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The role of water accounts in water resources management
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Water accounting is the ultimate step in the implementation of water resources management system. It goes further that modeling which is aimed at understanding better the problems and the interactions. As for as business bookkeeping, water accounts h...
Sewage sludge: a specific waste stream
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Sewage sludge is a specific waste stream which originates from the pollution abatement treatment of urban waste water. Quantities have continuously increased over years across Europe (from an annual production of some 5.5 million tons of dry matter i...
Where are we now with the disaster risk reduction?
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Disasters caused by natural hazards was one of the 7 seven key areas that the UNCSD put on the agenda for the RIO+20. The reason is that natural disasters are occurring with increased frequency compared to the past. According to the EMDAT statistics...
Water and Green Economy
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A green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication has been one of the two key themes of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), Rio+20 on 20-22 June 2012. In simple terms, a green economy can...
The European Innovation Partnership on Water
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In 2010, the EU 2020 flagship initiative for an Innovation (link) proposed the launch of a number of potential European Innovation Partnership as a mean to bring together actors and resources around common targets in order to address major societal c...
The outcomes of the 3rd European Water Conference
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The 3rd European Water Conference (website) took place in Brussels on May 24-25, 2012 back to back the Green Week that the EC Commission organize every year to convey stakeholders for a dialogue on what is going in a environmental sector. This confer...
How does EU policy address quantitative water management issues?
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Concerns about quantitative water management were not strongly enshrined into the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC at the time it was adopted. After severe drought events across the EU in 2003 and 2004, this topic emerged on the agenda of the Wat...
Water pollution by hazardous chemicals
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Directive 76/464/EEC was adopted in 1976 to regulate the discharge of hazardous chemicals into the aquatic environment. These substances were defined as Toxic to living organisms Persistent (meaning not quickly degradable) Liable to bioaccumulation F...
Water services in Finland: what is it seen as the key challenges 30 years ahead
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According to the Eurostat water statistics (link), Finland’s situation is very comfortable: water resources per capita is the highest in EU 27 and connection rates to public water infrastructure are well above the EU average (> 90% for drinking...
The water and energy nexus
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There are a lot of investigations going on about potential energy savings and recovery options in the water chain. At first, the goal was to reduce both the carbon and the water footprints. It was a fact that, in the past, additional requirements on...
Water: investing in natural capital
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The United Nations Environment Programme – UNEP – presented at the World Water Week in Stockholm on 25 August 2011 a paper on the investment strategies for water as a part of its Green Economy Report. The paper advocates the benefits of accelerat...
The role of regional and local authorities in promoting a sustainable water policy
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On June 30, 2011, the Committee of the Regions – CoR – adopted an opinion paper on the role of regional and local authorities in promoting a sustainable water policy. This was done at the request of the Hungarian EU presidency and was support...
The future of EU water activities in the field of research and innovation
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On 17-18 May 2011 in Brussels, the Water supply and sanitation Technology Platform – WssTP – organized a water stakeholders’ event to discuss how to boost the boost the competitiveness and innovation potential of the European water sect...
DG Environment’s call for proposals on water balance accounts
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The EC Commission, DG Environment, has recently released a call for proposals aimed at funding pilot initiatives that should supplement ongoing projects on tackling water scarcity, drought and desertification (link). These pilot initiatives are expec...
Water services and the 2012 Blue Print
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Water services are typically a local business shaped by: The geographical circumstances (population, land use, topography) The decisions made by the local authorities. Many different institutional schemes exist across Europe. In 2002, in line with th...
