Text :
18.09.00
: The 4th International Rhine Conference
The 4th International Rhine Conference is organised
by the International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine (ICPR)
in close co-operation with the Rotterdam Municipal Port Management
(RMPM).
he following main questions will be addressed:
- which substances in the river Rhine still create
problems for the river, the port or the North Sea environment
- which measures have to be taken to reach the goal
of the New Rhine Convention, to help restore the Rhine and the North
sea and improve sediment quality so that dredged material may be relocated
or beneficially used without adversely affecting the environment
- which will be the resulting challenges for an integrated
river catchment
coastal zone management
The conference is split in two parts: a politically
oriented part on the first day (23 November 2000) and a scientifically
oriented part on the second day (24 November 2000). On this second
day generic and technical issues will be discussed in parallel theme
sessions. A poster session is planned for both days.
If you want to know more about the programme and
hotel accommodations, please surf to the internet-sites of the ICPR
(www.iksr.org) or the RMPM (www.port.rotterdam.nl).
08.09.00
: CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT Environmental Flows for River Systems -
Cape Town, South Africa, 3-8 March 2002.
Environmental Flows for River Systems. An international
working conference on assessment and implementation Cape Town, South
Africa, 3-8 March 2002. incorporating The Fourth International Ecohydraulics
Symposium
Environmental flows comprise water that is left in
a river system, or released into it, specifically to manage some aspect
of river health. The aim of the conference is to bring together water
scientists, water managers, engineers, policy makers, resource economists,
social scientists working with riparian people, and all those interested
in the sustainable use of rivers. Countries addressing environmental
flows, and those still to do so, will alike benefit from a global
update on progress in this vital field.
To access the First Announcement for this conference,
please visit the website http://www.southernwaters.co.za
The website contains an interactive electronic response form for those
wishing to receive the second circular. If you cannot access the website,
please contact the Conference Organisers by email: conference2002@southernwaters.co.za
or by fax: ++27-21-6503887.
All submissions received will be acknowledged within
one month.
07.09.00 : DUH : German minister Klimmt
should privatise the federal water ways administration. A claim to
a moratorium on the building projects on the Elbe, Saale and Havel
rivers.
Deutsche Umwelthilfe (German nature protection NGO)
is asking for a privatisation of the federal water ways administration
. This was also the proposal of one of the member of the experts commission
set up by the government, Wilhelm Pällmann, who used to be at the
head of the railways and telecom companies. Until then, the bulldozers
should remain still. Federal water ways administration is a state
within state. " If [it] was privatised, it would be nicer than a dream,
for nature and for all tax payers ", said Professor Dr. Gerhard Thielcke,
president of the DUH. According to him, the federal water ways administration
is a state within state, rigidly organised from transport minister
to basic workers, all the policy being dictacted by the needs of the
navigation. There are 17 242 civil servants working for this navigation
activity, which itself employs only 6 775 persons. The elite of those
civil servants does not only want to check the levels of the water
but also to build monuments. So official and private nature protectors
have to deal again and again with adventurous development plans, which
are frequently qualified as measures of maintenance, but which in
reality bring substantial negative changes in the structure of rivers.
As a consequence of this, numerous habitats of several species have
been destroyed since 1990 on the Elbe and Havel rivers. In spite of
the 1996 Elbe declaration, and without opposition from the Federal
ministers Wissmann and Müntefering, the federal water ways administration
enlarged and deepened two parallel water ways: the Elbe parallel channel
and the lower central Elbe river. The federal water way administration
argues that boat operators should be able to choose whether they want
to drive on the Elbe parallel channel or on the Elbe.
A moratorium for current and planned measures.
Deutsche Umwelthilfe hopes that Federal Minister of
Transport Reinhard Klimmt will privatise the federal water way administration.
It requires a moratorium for all current and planned measures on the
Elbe, Saale and Havel rivers, until the federal water way administration
is denationalized. This especially concerns ecologically precarious
projects like Domfelsen (partial destruction of a famous rock under
the water) in Magdeburg and the development project on the Elbe near
Wittenberg and on the lower part of the Saale, where an economically
senseless barrage weir is to be built.
For further information : Prof. Dr. Gerhard Thielcke,
Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V., Güttinger Str. 19, 78315 Radolfzell, Tel.:
07732/1507-0
06.09.00 Spain's Regions
Battle Over National Water Plan
MADRID, Spain, September 6, 2000 (ENS) - Publication
by the Spanish Environment Ministry of its long awaited national hydrological
plan Tuesday has ignited a simmering political battle between different
regions over access to scarce water resources. Some details of the
plan emerged in July but its most controversial proposal only became
clear yesterday on the plan's formal unveiling. This is for construction
of a 700 kilometre (434 mile) canal to transfer just over 1,000 cubic
hectometres of water per year from the Ebro River basin in the north
to the southeastern Mediterranean coast at an estimated cost of euros
4.2 billion (US$3.66 billion).
*The Ebro River arises in the province of Aragon and
empties into the Mediterranean Sea on Spain's central east coast.
Environmental groups criticised the plan, which include proposals
to build up to 118 new dams and widespread irrigation infrastructure
at a cost of euros 18 billion (US$15.7 billion).
Regional governments in areas that stand to lose water
supplies have reacted angrily. The government of Aragon attacked the
transfer plan as "an unjustifiable attempt to take water from the
poorest, most under populated parts of Spain and pipe it to the rich,
highly developed Mediterranean coast" and called for "alternative
solutions more in keeping" with the recently finalized European Union
water framework directive. Defending his proposals, Spanish environment
minister Jaume Matas promised not to implement any aspects "before
achieving a consensus" between all interested parties. He pledged
that the Ebro transfer would not result in any expansion of irrigated
agriculture, which currently consumes 80 percent of Spain's water
supply.
Ebro River Delta
He also announced a euros 0.03 per cubic metre ecotax
to be levied on transferred water to compensate donor regions. The
proposed eco-tax aside, details were not released of the percentage
of environmental and infrastructure costs of the project to be met
by farmers, industry and domestic consumers through water bills. Environment
ministry sources estimated the average cost of transferred water at
euros 0.31 per m3, while environmental group Ecologists in Action
said it would be double this amount. Juan Valero of the National Irrigators
Federation said "farmers would not generally be able to afford water"
if the full costs of transfers were passed on.
Santiago Martín of Ecologists in Action described
the plan as "a great victory for the construction companies" and "a
20th century solution to a 21st century problem." .
ENS Environment News Service {Published in cooperation
with ENDS Environment
06.09.00 : WCD Press Release
- "Water Wars"
World Commission On Dams Chair Challenges "Water War"
Rhetoric Winner of 2000 Stockholm Water Prize Asmal takes on global
theory that water scarcity leads to conflict
STOCKHOLM, Monday, Aug. 14 -- In a policy address
before the Stockholm Water Forum, World Commission on Dams Chair Prof.
Kader Asmal today questioned the motivations and basis for a widespread
doctrine that drives foreign policies and global aid: Prevention of
Water Wars.
After reviewing the bleak facts about water scarcity,
and acknowledging how that leads to stress, Asmal argued that there
is no basis for spreading alarm, mobilising, strengthening borders
or launching unilateral top-down campaign. All of which have been
advocated by global experts.
Officials from the US Department of the Defense,
CIA, State Department and White House met to consider the international
implications of water conflicts. The result, was a multimillion dollar
agenda to resolve global water disputes, on grounds, said the Secretary
of State, that "As competition for water intensifies, further disagreements
over access and use are likely to erupt." "With all due respect to
my friends," said Asmal, "have battles ever been fought over water?
Is water scarcity a casus belli? Does it divide nations? The answer
is no, no and no. Indeed, water, by its nature, tends to induce even
hostile co-riparian countries to co-operate, even as disputes rage
over other issues. The weight of historical evidence demonstrates
that organised political bodies have signed 3600 water related treaties
since AD 805. Of seven minor water-related skirmishes, all began over
non-water issues." "There is some value to sensational Water War rhetoric,"
Asmal acknowledged. "Alarmists awaken people to the underlying reality
of water scarcity, and rally their troops to become more progressive
and interdependent. By contrast, to challenge that rhetoric is to
risk making us passive about the status quo, or delay needed innovations
or co-operation...
But the Water War rhetoric must not replace the vacuum
left by the Cold War's end. If the 'water's-for-fighting' chorus is
off key, its disharmony affects lives as well. It shifts energy and
resources from local priorities to foreign affairs. It scares off
investment where it is most in need. It reshuffles priorities, delays
implementation of policy. It is easier to ignore their thirst than
to divert attention to potential foreign threats, real or imagined.
Easier, not better. To help the poor and weak, let us together reform
our unstable, consumptive habits to share limited supplies…"
The full text of Professor Asmal's speech is available
at www.dams.org
06.09.00
: Annonce d'un séminaire du Bureau Européen de l'Environnement (EEB)
- 3 et 4 novembre 2000
EEB Seminar on Water 3. and 4. of November 2000 Brussels
Dear Colleagues,
After the finalisation of the Water Framework Directive
it is time to start the follow up process and to identify key issues
for future action.
EEB will organise on the 3. and 4. of November 2000
in Brussels a follow up seminar on the Water Framework Directive.
The efficient and proper implementation of the WFD
in Member States will be key in order to make full use of the instruments
provided in the directive to better protect and improve our waters.
Several pieces of subsequent legislation are following
the WFD and are under preparation: First of all a 'list of priority
substances in the field of water policy', which is in the pipeline
and will present the future Annex X of the WFD. First reading in Parliament
is expected 14-16 of November 2000. For these substances EQSs and
ELVs have to be developed and proposed and for certain substances
a cessation target will apply. The Commission presented a Communication
on Water pricing, which proposes a set of guiding principles of the
water pricing article of the WFD. A clear groundwater protection strategy
is missing in the WFD. Measures and criteria still have to be prepared
and proposed by the Commission to prevent and control pollution to
achieve 'good status' of groundwaters.
Our work should not stop with the adoption of the
WFD, but should keep on promoting far reaching objectives. It is time
now to push Member States to actually achieve the objectives and improve
water protection and to support the proper use of the integrative
river basin management approach and call for a rapid phase out of
hazardous substances.
After summer we will be provide you with a first draft
agenda for our seminar.
Best regards and refreshing summer holidays,
Stefan Scheuer
**************************** Stefan Scheuer EU-Policy
Assistant Water Campaign European Environmental Bureau Boulevard de
Waterloo 34 >B-1000 Brussels Tel: +32 2 2891090 >Tel: +32 2 2891304
Direct >Fax: +32 2 2891099 >E-mail: water@eeb.org *****************************
29.08.00 : Romanian smelter
in cyanide spill to be upgraded
ROMANIA: August 29, 2000 BUCHAREST
- A joint Romanian-Australian gold smelter, blamed for a big cyanide
spill in European rivers in January, will undergo extensive upgrading
before becoming fully operational, a Romanian official said yesterday.
"The Task Force visited the Aurul smelter last week and agreed on
projects to increase its safety standards. These projects are compulsory
technical solutions," the environment official told Reuters from the
northwestern city of Baia Mare. The Task Force of environment experts
was created by the European Union after 100,000 cubic metres of cyanide-tainted
water overflowed the tailings dam at the Aurul gold smelter in Baia
Mare in January, poisoning the Tisza and Danube rivers in one of Europe's
worst river pollution accidents.
The rivers flow through Romania, Hungary and Serbia.
Officials at the smelter in Baia Mare were unavailable for comment
yesterday.
The Romanian government has a 45 percent stake in Aurul and Australian
Esmeralda Exploration Ltd owns 50 percent. The remaining five percent
is owned by Romanian business interests.
The Baia Mare official, who asked not to be named, said the upgrading
projects included the construction of a new dam with a capacity of
250,000 cubic metres to act as an emergency buffer in case of overflows
caused by excessive rains, as in January.
"The aim is to build a safety system able to sustain exceptional
meteorological conditions," the official said.
Esmeralda was put into administration in Australia in March. The
spill embarrassed Bucharest and prompted authorities in the rest of
Europe, including Greece and the Czech Republic, to halt mining projects
involving cyanide handling.
The installation of a permanent cyanide detoxification unit, independent
power generators as well as new pipelines for an open circuit system
to bring waste water to "normal quality" were also part of the upgrading
package, the official said.
"For the time being, we don't have an estimate for the total cost
of the project," the official said.
She said Aurul was now carrying out technological tests by operating
at 60 percent of its capacity, with experts closely monitoring the
tailings re-treatment operation.
"Reports indicate that the parameters of the smelter are satisfactory.
And safety conditions are also good," she said.
The smelter started the first tests in July at some 20 percent capacity
after changing part of its equipment.
Budapest voiced concern over the restart of the smelter, saying
Bucharest had failed to notify it of the move.
Story by Adrian Dascalu
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
23.08.00
: Nile basin water shortages
From New Vision (Uganda), 23 Aug 2000
Kajura warns of water shortage
WATER, Lands and Environment Minister Henry Kajura
yesterday warned of an impending water shortage in the Nile Basin
if countries sharing the river do not plan its use, reports Charles
Wendo.
Speaking during the opening of a five-day regional
workshop on the Nile Basin in Entebbe, Kajura called for "sustainable
and equitable utilisation of the Nile waters
."He said droughts, land degradation, poor farming
methods and other circumstances that make water unsafe would aggravate
the scarcity.
"As the population in the basin increases, it is
evident that the Nile waters will not be adequate to meet all the
development needs of these countries in the long term," he said.
The workshop has brought together water experts from
Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda to discuss joint economic
and environmental projects for the basin. The Democratic Republic
of Congo is not attending though it belongs to the basin.
Kajura said that despite the great potentials of using
the water for economic development, the Nile Basin countries were
among the poorest in the world. He said the river could be used for
irrigation, electricity generation, tourism and transport.
The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), established for harmonious
development and use of the Nile water resources for economic development,
has its headquarters in Entebbe with members as Burundi, Egypt, Eritrea,
Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA Tel. (510) 848
1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
INTERNATIONAL NEWS 