December 2009 – Issue n°12
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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.
 
The Editorial Team wishes you Merry Christmas and Joy in the New Year!
 
EWA’s Agenda
 
 
EVENTS
16 December 2009
Side event on water issues during the COP15 Copenhagen Climate Conference
Copenhagen , Denmark
 
26-28 January 2010
CIS thematic workshop organized by WFD working group F on “Flood Risk Management Plans”
Maastricht , the Netherlands
 
18-19 February 2010
International Conference “Droughts and water scarcity: the way towards adaptation to climate change”
Madrid , Spain ( more )
 
2-4 June 2010
First Announcement and Call for Abstracts
IWA Specialist Conference “Water and Wastewater Treatment Plants in Towns and Communities of the XXI Century: Technologies, Design and Operation” ( more )
Moscow , Russia
 
 
POLICY AGENDA
 
30 November – 1 December 2009 :
Meeting of the Water Directors
Malmoe , Sweden
 
 
 
5th EWA Annual Brussels Conference
 
For a firth year the EWA had organised its Annual Conference on different aspects of the EU Water Framework Directive and daughter directives. The Topic of the conference in 2009 was “European Water Management and the Implementation of the EU Floods Directive”
The conference was well attended and among the guests were representatives of the government or regional organisations. The presentations gave a mixture if policy and practical examples of the implementation of the floods directive.
The keynote speak was given by Mark Adamson (Office of Public Works Ireland). Also a good introduction was given by the representative of the European Commission Maria Brattemark.
The conference concluded with a panel discussion including all speakers and the chairman of the conference and president of the EWA Mr. Jean Philippe Torterotot.
 
Interviews with some of the speakers and participants can be find under the conference blog:
 
The presentations of the speakers are available on the EWA website
 
 
 
Water Directors meeting in Malmoe
On November 30 and December 1, water directors met in Malmoe and made the following decision:
·         Common Implementation strategy 2010-2012, which is composed of 5 permanent working groups (Ecostat, Groundwater, Floods, Reporting and chemical aspects), 3 temporary expert groups (climate change, water scarcity and agriculture) and several ad-hoc activities (biodiversity, WFD economics, etc.)
 
·         Guidance on intercalibration process 2008-2011;
·         Guidance document on climate change adaptation
·         Concept paper for assessing the Integrated River Management Plans (see below).
 
They also discussed the following points:
·         Resources needed to support activities on priority substances
·         UN Convention on the Law of the non-navigational uses of international watercourses
 
The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB)
On November 13, the EC Commissioner presented the findings in a key report by the TEEB project, a major independent global study co-funded by the European Commission and let by the United Nations Environment Program ( more ). As the Stern report did for climate change, this study is aimed at demonstrating the benefits of taking early measures.  It also highlights two main challenges for policy-makers.
·         The first is to understand the values of our ecosystems, biodiversity and natural resources and integrate them into decision-making across all policy areas at all levels – local, national and global.
·         The second is to respond efficiently and to tailor policy solutions to the needs of different economies and societies.
 
Statistics on pesticides
On November 24, the European Parliament approved the agreement made with the Council during the conciliation procedure on the proposed regulation concerning statistics on pesticides ( more ). It will be restricted to plant protection products and include non-agricultural uses. The law will lay down rules on the frequency and format of data collection and the requirement to report data periodically. It also complements other legislation on pesticides agreed at the end of last year
 
Key Enabling Technologies
 
The Commission in its Communication "Preparing for our future: Developing a common strategy for key enabling technologies in the EU" ( COM(2009)512 ) tries to identify the Key Enabling Technologies that strengthen the EU's industrial and innovation capacity. These are
·  Nanotechnology
·  Micro- and nanoelectronics,
·  Photonics
·  Advanced materials
·  Biotechnology
 
A set of short term measures is proposed to address current difficulties. In addition the Communication foresees setting up a high-level expert group tasked with developing a shared longer term strategy and action plan on the identified KETs. As such, it forms part of the development of EU industrial policy and of the preparation for the new European plan for innovation.
 
 
 
Reporting on River Basin Management plans under WFD
While River Basin Management Plans – RBMP – must be definitively adopted by the end of year 2009, it appears that there is a lot of delay with the public consultation in some Member States. Five have even not started yet. In the meantime the reporting process is about to start. The EC Commission is due to present its report to the Council and Parliament by 2012. This will address the compliance issue but will also have to assess how the WFD meet its strategic objective and whether it will be sufficient to deal with future challenge.
In this context, the Water Directors are going to discuss a concept paper and compliance indicators to be used for streamlining the reporting. A first list of key issues to be investigated in details has been established:
·         Environmental objectives and exemptions
·         Designation of heavily modified water bodies
·         Classification of ecological status and potential
·         Measures related to agriculture
·         Measures related to hydromorphology
·         Measures related to chemical pollution
·         Measures related to article 9 (water pricing policies)
·         Water scarcity and droughts
 
Revision of Directive 86/278/EEC on Sewage Sludge
The second part of the impact assessment on the revision of Directive 86/278/EEC has just started. The first part which ended up in August was about the identification of existing knowledge and the preparation of a baseline scenario. With the second part, the EC Commission has now moved on to the identification of the costs and impacts of different options. A draft impact assessment is being circulated amongst stakeholders for comment. EWA contact person: Peter Matthews
 
New Commission:
Composition of the new commission has been made public with the DG Environment headed by Janez Potocnik (Slovenia, formely DG Research) and a new DG Climate Change headed by Connie Hedegaard (Denmark). This new DG has taken competencies from DG Environment and DG TREN. The hearing at the European Parliament will take place during the second week of January.
 
1st SEE Regional Workshop on Water Loss Reduction in Water & Sanitation Utilities
 
On the 16 to 18 November 2009 the UNW-DPC with the cooperation of the BWA organised a regional workshop on Water Loss Reduction in SEE countries. The workshop was visited by more than 100 participants from difference south European Countries, as well as, from Germany and Austria.
For more information and a summary report visit the website.
 
IFAT 2010
 
The environmental trade fair, IFAT, the 16th International Trade Fair for Water – Sewage – Refuse – Recycling, will take place from 13 to 17 September in 2010.
 
It is the world’s most important trade fair for innovations and new developments in the fields of water, sewage, refuse and recycling. The event offers an attractive exhibition programme featuring state-of-the-art technology and a broad range of professional services for water, sewage and refuse management.
The European Water Association will organise a one-and-a-half-days International Symposium “Sustainable Wastewater Management New Strategies, Technologies and Innovative Solutions” (14-15 September 2010) ( more )
 
A list with all current EWA members is available on the EWA website .
 
 
Draft Research Agenda
 
The Water Supply and Sanitation Technology Platform has released for consultation a draft research agenda for the EU Water Industry. It is aimed at setting up a common vision for water innovation and at scrutinizing 6 pilot areas. ( more )
 
Charting Our Water Future
 
This report was developed to take a first step in providing greater clarity on the scale, costs and tradeoffs of solutions to water scarcity. It is the result of a year-long collaboration involving IFC (a member of the World Bank Group), McKinsey & Company, The Coca-Cola Company, Barilla, New Holland Agriculture, Nestlé, SABMiller plc, Standard Chartered Bank and Syngenta AG, and has relied on the input of over 300 specialists and public sector practitioners as well as the consistent guidance of a group of expert advisors. ( report )
 
UNECE guidance on climate change adaptation
 
This guidance explains step by step how to develop and implement an adaptation strategy in the transboundary context. Based on the concept of integrated water resources management, it provides advice to decision makers and water managers on how to assess impacts of climate change on water quantity and quality, how to perform risk assessment, including health risks, how to gauge vulnerability, and how to design and implement appropriate adaptation strategies. More than 80 different authors from many countries and disciplines contributed to the Guidance. It features nearly 40 case studies – illustrating, for example, how river basins like the Rhine or the Danube are preparing for climate change. ( guidance )
 
Register of Pollution emissions
 
A new version of the European pollutant release and transfer register – E-PRTR – is now on-line ( more ). In line with the Aarhus convention and the protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (entered in force on October 8, 2009), the register contains information about the emissions of pollutants to air, water and land by industrial facilities throughout Europe. It includes annual data for 91 substances and covers more than 24 000 facilities in 65 economic activities. It also provides additional information, such as the amount and types of waste transferred from facilities to waste handlers both inside and outside each country.
 
FP6 project MODELKEY
 
This research project whose final conference is scheduled in Leipzig has provided strong evidence that toxic pollutants are a driving force for the insufficient ecological status that was found in many European surface waters. In general, water quality improved within the last 30 years and spectacular fish kills are rare events in the EU of today. However, toxic and sub-lethal effects of pesticides, industrial chemicals, personal care products and pharmaceuticals are still an important factor that impact on sensitive species and related ecosystem services. Many of these contaminants affect the hormone status of organisms and thus on their fitness, reproduction and development. Water managers and scientists face the challenging task to diagnose such adverse effects in the ecosystem under multiple stress conditions. MODELKEY supports this diagnosis by developing a conclusive approach of investigative monitoring and modelling tools on different scales ( more )
 
Handbook on environmental goods and services
 
This Eurostat publication is a complete reference tool for developing a data collection system on the environmental goods and services sector at national level. It aims at facilitating the development and production of harmonised and comparable data. ( more )
 
European Business: Facts and figures - 2009 edition
 
This Eurostat publication gives a comprehensive picture of the structure, development and characteristics of European business and its different activities. It includes a chapter on water supply and recycling ( more ).