EWA Newsletter
29 May 2009 – Issue n°8
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Dear readers,
 
With the receipt of this monthly letter you will not only be well informed about the different activities and initiatives of the EWA, but also of the new events organised by our association. We will also be providing you with interesting inside news directly from the EU capital Brussels , from the European Commission and the European institutions. The EWA newsletter also gives a good insight into the EWA member associations, into their activities and aims.
We hope that you will agree that the EWA newsletter provides expertise information and therefore proves to be of interesting reading, so that you might want to recommend it further to other water professionals and experts.
The EWA newsletter service is provided monthly and is free of charge.
 
EWA’s Agenda
 
 
EVENTS
 
28-29 May 2009
the STRIVER Final Conference 'Integrated water resource management in theory and practice' ( more )
4 June 2009
WaterNI ( more )
Belfast, Ireland

10 June 2009
 Climate Change and the Water Sector ( more)
London, UK
9-11 June 2009
European Future Energy Forum 09 ( more )
Bilbao, Spain
6-11 June 2009
Mechanisms of Quaternary Climate Change: Stability of Warm Phases in the Past and in the Future ( more )
Obergurgl, Austria
 
10 – 12 June 2009
ASTEE 88e Congrès “Les services public locaux de l’environnement et l’Europe: Enjeux et opportunités
Nice, France

17 June 2009
Surface Water Management: Recent thinking & The Flood & Water Management Bill Proposals
London
17-19 June 2009
 FP6 TECHNEAU Conference in Maastricht on Safe Drinking Water from Source to Tap ( more )
23-25 June 2009
Energy and Sustainability 2009 ( more )
Bologna, Italy
3-5 July 2009
2nd international conference on water economics statistics & finance
Alexandroupolis , Greece
5-8 July 2009
15th Annual International Sustainable Development Research Conference (more)
Utrecht, Netherlands
 
16 – 22 August 2009
World water Week in Stockholm
 
20 - 29 September 2009
CIWEM/ASTEE/EWA Conference “Water Framework Directive – Emerging Challenges ” (more)
Lille, France
 
POLICY AGENDA
28-29 May 2009
Meeting of Water Directors in Brno, Czech Republic
 
23 - 26 June 2009
the Green Week organized by DG Environment in Brussels on the multi-faceted challenges of climate change ( more )
 
10 September 2009
deadline to submit a proposal within the CIP-ecoinnovation program ( more )
 
15 September 2009
deadline to submit a proposal within the LIFE+ program ( more )
 
 
 
 
Dr Jean Philippe Torterotot appointed as president of the EWA
 
At the EWA Council meeting on the 1st May 2009, the outgoing president Peter Cook (UK) handed over his honorary position to Jean Philippe Torterotot (FR). Peter Cook received fulsome thanks from the Council members for his contribution and hard work as a President of EWA for the period of service 2007-2009. Prof. Pertti (FI) Seuna was appointed Vice President. The EWA expresses its thankfulness to Mr Gamaliel Martinez (ES) who retires from the Management Committee. ( read press release ).
 
EWA Workshop on Benchmarking

On the 4th June 2009, with the cooperation of the DWA (German Association for Water, Wastewater and Waste e.V.) organises an expert meeting on European Wastewater Benchmarking Reporting – Discussion of current activities and chances of cross-national comparison. Specialists from may member associations of EWA were invited to join the session.
 
Mark your calendar for the 5th EWA Brussels Conference
 
The European Water Association is organising for a fifth year its annual conference on the 6th November 2009 in Brussels. The topic of the conference is “European Water Management and the implementation of the EU Floods Directive”. As usual the conference will take place in the Representation of the Free State of Bavaria in the European Union situated near to the European Institutions. If you would like to receive regularly information about the event, please contact Boryana Hristova .
 
 
 

Proposal for a Soil Framework Directive
 
Little progress has been achieved at the Council with the development of this proposal. The Czech Presidency will probably not take the risk of a second vote (because if it is twice rejected, the whole procedure will then collapse). Sweden has already stated that it won’t be amongst its priorities (Copenhagen Conference, biodiversity). In the meantime the proposal has been so much watered down that the EC Commission can hardly accept it.
The Commission, however, does not want to impose any target objective and deadline (as for the WFD and recycling). It mostly wants to engage the process in countries which have not done anything in soil risk management approach. The Commission only claims for some kind of harmonization and wants to fix competition distortion. Even if soil remains a highly sensitive topic at policy levels, the Commission hopes that it will get a new impetus once an agreement has been reached on post-Kyoto negotiations.
 
 
 

WFD CIS 20010-12
 
Discussions have started on the preparation of the next Common Implementation Strategy, which should be formally adaopted at the Water Director meeting in November 2009 in Sweden. Main concern is to achieve some simplification in order to make best use of available (limited) resources. Concerns deal with the dissemination of knowledge and the need to close the implementation loops by feedback from field, especially on the use of guidance documents. In this context, the EC Commission is proposing to set up 5 working groups dealing with implementation matters (ECOSTAT, Reporting, Priority Substances, Floods, Groundwater) and to appoint on a case by case experts and ad-hoc groups for specific matters. At the water directors meeting in Brno on 28-29, brainstorming sessions will be organized on 3 strategic issues and their possible integration in the next CIS program.
-      Water and energy
-      Water and agriculture
-      Water and biodiversity
 
Guideline for Climate Change adaptation
 
First draft chapters have been reviewed at the SSG meeting on April 29. Here are some of the first comments:
-      How sort out what is certain and uncertain amongst the CC impacts? In this case, looking at indirect impacts is particularly challenging.
-      Is climate change something more than an intensification of existing pressures? How to assess vulnerability? Which indicators? This is the point the guidance document should focus on.
-      Monitoring the so-called “hot spots” is very important. It is unclear whether the guidance would add any new monitoring and reporting requirements compared to the ones already set by the WFD.
-      To enhance resilience, it is important to relieve the water ecosystems from the current pressures.
-      The time scale is a central issue. CC will not immediately result in a massive increase of pressure. It will be long term.
-      How to make use of climate change models?
A complete draft is expected to be available by the end of summer holydays and will be then circulated into the working groups before being submitted to the SSG on October 7.
 
 
 
 

ASTEE organises its annual congress
 
From 10 to 12 June 2009 ASTEE (Association Scientifique et Technique pour l’Eau et l’Environnement) will organise in Nice (FR) their 88th Congress 2009. The topic this year is “Local public environmental services and Europe: challenges and opportunities”. ( more – information in French)
 
See all EWA members and learn more about them.
 
 
 
 
 
IMPRINTS – FP 7 research project
 
Imprints - IMproving Preparedness and RIsk maNagemenT for flash floods and debriS flow events - will develop during 42 months three methodologies of different complexities to provide FF & DF forecasting and warnings: (i) an early warning FF & DF system based on simplified calculations, (ii) an integrated probabilistic forecasting FF & DF system, and (iii) a probabilistic rule-based forecasting system adapted to the operational use by practitioners. These systems will be tested on five selected flash flood prone areas, two located in mountainous catchments in the Alps, and three in Mediterranean catchments ( more ). http://imprints-fp7.eu./
 
Science for Environmental Policy
This is the environmental news alert from the European Commission's DG Environment. The service is designed specifically to help policy makers and industry keep up to date with the latest scientific research relevant to key environmental policy issues. A new version has been launched recently (more).

Water & climate change: what does business need to know

This White paper ( more ) explores the linkages between climate change and water – from both the scientific and corporate management perspectives. Jointly released by the Pacific Institute and the UN Global Compact, the whitepaper covers a number of critical areas, including:
-      How climate change is expected to impact water scarcity, water quality, and water demand;
-      The ways in which water and energy are interconnected, including trade-off scenarios;
-      The business risks of water and climate change;
-      How businesses can strategically manage water-climate risks;
And the linkages between climate and water and the UN Millennium Development Goals.
 
Effective utility management
 
Six water sector organizations and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are working together to support effective utility management throughout the water sector. The Collaborative developed a set of ten attributes and five keys to management success ( more )
 
Dealing with climate in Southeast Europe

News release about an international conference on The Road to Copenhagen: Managing Climate Change and Energy Security in Southeast Europe and beyond that took place in Athens on May 12-13 ( more )
 
Doubts cast over EU water directive 
 
News release about the conference on the challenges of modern European water management law that was organized in Brussels on April 23-24 by the Academy of European Law and the University of Trier ( more )
 
 
 
 
 
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Editorial team