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EWA Newsletter
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31 March 2009 – Issue n°6
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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.
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EVENTS
1 April 2009
3rd Stakeholders Event organized in Berlin by the Water European Technology Platform on the thema "Risk and crisis in the water and sanitation sector
" (
more
)
Berlin
, GERMANY
23 - 24 April 2009
Conference “Perspectives for European Water Management Law”, (more
)
Brussels
, Belgium
29 - 30 April 2009
CIWEM’s Annual Conference 2009 – Water and the Global Environment (more
)
London
, UK
30 March – 2 April 2009
AOP-Conference: 5th
IWA Specialist Conference and 10th
IOA-EA3
G Berlin Conference Oxidation Technologies for Water and Wastewater Treatment (more
)
Berlin
, GERMANY
26 - 28 May 2009
International Water Management and Ecological Fair WATENVI 2009 (more
)
Brno
, Czech Republic
28 - 29 May 2009
STRIVER Final Conference 'Integrated water resource management in theory and practice' (
more
)
Brussels
, BELGIUM
4 June 2009
EWA Workshop on European Wastewater Benchmarking Reporting – Discussion of current activities and chances of cross-national comparison (for more information contact the EWA Secretariat
)
Hennef
, GERMANY
12-15 August 2009
DRY TOILET 2009 - 3rd international Dry Toilet Conference (
more
)
Tampere, Finland
20 - 29 September 2009
CIWEM/ASTEE/EWA Conference “Water Framework Directive – Emerging Challenges
” (more
)
Lille
, FRANCE
POLICY AGENDA
2-3 April 2009:
2nd European Water Conference (more
)
2-3 April 2009
6th
European Environmental Technologies Action Plan Forum on Eco-Innovation in Berlin (
more
)
27-28 April 2009
WFD working group on groundwater. Contact person:
Zoran Nakic
29-30 April 2009
Meeting in Brussels of the Strategic Steering Group on Climate Change and Water. Contact person:
Paul Horton
5 - 7 May
8th
International Conference and Exhibition –WASTEWATER 2009 (more
)
Pilsen, Czech Republic
07-08 May 2009
WFD Strategic Coordination Committee
19-20 May 2009
26-28 May 2009:
Czech EU presidency conference "Sustainable development: a challenge for European Research. Water is the theme of 2 panel sessions. (more
)
28-29 May 2009
The STRIVER Final Conference “Integrated water resource management in theory and practice” in Brussels (more
)
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WFD implementation
On March 11, 2009, the WFD Strategic Coordination Group reviewed the progress made with the Common Implementation Strategy. Here are the main points of interest for EWA:
·
Article 5 “economic analysis
:
As set out in the 2007 WFD implementation report, an in-depth assessment of the economic analysis was undertaken by a consultancy team. The summary report was discussed at the SCG. In addition, DG ENV has commissioned a study on water pricing (to be completed by end 2009).
·
CAP
Health
Check
:
It has resulted in the addition of water specific items into the cross-compliance mechanism and an increase of funding ratios in favor of climate change adaptation, biodiversity protection and water resources
·
Adaptation to climate change
:
The white paper is confirmed for the beginning of April. During the first phase 2009-2012, emphasis will be placed on knowledge base and mainstreaming the key areas. In the meantime, DG ENV has released the report on the follow-up on the Water Scarcity & Drought Communitation. A detailed work program is annexed.
·
Water & Biodiversity
:
At the meeting of water directors in November 2008, the links between water and biodiversity and the marine environment were highlighted as important strategic issues. However, despite that there are already some linkages in existing guidance documents (i.e. wetlands), there was no systematic approach, neither any in-depth discussion. Therefore, DG ENV is collecting views on potential activities to better integrate the WFD and the Birds and Habitats Directives within the next CIS Work Program 2010-2012
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Bulgaria
as an official partner at WASSER BERLIN 2009
The WASSER BERLIN
Trade Fair is one of the major water and wastewater fairs. It is organised by the Trade Fair Berlin. Parallel to the Fair, several forums and symposiums are organised.
A special focus at the WASSER BERLIN 2009 is Bulgaria. The EWA member – the Bulgarian Water Association
– is also represented with a stand together with other Bulgarian companies.
ÖWAV celebrates its 100th
Anniversary
The Austrian Water and Waste Management Association
will celebrate in June 2009 its 100th
Anniversary. The association was created in 1909 On this occasion the association organised the so called “Future Lounge” – competition for young academics in the waster and waste management sectors. The Jubilee celebration will be on the 18June 2009 in Vienna. (more
)
CzWA organises the 8th
International Conference and Exhibition – WASTEWATER 2009
With more than 320 participants the event will take place from 5 to 7 May 2009 in Plzen, Czech Republic. This will be the first conference of the newly created Czech Water Association
.(more
)
CIWEM Annual Conference 2009
CIWEM (UK) organises its annual conference on “Water and the Global environment” on 29th
and 30th
of April 2009 in London UK. The conference will include sessions on Flood Risk Management, Technical issues, Water resources and integrated catchment management and Climate Change.
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At the European Pavilion during 5th
World Water Forum
As part of the European Regional Process, the EWA was represented at the European Pavilion during the 5th
World Water Forum in Istanbul. (more
)
EWA contributes to the European Regional Document
European Day: On March 19, the report (document
) prepared by the European Regional Coordination Committee was presented this week as Europe's input to debate on a global water policy. This document is intended to provide a blue print for future policy developments in Europe on water-related issues. EWA has produced to the chapter on climate change adaptation and contributed to the revision process.
EWA at the WASSER BERLIN 2009
Together with its German Water, Wastewater and Water Association (DWA), the EWA was represented with a stand at the Trade Fair and Congress WATER BERLIN 2009 (more
), taking place in Berlin from 30 March until 3 April 2009. During the week, the 2nd
International DWA-Symposium on Water and Resources Management will take place. Also many international forums took place at the fair. Special As an official partner at WATER BERLIN was the country Bulgaria (more
).
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5th World Water Forum in Istanbul
Ministerial declaration on March 2009: Ministers from over 100 countries discussed, among other issues, the right to water and sanitation. The final declaration, which is legally non-binding but carries significant political weight, recognizes "water as a basic human need" but not as a right. Some countries (US, Brazil, Egypt, etc.) argued that it was "premature" to insert a specific reference to existing human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation before the publication of the report of the UN Human Rights Council (due by the end of 2011).
European Parliament resolution of 12 March 2009 on water in the light of the 5th World Water Forum stating that "water is a shared resource of mankind" and "access to drinking water should constitute a fundamental and universal right"(more
).
European poll survey on water
Almost two out of three of Europeans consider that the quality of water in their country is a serious problem, according to a special Eurobarometer survey on Europeans' opinion on water issues published by the European Commission this week-end. The report also shows that Europeans see the quantity of available water as an equally serious problem. More than a third of Europeans feel that over the last five years the quality of rivers, lakes and coastal waters has deteriorated. Industry and agriculture are seen as having the biggest impact on the quality and quantity of water in their country and an overwhelming majority of Europeans think climate change will have an impact on water resources (
more
).
EU Pesticides database
The European Commission has completed the review of existing pesticides that were on the market before 1993. This program concerned about 1,000 substances, of which about 250 have passed the harmonised EU safety assessment. All reviewed pesticides have undergone a detailed risk evaluation with respect to their effects on humans and on the environment (
data base
).
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Confronting water scarcity and drought
This
EEA Report No 2/2009 (more
)
provides an up-to-date assessment of water resources across Europe with the key objectives of:
·
describing spatial patterns and trends in water availability and abstraction, identifying those regions subject to the greatest water stress and the detrimental impacts that ensue;
·
increasing awareness of the challenges of water scarcity and drought and the need for a fundamental shift to a more demand-led and therefore sustainable approach to water resource management;
·
illustrating good practice across all relevant economic sectors with respect to demand-led sustainable water resource management;
·
exploring the quality of current information on water availability and water use and thereby identifying gaps in knowledge.
XEROCHORE
XEROCHORE is a Support Action aimed at assisting in the development of a European Drought Policy in accordance with the EU-Water Framework Directive (EU-WFD). The Support Action is financed by the 7th Framework Programme (Grant Agreement Number: 211837) and spans a duration of 18 months (May 2008 - November 2009).
(
more
)
The 3rd United Nations World Water Development Report: Water in a Changing World (WWDR-3)
The Third edition of the United Nations World Water Development Report (
document
– 30Mb) was presented at the 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul, Turkey on March 16, 2009. Through a series of assessments, it provides a mechanism for monitoring changes in the resource and its management and tracking progress towards achieving targets, particularly those of the Millennium Development Goals. It also offers best practices as well as in-depth theoretical analyses to help stimulate ideas and actions for better stewardship in the water sector.
OECD Report “Managing Water for All: an OECD Perspective on Pricing and Financing
Here is the presentation of the report that Angel Gurría, OECD Secretary-General, made at the 5th World Water Forum (
more
)
Water Scarcity and Climate Change: Growing Risks for Businesses and Investors
According to a report by the Pacific Institute and Ceres (
document
), global climate change is exacerbating water scarcity problems around the world, yet few businesses and investors are paying attention to this growing financial threat. The report identifies water-related risks specific to eight key industries, including electric power, high-tech, beverage, agriculture, apparel, biotechnology/pharmaceutical, forest products, and metals/mining firms. In addition, the authors also offer a framework (
document
) companies can take to evaluate and effectively address water-related risks.
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Editorial team
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