A newsletter for the “Water Cycle and Soil Related Aspects” activities in the
European Commission Directorate
General for Research
Newsletters Subscription Contributions
FP6 - Water cycle and Soil related aspects - Results of the 4th Call for proposals - New instruments
The entire evaluation process of the call FP6-2005-Global 4 including the second stage procedure for New Instruments is now completed.
Two new Integrated Projects totalling an EC grant of 17 Mio€ are proposed for selection.
The topics for research addressed by these two projects of 4 years duration each are respectively:
- Global Water Cycle, Water Resources and Droughts
- Water scenarios for Europe and for neighbouring countries
More detailed information about the two projects has been compiled within the catalogue of projects resulting from the Global 4 call, available at the address:
European Institutions: Change of web sites and contacts e-mail addresses
The presence of the European Institutions in the Internet will migrate as of May 9th, 2006 from the previous addressing space of “.eu.int” to the new domain name “.europa.eu”. The new address for the Commission web site is “ec.europa.eu”.
This change has an impact on the way how electronic mailboxes are configured. The usual personal mailbox address format was forename.name@ec.europa.eu. The new address format to be used is forename.name@ec.europa.eu
Compatibility services will be ensured during a transition period of 12 months (until May 8th, 2007)
The specific CORDIS server (Community Research & Development Information Service) has also moved from http://www.cordis.lu to http://cordis.europa.eu
“Science for Environmental Policy"
DG Environment News Alert Service
The service was established in order to reinforce the links between science and policy. It provides scientific information in the field of the main themes of the Environmental Action Programme and relevant to DG Environment policy priorities in support of the knowledge based approach.
For more
information please visit the following site:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/integration/newsalert/themes_en.html
Integrated Project on Integrated Urban Water Management: SWITCH - Sustainable Water management Improves Tomorrow’s Cities’ Health
The SWITCH kick-off meeting took place at Unesco-IHE, Delft, The Netherlands between 18-21 April 2006.
This 5 year (2006-2011), 32 partner, 22 Mio€ project (of which 14,75 Mio€ are financed through the 6th Community Framework Programme), will develop, apply and demonstrate a range of solutions for sustainable urban water management in 9 cities: Accra (Ghana), Alexandria (Egypt), Tel Aviv (Israel), Beijing (China), Bogotá (Colombia), Belo Horizonte (Brazil), Birmingham (UK), Hamburg (Germany), Lodz (Poland) and Zaragoza (Spain). In each demonstration city a Learning Alliance will be established. SWITCH covers six themes: Urban water paradigm shift, Storm water management, Efficient water supply and water use for all, Rational water use, (eco-)sanitation and waste management, Urban water environments and planning, Governance and institutional change
For more info contact: SWITCH secretariat, c/o UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, switch@unesco-ihe.org ,
Temporary website & general info: http://www.unesco-ihe.org/switch; http://www.unesco-ihe.org/downloads/switch.pdf; http://www.unesco-ihe.org/vmp/articles/News/NEW-20060320-11-33-56.html
Scientific Support to policy: AQUAMONEY - Development and Testing of Practical Guidelines for the Assessment of Environmental and Resource Costs and Benefits in the Water Framework Directive (WFD)
The Aquamoney kick-off meeting took place at IVL, Amsterdam between 04 and 06 April 2006
AquaMoney
aims to provide an authoritative guideline for the assessment of environmental
and resource costs and benefits, providing a set of practical, readily
applicable recommendations for the valuation of the benefits of the
implementation of the WFD in particular.
AquaMoney will focus on the assessment of the economic value of reaching good
ecological status and on how to use this assessment in practical decision-making
related to article 4 and 9 in the WFD.
The AquaMoney case studies will be carried out in order to test 1) the key methodological issues in water valuation, for which to date no practical guidelines exist; 2) the transferability of these economic values across time, place, water bodies and basins and assess the errors associated with benefits transfer as an alternative valuation method and 3) Conducting original valuation work in the case studies is instrumental to these objectives.
For more info contact: Dr. Roy Brouwer, Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), The Netherlands, E-mail: roy.brouwer@ivm.vu.nl
Temporary website: http://www.brgm.fr/Fichiers/europe/AQUAMONEY.pdf
EURODEMO – demonstration project database goes public
EURODEMO, the European Co-ordination Action for demonstration of efficient soil and groundwater remediation, funded by the EU RTD Framework Programme, is now publishing its database for demonstration and pilot projects in the field of innovative soil and groundwater remediation technologies. This database is accessible via the EURODEMO homepage www.eurodemo.info . By compiling innovative remediation applications the spreading of knowledge of stakeholders on demonstrated technologies is supported, and, thus, confidence in innovative technology applications is raised. The database is interactive, i.e., it offers the possibility to access and provide information on recent and ongoing pilot and demonstration projects.
For more information please visit www.eurodemo.info and/or attend the planned thematic and promotion workshops in Vilnius, LT, Sept 14-15, 2006, and Rimini, IT, Nov 8-11, 2006.
Contact: Yvonne Spira (Yvonne.Spira@umweltbundesamt.at) Umweltbundesamt / Austrian Federal Environment Agency.
SedNet booklet “Contaminated Sediments in European River Basins”
SedNet is the European network aimed at incorporating sediment issues and knowledge into European strategies to support the achievement of a good environmental status and to develop new tools for sediment management.
The SedNet booklet is now available for download under the following link:
http://www.sednet.org/component/option,com_remository/Itemid,83/func,select/id,1/
“Water, Time and European Cities – History matters for the Futures” issued by the FP5 WaterTime project
The book was produced as a part of the WaterTime project funded by the European Commission under the Fifth Framework Programme (FP5). It is a study covering a field of cultural diversity. It presents chronological evolution of water and sanitation services in 29 European cities. The cases refer to local arrangements for the establishment and exploitation of complex water and sanitation systems in fast-changing urban environments.
The publication is available for download under the following link:
http://www.watertime.net/Docs/WP3/WTEC.pdf
Invitation to researchers from the New Member States, Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania : Integration4Water Workshop Event, a preparation for FP7, Warsaw, Poland, 2-4 June 2006
The EU FP6 project Integration4Water (http://www.integration4water.org) is aiming at stimulating the participation of the research teams from the New Member States (NMS) and Accession Candidate Countries (ACC) in the projects of the RTD Framework Programmes.
The objectives for the workshops event are to:
§ help identify new areas of joint research as a starting point for co-operation in FP7, especially these topics in which the NMS/ACC researchers could be project leaders
§ train the NMS/ACC researchers in building integrated, interactive and multidisciplinary approaches as a strategy for proposal development
§ support integration of NMS/ACC and researchers from the old Member States in Joint European Topical Expert Groups as potential subconsortia to respond in particular to the FP7 specific topics.
§ serve as a forum to disseminate and exchange information on water-related research activities conducted in national, regional and European scale by NMS/ACC organizations and the EU 15 States to be incorporated into the above mentioned approaches.
The scientific aspect of the event will focus especially on the following 3 areas:
§ Climate change and water resources
§ Water resources management
§ Environmental technologies related to water and soil.
For more information, participation conditions, registration etc. visit the Integration4Water web page: http://www.integration4water.org
Bio-fouling in membrane systems. EUROMBRA workshop, NTNU – Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway, 11-12 July 2006
The workshop will provide a forum for the MBR-Network partners as well as contacts and experts from the global membrane community working with bio-fouling in membrane systems. The workshop will be organized as a scientific discussion and exchange forum, where discussions will be initiated by invited researchers to present central aspects and issues related to the workshop topic.
Call for contributions:
Participants currently working on aspects of the workshop's topic and who wish to present their recent findings are encouraged to submit an abstract. Submission deadline: 15 May 2006.
More information can be obtained from: Mr. TorOve Leiknes, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway, e-mail: torove.leiknes@ntnu.no
The European workshop “DRINKING WATER QUALITY IN DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS”, Nancy, France, 7-8 September 2006.
This workshop is in conjunction with the European project SAFER. This project aims to develop tools for controlling drinking water microbial systems.
Three main topics will be presented and discussed during this workshop:
Biofilm accumulation surveys (to gauge the status and development of biofilms),
Pathogen detection (bacteria, fungi and protozoa in aquatic biofilms),
Efficient disinfection (rapid monitoring of disinfection efficiency).
The workshop is especially dedicated to managers or technicians of drinking water distribution systems, either in rural or urban areas, as well as for all those aiming to control drinking water microbial stability and quality changes during its transport throughout distribution systems.
Registration:
http://www.pepss.com//gti/0144/GTI_144_NANCYPC/60/
Contact:
http://www.safer-eu.com; saferworkshop@nancie.asso.fr
1st European
Workshop on "In-Situ Stimulation and Remediation of Contaminated Fractured Soils
STRESOIL", Szczecin, Poland, 28-29 September 2006
This
Workshop is organized by the consortium of the EC-funded Specific Targeted
Research Project STRESOIL. The objective of the workshop is to present and
discuss new strategies, methodologies, results and perspectives of procedures
used for the in situ stimulation / remediation of the unsaturated zone of
fractured sites contaminated by hydrocarbons (NAPLs). Participants are expected
from public environmental agencies, soil and groundwater remediation companies,
consulting firms, site owners, Universities, and Research Institutes to
facilitate the transfer of knowledge among involved scientists, enterprises,
authorities and public.
For more information please visit http://www.stresoil.com
MORE INFORMATION: click here
LEGAL NOTICE
The information and views set out in this newsletter are those of the author(s) and do not reflect necessarily the official opinion of the European Communities. Neither the European Communities institutions and bodies nor any person acting on their behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made on the information contained therein. This newsletter may be freely distributed.
See also http://europa.eu.int/geninfo/disclaimer_en.htm
EDITOR:
European Commission
DG Research, Unit I02
Rue de la Loi 200, B-1049 Belgium © European Communities, 2006.
e-mail : Avelino.Gonzalez-Gonzalez@ec.europa.eu Reproduction is authorized provided the source is acknowledged