EMWIS Flash n°71, June 2009

2- Jean-Louis Borloo, French Minister of Ecology, Energy & Sustainable Development, and Rachid Mohamed Rachid, Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry, co-chaired in Paris on Thursday 25 June 2009, the first ministerial meeting of the Union for the Mediterranean on sustainable development projects. It address four major issues: water and environment, transport, energy and urban development. It can be seen as the starting point of a new process. A large number of projects were listed in these 4 domains and basic concepts for their selection were discussed, with the UfM secretariat playing a key role in this process. The financial institutions announced an impressive number of coordinated activities to support infrastructure projects and capacity building. The formal announcement of the relaunch of the UfM process is expected for the 7 July at a senior official meeting of the 43 UfM countries. Further information on EMWIS website.

3- Occurring every year in the “Palais des Festivals et des Congrès of Cannes”, the symposium gathers every year more than 3000 participants from 78 different nationalities, all actions taken into account, including many lecturers, congressmen and exhibitors.  The Cannes Water Symposium deals about several different activities such as scientific workshops, vocational training seminars, conferences, business meetings, visit of facilities, general public animations and evening of official reception for professionals. The UNESCO, the United Nations University, the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis and the City of Cannes – which are the co-founders of the Mediterranean UNITWIN, UNESCO and United Nations network on the water resources, sustainable development and peace – are participating to our international event. For its 11th birthday, the Cannes Water Symposium 2009 is taking an exceptional dimension Cannes, the World Water Capital from 30th of June to 3th of July 2009. EMWIS will be present at the stand of the International Office for Water (OIEAU). You can follow it in live at: http///www.water-symposium-networkvisio.com. Further information on EMWIS website

4- On Friday 19 June 2009, the World Water Council selected Marseille (France) as the city and country to host the 2012 World Water Forum. The selection followed a rigorous process for evaluating the candidates and a final vote from the Council’s Board of Governors. The World Water Forum is the world’s largest water gathering that brings together over 20,000 political leaders, NGOs, government officials, water professionals, and scientists every three years. In an effort to benefit from the excellent quality of the two final candidatures, France and South Africa, the Governors of the World Water Council suggested that the countries work hand in hand. Prior to the vote, South Africa and France both had agreed to a partnership for the preparation of the next Forum. As such, when Marseille was selected, it extended an invitation to Durban, South Africa to be a full partner in the years running up to the Forum. Further information on EMWIS website.

5- The EU-WFD - Sharing experiences and meeting future challenges: Meeting of the European River Basin District Authorities: «EURO-INBO 2009» organised by the «Group of European Basin Organisations for the Implementation of the Water Framework Directive - WFD», will take place this year within the World Water Week in Stockholm, at the invitation of the Swedish River Basin District Authorities the days 19-21 of August 2009. Further information on EMWIS website.

6- The European Union (EU) Water Framework Directive is at risk of being undermined by poor and inadequate plans for water management prepared by EU countries, a new study by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and European Environmental Bureau (EEB) claims. The analysis found that none of the draft river basin management plans (RBMPs) rates well across a range of water safety, conservation and management measures. Despite increasing water challenges exacerbated by climate change, draft plans developed so far by member states generally put off major and necessary decisions, the report says, providing few mechanisms and little funding to achieve ‘good’ status for water bodies. Water pollution remains a serious issue also not sufficiently addressed in the majority of plans and large portions of Europe’s waters remain at risk of becoming unavailable or in need of expensive treatment. Water efficiency measures were particularly poor in most draft plans, with France’s Loire Bretagne basin described as ‘a partial exception’ where a water efficiency objective is proposed for drinking water supply for rural and urban areas. Public consultation on the draft plans is due to close at the end of June. Final plans have to be sent to the European Commission (EC) by the end of the year. Further information on EMWIS website.

7- In France, the City of Paris is preparing in 2010 a return to a public water management: it took several years to the elected parties to prepare this great change to remove global markets operators, with regard to water production, distribution and sanitation. By 2010, the City of Paris takes the control! GDF Suez and Veolia, two major French groups reign supreme on the water market in France.  The water needs a public utility management: it is the wish of the Lille city. The aim is to serve the interests of users and not those of shareholders. The utilities contracts are expected to end in 2015: the city is preparing for this transformation and the example of Paris is a reference to draw on course. Further information on EMWIS website.

8- In the Water Framework Directive, whose main objective is the good condition of water bodies by 2015, each major watershed must establish a water management plan. In the Artois-Picardie, it was decided that the revision of SDAGE (Schéma Directeur d'Aménagement et de Gestion des Eaux) and the development of a program of measures to monitor its implementation, will come into force before 22 December 2009. A public consultation took place in two stages: 2005 and 2008. The consultation of the institutions (January to April 2009) was extended to approved associations of environmental protection . Further information on EMWIS website.

9- Even though Turkey has received a satisfactory amount of rainfall this year, this does not mean that the risk of water shortage has been eliminated; apparently the Turkish capital has not been planning to make any changes to basic parameters of its water policy vis-à-vis its neighbours Iraq and Syria. Over the weekend, the Iraqi water minister suggested that Turkey has not followed through on its agreement to supply Iraq with the water it desperately needs. The Turkish Foreign Ministry declined to comment on whether the government planned to supply Iraq with more water, stating only that, “There is no tension between Turkey and Iraq on the water issue”. Ankara has not been planning to make any changes in the basic parameters of its water policy, while asserting that it has been outlining this policy as “using its cross-border waters together with its neighbors in an appropriate, fair and optimal way.” Yet, there is no agreement between Iraq and Turkey concerning the use of cross-waters, thus the amount of water to be released by Turkey. Experts continued warning citizens of Turkey to use water more efficiently to avoid water shortages in future years, despite the fact that Turkey received a satisfactory amount of precipitation last winter. Further information on EMWIS website.

10- Jordan may have been spared a major water crisis this year but the outlook is not good in the parched kingdom, and a range of measures and projects need to be implemented as quickly as possible, say experts. The government has said the kingdom will have enough water this year to supply its 5.6 million people, as its reservoirs are roughly half full. Figures from the Water Ministry indicate there are around a 100 million cubic metres (mcm) in reservoirs across the kingdom, out of a total capacity of 215.4 mcm. Jordan, which depends on rain as a main source of drinking water, was on the brink of one of the worst dry seasons in years, but heavy rain and snow came at the end of the season, boosting reservoirs, specialists said. Jordan has neither natural lakes nor major rivers, except for the River Jordan, which has been depleted due to industrial-scale use by Israel. Demand regularly exceeds supply and the annual amount of water available per person per year is only 145 cubic metres. Jordan has recently announced several mega-projects to tackle the water shortages, including the US$2-4 billion Red-Dead Canal project, which seeks to provide 850 mcm of potable water a year.  The government also signed an agreement with a Turkish company, Gama, last summer to pump water from the southern aquifer of Disi at a cost of $600 million. The project, which is expected to be completed by 2020, will provide Amman and the southern governorates with some 170 mcm of water a year. However, the Disi project has been delayed for years due to lack of funding. King Abdullah has given the green light for a mega $8.2 billion water strategy to alleviate the chronic water shortage, in accordance with recommendations from a royal committee. Further information on EMWIS website.

11- Work on a 14,000-cubic metre water reservoir that will serve Zarqa residents is expected to be completed during the first quarter of 2010, according to the Minister of Water and Irrigation Raed Abu Saud. The Batrawi Service Reservoir is being built under the second phase of a Japanese-financed project to improve the water supply in the Zarqa District that also includes extending water pipelines stretching over 3.7 kilometres. The total cost of the project (phase II) stands at about $25 million, according to a Japanese embassy statement. Phase II of the project, which started in 2007, aims at improving water supply conditions and increasing actual water availability from 84 litres per day per person in Zarqa, to 113 litres. This will be achieved by reducing the leakage percentage from 31 per cent to 25 per cent by distributing water at an appropriate pressure and optimum water distribution management in north Zarqa, Hashemiyeh and Sukhna municipalities. The minister noted that the Japan International Cooperation Agency's support to the Kingdom’s water sector totalled about JD232 million over the past years.  Further information on EMWIS website.

12- Israel's agriculture and finance ministries formally declared a drought in large parts of the south on 2 June, a move which will trigger compensation payments to farmers. However, Hila Be'eri, the Agriculture Ministry’s assistant spokesperson, said the decision would not affect prices of fresh produce or the water rations allocated to farming for 2010. The drought-stricken areas in the south produce mainly wheat, according to the Ministry. After five consecutive dry winters, Israel's main fresh water source, Lake Tiberias (also known as Lake Kinneret and the Sea of Galilee, and which is fed by the River Tiberias, in turn fed by the River Jordan and several other small streams from the Golan Heights), is at a dangerously low level. According to water authority data, only 80-85 percent of the average annual rainfall was recorded in 2009 in the Lake Tiberias area. In January the lake’s water level fell to a record low, and as of 3 June it was only 0.34 metres above the level at which pumping must be stopped. Israel has launched a national water saving campaign, which has included restrictions on the watering of private gardens, and in recent years some Israeli farmers have switched to using treated sewage water instead of fresh water, according to the Israeli water authority. Israel has three desalination plants - in Eilat, Ashkelon and Palmakhim - supplying some 150 million cubic metres of drinking water per year. Six further plants are planned to be operational by 2012, supplying 300 million cubic meters, nearly half of all current household consumption. Further information on EMWIS website.

13- More than 16,000 people in the Bethlehem area now have access to clean and safe water, following the completion of the EU funded project "Emergency Water Assistance to Drought Affected Communities in the West Bank". The project, funded by the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Department (ECHO) in collaboration with CARE International, aims to improve access to water for people in ten communities in the Bethlehem governorate affected by a severe and chronic shortage of water. A press release said that as a result of the project, under which water cisterns have been repaired and constructed and temporary water storage tanks made available, residents of the marginalized communities will have access to clean and safe water this year. These communities have been severely affected by the drought that hit the Southern West Bank for the past five years due to the their remoteness and restrictions imposed by Israel on the construction of basic water infrastructure and even water storage cisterns. Further information on EMWIS website.

14- The rivers discharge pollutes the sea off Gaza, such as the Wadi Gaza, where a steady flow of raw sewage blackens the sea for kilometres. The currents in the eastern Mediterranean move northwards, bringing sand from the Nile delta and sewage traces from Gaza to the beaches of Israel. Gaza's sewage problem is just one of several environmental issues which affect both Palestinians and Israelis. Last 5 June was World Environment Day, and it is appropriate to take a moment to survey the environmental damage around and ask what can be done to prevent it.  One of the major sources of water flowing into the Dead Sea is the Kidron river or Wadi Nara, which brings raw sewage from Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The effect of global climate change on the Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory is not yet clear. The region has suffered five years of drought and some forecasters estimate that temperatures will rise and rainfall will decrease. It will become much harder to make the desert bloom in such conditions. Environmental issues affect everyone, yet here they are an unnecessary hostage of the conflict. It would take a small mental shift to remove environmental issues from the "pending peace process" tray and upgrade them to urgent. These problems will not go away or wait until the resumption of serious peace talks. The World Bank states that Palestinians use one sixth the amount of water that Israelis use per capita. Scarcity forces some Palestinians to monopolise the small amounts available and others to drill unlicensed wells, putting further pressure on the aquifer. The blockade on Gaza is also taking its environmental toll on Gaza and southern Israel. Co-ordinated action is possible. Israel has worked efficiently with the international community and the Palestinian Authority to treat avian flu, fearing that an epidemic in Gaza could affect poultry farmers in Israel. The environment urgently needs the same affirmative foresight and vision. Anything less would be irresponsible. Further information on EMWIS website.

15- Official forecasts in Tunisia indicate a demand for drinking water in urban and rural areas of 600 million m3 per year by 2030. The calculations are based on an increase of 2.5% of the urban and 1.8% in rural areas, and also on improving the efficiency of distribution network should reach 90% in 2030, against 74% in 1996. In 2007, the demand for drinking water has reached 348 million m3. The volume of drinking water production had reached 453 million m3, including 18.2 million m3 from desalination. Further information on EMWIS website.

16- Egypt depends almost entirely on the Nile for its water supply. 85% of river water used for irrigation purposes. Like everywhere else in the world, water demand is steadily increasing in the country. For Egypt, the solution is to make better use of current flows of the Nile. To do this, the most viable solution is to make the irrigation system more efficient, while being responsive to the farmers needs. Previous projects had led in part to modernize the irrigation system of Egypt, but the costs were too high and the returns too low. A different approach was needed. In collaboration with the Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI), the World Bank, the German Development Bank (KfW) and the Government of the Netherlands have established a project management infrastructure of Irrigation (Irrigation Infrastructure Integrated Project Management or IIIMP). This project aims is to test and extend the technological innovations that reduce costs and meet the needs of farmers. Because many of these innovations had not been used in Egypt, it was feared that farmers are reluctant to accept the proposed changes because they reduce the conception norms of water supply in their farms. Further information on EMWIS website.

17- The Nile Basin Initiative, which purpose is to secure a sustainable and equitable way to manage the available water resources in the region, has signed a contract with the Danish Hydraulic Institute (DHI) for the development and deployment of the Nile Basin Decision Support System. This system will enable the Nile Basin Initiative member countries to monitor and manage water in a transparent and regionally accepted way. The decision support system is based on a computer model of the river system. Somewhat 6-7000 km of the Nile will be modelled. This water spine model will act as the backbone for the decision support system, which essentially is a water allocation and budget model. If water is withdrawn one place then the effect other places can be quantified, hence allowing, member countries to undertake comparative water use assessments and select preferred strategies for implementation. Further information on EMWIS website

18- The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Arab Network for Environment and Development (RAED) announced strategic partnership working to increase regional capacity and awareness in the Middle East and Northern African (MENA) region. USAID and RAED recognize the importance of positive change gained by exchange between civil society organizations, governments and the private sector. By connecting a regional network of 200 environmental and civil society organizations with a strategic partner network of experts - including water utilities, professional associations, donors and the private sector - the two groups can create sustainable solutions at the local, national and regional levels. This dialogue is particularly relevant in the Middle East and North Africa as this region already faces a water crisis that affects its people, the environment and economy. RAED and USAID officially launched their first jointly programmed national climate change workshop for the MENA region. This workshop, held in Rabat, Morocco from May 28-29, 2009, emphasized the mutual objectives of their overall partnership. Further information on EMWIS website

19- The European Commission's Communication ‘On the progress made under the Seventh European Framework Programme for Research,' highlighted the support given to sustainable development under the FP7 since it started in 2007. The EU has invested no less than €4.4 billion in sustainable development-related research over the first two years of the framework.  Overall, the programme will contribute €54 billion over the seven-year period between 2007 and 2013. Of the initial €10 billion invested to date, 44% has been allocated to sustainable development. In particular, these funds have aided projects that deal with the environment and climate change, energy, food and agriculture and biotechnology. Two particular tools under the FP7 are providing the necessary infrastructure to foster the sustainable-development related research. The Co-operation Specific Programme - the largest Specific Programme of the FP7 - and the Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS) enable the FP7 to promote forward-looking and integrated approaches to sustainability. Despite the efforts being made by FP7, experts still feel there is a pressing need to raise the profile of research into sustainable development. The Commission conference ‘Sustainable Development - A challenge for European research' from 26 to 28 May 2009 produced a dozen recommendations that call for a new approach to measuring the impact of research in the field of sustainability. Further information on EMWIS website

20- The final conference of the STRIVER project on Integrated Water Resource Management in Theory and Practice - How water conditions influence life, took place 28-29 May 2009 in Brussels. STRIVER "Strategy and methodology for improved IWRM" is an EC 6th FP programme running from 2006 to 2009. It is jointly coordinated by the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) and Bioforsk.  The main aim of the project has been to develop interdisciplinary methods to assess and implement IWRM in four selected twinned catchments covering six countries in Europe and Asia. Further information on EMWIS website

21- In SCENES project, the future state of Europe's fresh water resources in terms of both water quantity and water quality is further translated in impacts for society, economy, environment and ecology. An integrated analysis framework based on indicators has been set up and the core set of impact indicators is under development, but the first results are available. Further information on EMWIS website

22- With all the power of 21st century collaboration technology, nothing to date has tamed the massive amounts of disparate water information locked away in diverse database systems. But that may have changed last week when Google Labs launched Fusion Tables, a powerful new online research and data organizing tool that makes it much easier to share and navigate the world's digital science and technical archives. Fusion Tables, which was developed by Google engineers using sample research data about the global fresh water crisis provided by the Pacific Institute and Circle of Blue, is specifically designed to unlock a treasure trove of facts, trends, and scientific findings that until now have been sequestered in databases and spreadsheets not easily shared. Further information on EMWIS website