June-July  2010
Issue Number 17
In This Issue

CAP Reform

Water and Biodiversity

Millennium development goals

 News

Symposium, Workshops and Events during IFAT ENTSORGA 2010
6th EWA Brussels Conference
Implementing the River Basin Management Plans: State of Reporting and Expectations

Publications

Pluvial floods in Europe
Water Strategic Research Agenda 2010

Combination Effects of Chemicals
Assessing the environmental impacts of consumption and production

Valuation of Wastewater Systems - Systematic Recording, Assessment and Updating

Recommended Actions for Dealing with Stormwater

7 July 2010
 Integrated Water Management Conference
London ( more )
 London, UK

13 – 17 September
IFAT ENTSORGA
16th International Trade Fair for Water – Sewage – Refuse – Recycling
15th International Symposium Water, Wastewater, Waste and Energy
Munich , Germany

27th – 28th September 2010
4th European Water and Wastewater Management Conference, Seminar & Exhibition (more )
The Royal Armouries Leeds, UK
 
12. – 14. October 2010
Enviro-management 2010
Landfills in Europe & Waste Management
 High Tatra, Slovakia

5 November 2010
6th EWA Brussels Conference
Implementing the River Basin Management Plans: State of Reporting and Expectations (more )
Brussels, Belgium

15th – 17th November 2010
15th European Biosolids and Organic Resources Conference, Workshop & Exhibition (more )
The Royal Armouries, Leeds, UK

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Policy agenda

27-29 September 2010
Expert Group conference on Agriculture and Water
Louvain-La-Neuve
29 September 2010
6th meeting of the of the European Parliament intergroup on water

30 September 2010
CIS Science-Policy Interface seminar
Brussels

5-6 October2010
ECOSTAT meeting
Brussels

6-7 October 2010
Groundwater CIS meeting
Bruges

19-20 October 2010
Workshop on WFD economics
Liège
21-22 October 2010
Chemical Aspects CIS meeting
Brussels

25-27 October 2010
Floods thematic workshop “Economic aspects”
Ghent
27 October 2010
7th meeting of the of the European Parliament intergroup on water

10-11 November 2010
Strategic Coordination Group meeting
 Brussels

23-24 November 2010
EU presidency conference “Adaptation to the changing climate – time to intensify efforts”
Brussels
1 December 2010
8th meeting of the of the European Parliament intergroup on water

2-3 December 2010
Water Directors meeting
 Spa
 
January 9 – 12, 2011
Nutrient Recovery and Management 2011 (more )
Miami, Florida

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Contact us

European Relations:
Frédéric de Hemptinne

EWA Secretariat
Boryana Dimitrova
 
Dear  reader ,
 
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.
 

The annual bathing water report ( more ) presented by the European Commission and the European Environment Agency shows that 96 % of coastal bathing areas and 90 % of bathing sites in rivers and lakes complied with minimum standards in 2009. Compliance with mandatory values refers to the minimum water quality standards as laid out in the 1976 Bathing Water Directive while the revised Directive 2006/7/EEC is due to be enforced in 2015. However, 14 Member States already monitored their bathing areas during the 2009 bathing season according to the revised Directive’s requirements.
On June 3, 2010, The European Commission has send a first warning to twelve Member States for failing to submit their plans which were due to be adopted by by 22 December 2009 at the latest. The Member States involved are: Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Spain.
 
Eco-innovation

Having recognized the importance Eco-innovation as an essential element of any future EU Innovation policy, DG Research has launched a two-step call for proposals in this field. It does not have any specific focus (energy and transport are excluded) but aimed to promote a bttom-up approach on two types of development:
-      System innovation (also organisational, institutional, business model, etc.)
-      Technological innovation (particular solicitation on biomimetic technologies)
-      An information day will take place in Brussels on 12-13 July (online registration form - deadline 7 July) while the official call will be published on 20 July. It is expected that the deadline for qualification step will be set by mid-November 2010 and for the second step by end of April 2011.
Hot Issue

CAP Reform

On April 12, 2010, DG Agriculture launched a first consultation on the next CAP to invite the general public to come up with ideas and proposal before June 3. A contribution was prepared by the EAG on agriculture and submitted to the water directors. Three points were considered:
-      What has to be taken into account for an achievement of WFD goals in the agricultural sector?
-      To what extent does the current CAP enable MS and their farmers to achieve the European objectives on water protection?
-      Post 2013 CAP: what could be the best policy options to achieve WFD objectives?
DG Agriculture is expected to come up with a communication its views in Autumn 2010 while a second paper with more details will be developed by the by the EAG on agriculture


Water and Biodiversity

On 17-18 June 2010 in Brussels, a first workshop took place to review the needs for integration of the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the Birds and Habitats Directives (BHD). It was aimed at
-      Providing an overview of existing link between these two instruments. For this purpose, a “frequently asked questions” paper was prepared.
-      Presenting case studies exemplifying synergies and conflicts of objectives
-      Pointing out areas where further activities (i.e guidance) may be needed
Overall, it appeared that there are more synergies than differences between WFD & BHD. Both provide a framework to make balanced judgments including the use of integrated planning as a tool. We should exploit the synergies (monitoring, assessment) but recognize the differences. There are definitively no conflicts between the directives.
 
Millennium development goals

On June 17, the European Council endorsed the EU position for the UN summit scheduled in New York from 20 to 22 September 2010 to review progress in implementing the Millennium development goals (MDGs). The European Union remains determined to support the achievement of the MDGs globally by 2015 and calls on the High Level Plenary Meeting to agree on concrete actions aimed at:
-      increasing ownership by developing countries;
-      focusing efforts;
-      improving the impact of policies;
-      mobilising more and predictable financing for development, including innovative sources of financing;
-      and making more effective use of development resources.
Symposium, Workshops and Events during IFAT ENTSORGA 2010
 
The European Water, Wastewater and Waste Symposium is organised since more than 40 years on the occasion of IFAT. The focus will be extended with the 15th International Symposium, which will be organised between 13th and 16th September 2010, and the topic of energy will be added together with the change of name. The event offers a divers wide scaled and up-to-date programme on sustainable waster and wastewater management. The Symposium is organised by the German Association for Water, Wastewater and Waste (DWA), the European Water Association (EWA), the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) and the Association of Municipal Waste and city cleaning in the Association of Local Utilities (VKS im VKU).
 
The Symposium events are free of charge. All presentations will be simultaneously translated in German or English language.

 More detailed information on the events can be found under: http://ifat.dwa.de
 
6th EWA Brussels Conference
Implementing the River Basin Management Plans: State of Reporting and Expectations:

This event, organized in cooperation with the European Commission DG Environment, and kindly hosted by Representation of the Free State of Bavaria to the EU in Brussels, will bring together experts reporting on the current situation of the river basin management plans of the EU member states and will end with a panel discussion including all speakers As such, EWA Brussels conference is a unique opportunity to be informed about the progress made with the implementation of EU water policy.
The conference will present initial expectations of the RBMP achievements in practice. A first discussion will evolve around the effectiveness of key factors on how to implement the elaborated plans.
The event will provide a thorough expertise point of view and feedback on the expected effectiveness of the RBMP across the EU. The participants will have the chance during the final discussion of the conference to exchange their views on the implementation strategy and in this way to contribute to the CIS activities on an informal basis.

For your attention: The deadline for early book offer extended until 15th July 2010 . Please note, places are limited!
For more information visit the conference website .
Pluvial floods in Europe

 The report from the EWA expert meeting (Brussels, 28 October 2009) has been released (more ). This Expert Meeting gathered views and experience on the significance of pluvial flood risks across Europe and assessed how these risks can be managed through the implementation of the Floods Directive.
Water Strategic Research Agenda 2010

The Water Supply and Sanitation Technology Platform published its first SRA in 2006 and launched a public consultation of various stakeholders in 2009 to provide an updated SRA to the European Commission ( more ), which was presented on 1 June at Stakeholders’ meeting. The updated SRA is a corner stone for the revision of the FP7 and shaping the future FP8.
Combination Effects of Chemicals
 
The DG Environment news alert “science for environmental policy” (more) published a special issue on scientific research which can help us overcome some of the challenges associated with assessing the combination effects of chemicals. Three articles are of special interest for EWA:
-      Protecting surface waters from combined effects of chemical contaminants (more )
-      Integrating chemical mixture assessments into REACH and the WFD (more )
-      New tool accurately predicts toxic effects of chemical mixtures (more ).
Assessing the environmental impacts of consumption and production
 
On June 2, at Green Week, UNEP and the European Commission, presented a new report ( summary http://www.unep.fr/shared/publications/pdf/DTIx1262xPA-PriorityProductsAndMaterials_Report.pdf ) highlighting priorities for a radical change in the way major economies are using scarce resources. The report provides science-based priorities for world environmental efforts, ranking products, materials and economic and lifestyle activities according to their environmental and resource impacts. Agriculture and food consumption are identified as one of the most important drivers of environmental pressures, especially habitat change, climate change, water use and toxic emissions.
Valuation of Wastewater Systems - Systematic Recording, Assessment and Updating

August 2005, 36 pages, DIN 4
ISBN 978-3-940173-60-7 *€ 39,00
This DWA Standard summarises the principles for the recording, assessment and updating of the asset values including the depreciation of public wastewater facilities. Through compliance with these principles the commensurate depreciation of and interest rate for the investment capital within the sense of the payments determined according to economic aspects are, in particular, guaranteed. For more information and order, please contact Ms Mona Lorvik .
 
Recommended Actions for Dealing with Stormwater

August 2007, 35 pages, DIN A4
ISBN 978-3-941089-97-6     *€ 41,00
The Advisory Leaflet provides municipalities, those obliged to dispose sewage as well as planners with fundamental considerations regarding urban land-use planning or general drainage planning. For more information and order, please contact Ms Mona Lorvik .