpensively and provide increased op-portunity for access to space.

The spacecraft bus and instruments can be based ei-ther on optimized off-the-shelf systems, with little or no requirements for new technology, or on new high-technology systems. Thus a new class of advanced small satellites, including autonomously operating "intelligent" satellites may be created, opening new fields of application for scientific purposes as well as operational, public and commercial services.

The symposium will provide a forum for scientists, engineers and managers to exchange information about planned and on-going programs and missions, and present new ideas, covering small satellite mis-sion objectives as well as technology and management aspects for dedicated earth observation satellites. Ar-eas of interest include, but are not limited to:

Small Satellite Mission Programs

International and national programs
University programs
Planned and on-going programs

Objectives for Small Satellite Missions

Scientific earth observation missions
Operational systems for disaster prevention and rescue
Technology demonstration missions
Commercial service and applications

Mature (off the Shelf) Systems

Sensors and instrumentation
Spacecraft concepts and sub-systems
Ground stations and communication
Mission operation and facilities
Launch systems

Advanced Technology Approaches

Sensors and instrumentation
Microelectronics and micromechanics
Optics and filters
Communication and ground stations

Low-Cost Management Aspects

Project management
Quality assurance
International co-operation
Data base functions and data distribution

Results of Small Satellite Missions

User Requirements and Expectations

Student Prize Paper Competition

The symposium will consist of

Lectures by invited speakers
Contributed papers selected from abstracts received in response to the call for papers
Poster sessions
Panel discussions

You are invited to contribute a paper for presentation at the symposium. The one-page, single-spaced abstract of no less than 300 and no more than 500 words must be received by 31 October, 2008.

Journal of Flood Risk Management: Second Issue now online - Free access for 2008!

2008-09-02T00:00:00Z

The second issue of the Journal of Flood Risk Management is now available online. Articles published in the journal will be freely available to download throughout 2008 and can be accessed via the journal website www.floodriskmanagement.org.

Hereafter the table of contents.

Vol. 1 Issue 2 2008 (Online ISSN: 1753-318X, Print ISSN: 1753-318X)
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118902539/home

Journal of Flood Risk Management: Editorial
Paul Samuels

The impact of upland land management on flooding: insights from a multiscale experimental and modelling programme
B.M. Jackson, H.S. Wheater, N.R. Mcintyre, J. Chell, O.J. Francis, Z. Frogbrook, M. Marshall, B. Reynolds, I. Solloway

Challenges in urban flood management: travelling across spatial and temporal scales
C. Zevenbergen, W. Veerbeek, B. Gersonius, S. van Herk

Using satellite-based rainfall estimates for streamflow modelling: Bagmati Basin
M.S. Shrestha, G.A. Artan, S.R. Bajracharya, R.R. Sharma

After the flood: the health and social consequences of the 2005 Carlisle flood event
I. Convery, C. Bailey

An investigation of the link between beach morphology and wave climate at Duck, NC, USA
J.M. Horrillo-Caraballo, D.E. Reeve

Central European floods 2002: lessons learned in Saxony
M. Socher, G. Böhme-Korn

2008-09-02T00:00:00Z

Post-doc Researcher, Aragon I+D Fundation, Zaragoza, Spain

2008-09-05T00:00:00Z

The Aragon I+D Fundation offers a permanent research position for a Post-Doc Researcher with previous experience in hydraulics and water resources, namely expertise in one or more of the following topics:
1. Numerical modelling (good knowledge of programming language).
2. Hydraulics.
3. Hydrology.
4. Advanced experimental techniques in fluid dynamics.
A postdoctoral experience, of more than 6 years with a minimum stay of two years in a prestigious research center will be required. The participation in research projects and publications in international journals will be basic requirements.
This Post Doc researcher will be incorporated to a Fluid Mechanics research group within the University of Zaragoza (Spain) and in charge of tasks foreseen in ongoing projects. However, this Post-Doc Researcher is also expected to have the skills to apply for new research projects, both national and international, coordinated by him/herself, contributing to strengthen a favorable research environment. It is expected from the new Post-Doc researcher the availability to supervise or co-supervise the work of younger researchers and PhD students in his/her area of expertise.
Although the regular involvement in academic activities is not foreseen, there will be invitations for lecturing on topics related to his/her expertise in the scope of intensive advanced courses (MSc and PhD levels). This specialized collaboration will allow the Post-Doc Researcher to acquire a useful and positive experience, being considered most welcome.
Good listening comprehension, oral communication, and writing skills in English are essential.
Candidates should send by E-mail to Ms. Pilar Garcia the following documents (pdf):
- CV
- Three selected publications illustrative of the candidate's previous work in the area
- Motivation letter, including the candidate's personal view regarding his/her skills to fulfill the position
For more information, visit the website.
Application deadline: September 26, 2008
(Source: rivers-list@iahr.org)

Final MBR-Network Workshop: Call for Posters

2008-09-05T00:00:00Z

The two European research projects Amedeus and Eurombra will present their salient outcomes in a workshop on 31 March and 1 April 2009 in Berlin, Germany.

The 2-day event, supported by the International Water Association, will be hosted by the international trade fair and exhibition on water and wastewater treatment Wasser Berlin 2009.
A call for posters is open for any company or institution involved in the field of membrane bioreactor technology. A prize of ?1000 will be awarded by an international jury to the best student poster. Deadline for 2-page abstract submission is 30 September 2008.

2008-09-08T00:00:00Z

Middle East climate predictions 'less certain'

2008-09-08T00:00:00Z

Climate change induced water shortages in the Middle East are not as certain as previously thought, according to a study, emphasising the need for more regionally specific models.

Previous studies have indicated that climate change will cause major water shortages in the Middle East (see UN: climate danger for Middle East, North Africa).

Jason Evans, a research fellow at the Climate Change Research Centre at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, looked at climate predictions for the region based on both global and Middle East specific models.

The study based on global models, published in Climate Change last month (29 July), predicted a loss of about 170,000 square kilometres of viable rain-fed agricultural land, a longer dry season and changes in the timing of maximum rainfall.

However, a second study using a regional model indicated an annual rainfall increase of over 50 per cent around the Euphrates-Tigris watershed, which feeds the two largest rivers in the Middle East. The study will be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Hydrometeorology.

"There are regional scale phenomena not captured by the global climate models that can substantially change the projected climate change for particular regions," Evans told SciDev.Net. "So while the global models provide good estimates of the change at large scales, they can be quite wrong in particular locations."

"To capture these particular phenomena the resolutions need to increase by about ten times," Evans says.

The regional model picked up the effect of mountain ranges on low-level winds. These winds can transport large amounts of water vapour over hundreds of kilometres. When the winds meet the mountain ranges, they do not simply move over them but instead turn and travel parallel to them, often with increased speed, bringing rain to the headwaters of the Euphrates and Tigris river systems.

Evans warns that further research is needed, since the study is based on only one regional model, which must be repeated to confirm the effect.

But the differences between these studies highlight the need to consider both modelling scales for future climate planning, he says.

"Under the global model scenario you would have to plan for dealing with droughts, while under the regional model scenario you need to plan for more heavy rainfall events, potential flooding, and landslides," says Evans.

Nasredin Hag Elamin, a policy officer at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization Regional Office in Cairo, Egypt, stressed the need for more regional data for policy planning.

"Water availability predictions resulting from accurate, scientific and confirmed studies using regional or even national models that give a close up picture on specific countries are more convenient for use in policy planning by agriculture policymakers than global models that give a general worldwide view."

Greater efforts needed to provide safe water for more than 1 billion people - UN

2008-09-08T00:00:00Z

More than one billion people still lack access to safe drinking water, Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said today, calling for greater efforts to achieve the water and sanitation targets set by world leaders in 2000.

As part of the set of anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), countries pledged to halve the number of people without access to safe drinking water by 2015.

“There has been progress towards achieving the water and sanitation MDGs, but not enough,” Mr. Ban said in a speech at an exposition in the Spanish city of Zaragoza on “Water and Sustainable Development.”

Expo Zaragoza 2008, which runs from 14 June to 14 September, is expected to draw 6.5 million visitors from around the globe and will feature presentations by over 2,000 international experts on water-themed exhibits, lectures, performances and concerts.

Among those presenting at the Expo is UN-WATER – consisting of some 25 UN bodies and a dozen international partners – which monitors global progress on supplying safe drinking water and sanitation.

Mr. Ban noted that since 1990, roughly 1.2 billion people have gained access to an improved source of drinking water. However, with rapid population growth and persistent poverty in parts of the developing world, the number of people without access has declined by only around 10 per cent.

“There are still more than one billion people lacking access to safe drinking water, and two-and-a-half billion lacking access to basic sanitation facilities,” he stated.

“The international community, national governments and the private and non-profit sectors still have much work to do between now and 2015,” the Secretary-General added.

Among the challenges in this area is the fact that many public water utilities in the developing world are not financially sustainable. In addition, the pace of institutional and policy reform in the water sector is slow, and private sector investment in the water sector is not forthcoming.

Also making the provision of safe water difficult is climate change, noted Mr. Ban. “As the earth warms, people who rely on snowfall and glaciers in high mountain ranges to replenish their water supplies have serious cause for concern.”

The Secretary-General added that the UN is trying to do everything in its power to help countries meet this threat with concerted action, noting that its focus now is on obtaining an international agreement under the auspices of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

In a related development, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said today there is mounting evidence that climate change is triggering a shrinking and thinning of many glaciers worldwide which may eventually put at risk water supplies for hundreds of millions of people.

A new report by UNEP and the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) confirms that the average annual melting rate of glaciers appears to have doubled after the turn of the millennium.

At the same time, experts are warning that data gaps exist in some vulnerable parts of the globe, undermining the ability to provide precise early warning for countries and populations at risk.

While excellent data stretching back through much of the 20th century exist for large parts of the world, including Europe and North America, the same cannot be said for some regions of the Tropics, Central Asia and the Polar regions, according to the two bodies, which have called for urgently stepping up monitoring of glaciers and ice caps in these areas.

Later today in Madrid, Mr. Ban addressed a civil society gathering on efforts to achieve the MDGs, noting that “as we pass the mid-point in our efforts to attain the Goals, concerted action on several fronts has never been more important.”

While the challenges the world faces, such as rampant poverty and hunger, are daunting, they are also surmountable, he stated. “We have the technologies, the experience and the resources to solve these problems. If we have the will to do so, we can be the generation that ends global poverty as we know it.”

The Secretary-General noted that he and the President of the General Assembly, Srgjan Kerim, will be convening a high-level event later this month in New York on the MDGs.

Water and Sanitation Coordinator, ACF-Spain, Palestine

2008-09-09T00:00:00Z

Duty station: Occupied Palestinian Terrorities
Salary: 17.700 Euros gross per annum + extra according to experience

Responsibilities include:

Constantly assess the WS situation in PT
Develop and update the WS strategy in coordination with the coordination team
Network with all the main players in the WS sector including active donors and multilateral agencies present in PT

Requirements include:

Higher education in engineering
Postgraduate studies in international Cooperation /Development
Knowledge and experience in: WS project management or technical coordination (minimum 2 years), Project Cycle Management and Needs/Vulnerability Assessments
English: Essential, Arabic/Spanish/Hebrew: A plus

Application deadline: 30 September 2008

For more information and application details go to the ACF-Spain web site.