Newsletters   Subscription   Contributions       Newsletter issue n° 9 - May 08

 

NEWS:

 

FP7 - Environmental Research - calls for proposals FP7-ENV-2008-1 and the joint call FP7-ENV-NMP-2008-2

The evaluation results, including the Evaluation Summary Report, have been communicated to applicants of submitted proposals in May 2008. Accordingly, the representatives of EU Member States and Associated States in the Environment Programme Committee have received similar information.

More than 400 proposals requesting close to €1.200 million have been submitted to the FP7-ENV-2008-1 call. The FP7-ENV-NMP-2008-2 joint call  received 35 proposals requesting an overall EC grant of €76 million.

The official selection procedures are currently on-going with the objective of opening negotiations with retained projects in July 2008.

 

FP7 - Environmental Research - next call for proposals:

The publication of the next call for proposals, expected initially for July, might be postponed to the beginning of September 2008. The deadline for submitting proposals is currently maintained to January 2009.

The available budget is of about €200 million, distributed among 52 different topics for research.

 

FP7 - Amendments Guide for Grant Agreements

The set of available documents intended to provide guidance for practical FP7 project implementation has been completed with the Amendments Guide for FP7 Grant Agreements. The complete set of available guidance documents can be obtained from the CORDIS server http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/find-doc_en.html :

AQUASTRESS: the Integrated Solution Support System (i3S) for mitigating water stress

The i3S (say i-tripple-S) is a web-based application bringing together, through the knowledge base, a wealth of information on test sites, options and indicators, as output of the AQUASTRESS project. Simultaneously, a number of tools is presented, several of which interact with the knowledge bases. The tools support many of the activities required in a participatory mitigation process, e.g. eliciting needs via the questionnaire tool, developing common understanding through a gaming tool Splash! and multi-criteria participatory decision support via AquaDT.

I3S does not provide the user with out-of–the box solutions. Much more, it guides the user through a problem solving process, helping him by providing information, knowledge and tools on the way.

The web site is now accessible and fully open to both the general public and to the AQS members on http://i3s.aquastress.net/.

Additional information about the AQUASTRESS IP is available on the project website: http://www.aquastress.net/

More specific information related to the Case Study Implementation activities and progress are presented at http://environ.chemeng.ntua.gr/aquastresscs with the aim of developing integrated general guidelines of European added value.

 

The PLEIADeS project sustains water for food

This project addresses the efficient and sustainable use of water for food production in water-scarce environments. It aims at improving the technical, environmental and socio-economic performance of irrigation schemes by means of a range of measures. Major technical innovation is made possible by the comprehensive space-time coverage of Earth observation (EO) data and the interactive networking/connecting capabilities of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). A set of systems and services will be the basis for technical and social learning that enables farmers to act responsibly by fine-tuning their on-farm irrigation management in accordance with the river-basin water status and management decisions.

A set of pilot Case Studies has been selected to represent a sample of the wide range of conditions found in the European and Southern Mediterranean and in Latin America, covering Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Morocco, Mexico, Peru, and Brazil.

After the intensification phase, the project is ready for the participatory evaluation in the pilot Case Studies of the developed tools and frameworks, as well as conducting dialogue and collaboration with stakeholders and end-users. Major achievements of the last 6 months are:

EUGRIS - a free portal for soil and water information

EUGRIS (www.eugris.info) is purposefully designed and structured for land and water managers, legislators, regulators and planners, consultants and contractors, researchers, technology providers business and the public. 

EUGRIS topics include brownfield regeneration, contaminated land management, groundwater, sediments, diffuse pollution, and an increasing content related to river basin management and soil thematic strategy issues. This content is open to all, to use and to add to. 

For further information, please contact:

Professor Paul Bardos or Dr Tony Chapman at r3 Environmental Technology Ltd, UK.

E-mail: paul@r3environmental.co.uk; tony@r3environmental.co.uk

Jörg Frauenstein, Umweltbundesamt, Germany

E-mail: joerg.frauenstein@uba.de

 

 

PUBLICATIONS and AVAILABLE DOCUMENTS

 

FP7 - Environmental research: A revised version of the catalogue of projects is available:

The catalogue briefly presents the projects resulting from the FP7-ENV-2007-1 call, including a short abstract, the partners involved and the overall grant proposed by the Commission. As consequence of the negotiations' cancellation with the project ATRON, the Commission services have recently opened negotiations with the project 212781 iSoil.

A revised version of the catalogue destined to provide basic information on the selected projects (including the objectives, partners and resources) is available on:
http://circa.europa.eu/Public/irc/rtd/eesdwatkeact/library?l=/projects_information or
ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/fp7/environment/docs/catalogue_projects_2008.pdf .

The preliminary information presented in the mentioned document is based on the proposals' evaluation results and shall be considered as provisional and subject to potential modifications in the course of projects' negotiation.

 

Water Reuse System Management Manual - AQUAREC", edited by Davide Bixio and Thomas Wintgens.


The project AQUAREC “Integrated concepts for reuse of upgraded wastewater” was funded by the Fifth Framework Programme of the European Commission. Its major aim was to investigate and develop concepts and methodologies supporting rational and knowledge-based waste water reuse strategies.


This publication presents practical information on waste water reuse concepts based on actual and proved management and operational practises. A broad approach has been considered by addressing institutional, organisational, legal, economics, financial, social and environmental issues together with technological aspects. The targeted readers are mainly practitioners concerned with implementation of waste water reuse schemes, but this publication may also become ‘the wastewater reuse manual’ for decision makers, local authorities, consultants and research bodies involved in the area.


The publication is available as printed (catalogue n° KI-76-06-016-EN-C) or as a PDF document (catalogue n° KI-76-06-016-EN-Z) from OPOCE at:  http://bookshop.europa.eu/.

 

"DayWater: an Adaptive Decision Support System for Urban Stormwater Management". Editor: Daniel R. Thevenot

The European DayWater project has developed a prototype of an Adaptive Decision Support System (ADSS) related to urban stormwater pollution source control. The DayWater ADSS greatly facilitates decision-making for stormwater source control, which is currently impeded by the large number of stakeholders involved and by the necessary multidisciplinary knowledge.

This publication presents the results of this project, providing new insights into both technical and management issues. The main objectives of its technical chapters are pollution source control modelling, risk and impact assessment, and evaluation and comparison of best management practices. It also covers management aspects, such as the analysis of the decision-making processes in stormwater source control, at a European scale, and stormwater management strategies in general. The combination of scientific-technical and socio-managerial knowledge, with the strong cooperation of numerous end-users, reflects the innovative character of this book which includes actual applications of the ADSS prototype in significant case studies. DayWater: an Adaptive Decision Support System for Urban Stormwater Management contains 26 chapters collectively prepared by DayWater scientific partners and end-users associated with this European Research and Development project.

Additional information is available at: http://www.iwapublishing.com/template.cfm?name=isbn1843391600

 

"LOWRGREP - Landscape-use optimisation with regards to the groundwater resources protection in mountain hardrock areas". Author(s): B. Vayssade, S. Bender, Z. Boukalova, A.L. Courbis, J.F. Didon-Lescot, Z. HrkaL, A. Perez Garcia, C. Martin, P. Martinez Alfaro, P. Martinez-Santos, E. Montero, J.A. Sanchez-Navarro, S. Sauvagnargues-Lesage, F. Villarroya, S. Wohnlich, J.G. Ylamos

This report assesses the degree of interference of human activities with the hydrosphere in mountain-zones, all located in hard-rock areas of different countries in the European Union. Each of the test–regions has a specific degree of protection: from regions with very few inhabitants and very low human impact, to regions submitted to a strong anthropogenic impact.

The investigations focused on the changes in water quality and on the simulation of various alternatives leading to optimum landscape-use from the point of view of water-management. The project’s own Geographic Information System was used to fulfil the following objective: present all the obtained knowledge and analyse all the data in user-friendly form (maps of water vulnerability) and make this knowledge available for potential users with, for instance, the creation and use of a web site. A simulation tool has been developed which facilitates the assessment of the impact of landscape-use on the water budget of the catchment.

Chloride is present in all the investigated areas but only in winter and very close to roads. Another result of this work is the decreasing impact on water of sulphur and sulphuric compounds in Germany and in the Czech Republic, while the nitrogen impact is increasing. Recommendations concerning the landscape-use are presented for all the regions in particular for good practices in agriculture.

Additional information can be found on: http://www.iwapublishing.com/template.cfm?name=isbn1843391937

 

EVENTS

 

2nd announcement: 1st International Workshop "Fluorinated Surfactants: New Developments", 26-28 June 2008, Idstein, Germany.

The main objective of the workshop is to bring together specialists from around the world in order to present and discuss new developments regarding synthesis, behaviour and fate of fluorinated surfactants. Due to the environmental problems perceived with the ongoing use of some fluorinated surfactants, this workshop especially addresses new developments towards more environmentally friendly compounds. Besides research regarding synthesis, performance testing and degradation studies, environmental processes and regulation will be given significant space in this workshop.

For further information, please visit the following website: http://pft.fh-fresenius.de.

 

"Towards Sustainable Water Reclamation Solutions" - RECLAIM WATER Workshop at the SIWW 23-27 June 2008, Singapore

The Singapore RECLAIM Water Workshop is dedicated to working towards sustainable water reclamation solutions by promoting intensive information exchange among the water community from all over the world.

The two-day workshop is designated as a co-located event of the Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) and comprises a one-day symposium on June 23rd and a technical site visit on June 27th, 2008.

It covers perspectives from Germany, Singapore, Australia, China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Netherlands and South Africa and the speakers of the workshop are world leading water experts from the scientific as well as industrial domain.

Their lectures will cover a wide range of topics addressed within the RECLAIM WATER project framework (http://www.reclaim-water.org/) and encompassing:

Additional information and registration facilities are available on: http://www.orient-explorer.com/reclaimworkshop/

 

EUROSOIL 2008 - International Soil Congress with the theme: Soil-Society-Environment, 25-29 August 2008, Vienna, Austria.

This international congress is organised by the European Confederation of Soil Science Societies (ECSSS), in close co-operation with the national soil science societies of Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland. The Congress is organised in 30 symposia, 13 workshops, with pre-and post-congress excursions in Austria, Croatia and Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Switzerland and covers a wide range of topics within soil science and related sciences, including the presentation and discussion of results of several EU projects within FP6.

Further information can be obtained from http://www.ecsss.net .

 

European Water Research Day at EXPO2008, 8 September 2008, Zaragoza, Spain

Within the framework of the International Expo 2008, the EC Directorate General for Research organises a one day event aimed at disseminating the results of EU research activities in the area of water and sustainable development.

The event will be opened by the European Commissioner for Science and Research Janez Potočnik, together with the Member of the European Parliament Philippe Busquin and high-level representatives of the Spanish Government.

Five invited experts will summarise the results of previous and ongoing research activities paving the way for the identification of knowledge gaps and future challenges on sustainable approaches for integrated water management. The European Water Supply and Sanitation Technology Platform will also summarise its main activities and research agenda.

The FP7 call for proposals in the Cooperation programme for 2009 related to water will be presented, offering the possibility of flash presentations from potential proposers and of a brokerage event.

The event aims to attract about 300 participants interested in EU RTD water research initiatives.

The conference announcement, including the detailed programme and providing practical information about registration and logistics, will soon be available from: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/environment/events_en.html

For further information, please contact:

Elena Dominguez(elena.dominguez@ec.europa.eu)

or Javier Peinado Lebrero (javier.peinado@ec.europa.eu)

 

Please note that the 3-days international symposium expected to be organised in July 2008 has been cancelled.

 

NETSSAF project: "Network for the development of the Sustainable approaches for large scale implementation of Sanitation in Africa" - International Conference titled “Pathways towards Sustainable Sanitation in Africa”, 24 – 27 September 2008, the Azalaï Hotel Independence Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

Topics to be addressed at the conference will include:

More details: http://www.netssaf.net/240.0.html

 

"Membranes in Drinking Water Production and Wastewater production", 20-22 October 2008, Toulouse, France

This international conference aims to provide insights on recent membrane technology developments and applications in the water sector. The attracted audience will be composed of delegates from research institutes and universities, water operators and managers, companies, consultancy firms and authorities.

The main topics that will be addressed at the conference are:

Detailed information is available from: http://www.mdiw2008.com/

 

12th Aachener Membran Kolloquium (AMK) 29 - 30 October 2008, Aachen, Germany

The international AMK conference is organised every two years with the aim of presenting industrial applications of membrane technology. The presentations will address new developments and membrane applications in the field of:

A public workshop dedicated to the European project INNOWATECH "Innovative and integrated technologies for the treatment of industrial wastewater" will be held prior to the conference (website: www.innowatech.org ). The objective is to present recent results and potential applications to interested stakeholders and end-users.

Practical information about the conference is available on: www.amk.rwth-aachen.de

 

RTD RESULTS: USE, EXPLOITATION AND COMMUNICATION EXPERIENCES

 

Managing water related information in support of WFD and IWRM implementation

The SPI-Water project, an EC funded research project in the context of specific support to policies thematic priority of FP6, aiming to enhance the interfacing between science and policy with respect to the Water Framework Directive Implementation, is organising its final conference. The conference will take place in Brussels, Belgium on 30 and 31 October 2008. The major objective of the conference is to present the enhanced WISE-RTD Web Portal as a tool for sharing water related research information and operational practices. In addition, general issues related to ways to better bridging the gap between scientific knowledge and water policy implementation and facilitating the transfer of WFD and IWRM experiences will be discussed. The conference is target to a wide audience of operational water managers, researchers, water policy implementation agencies, policy makers, EC project coordinators, consulting & engineering companies, scientific media, etc. from Europe and outside Europe. For more information about the conference, please visit the following web site: http://www.spi-water.eu/spi-water.cgi?s_id=28&subid=45&end=_en

 

 

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/geninfo/legal_notices_en.htm

 

EDITOR:

European Commission

DG Research, Unit I03

Rue de la Loi 200, B-1049 Belgium                                     © European Communities, 2008

e-mail : Avelino.Gonzalez-Gonzalez@ec.europa.eu            Reproduction is authorized provided the source is acknowledged