Issue n°20 September 06
A newsletter for the “Water Cycle and Soil Related Aspects” activities in the European Commission Directorate General for Research
Newsletters Subscription Contributions
FP6 – Global Change and Ecosystems: Results of the call Targeted Third Countries
Within the area 'Water cycle and Soil related aspects' immediate negotiation has been opened with the consortium applying for an extension of the RECLAIM
WATER project (http://www.reclaim-water.org/).
The project is addressing municipal water reclamation and further use for aquifer recharge (AR) considering appropriate technologies, safety aspects
and options for integration in water management approaches.
The extension of the project focuses on affordable and simple reclamation technologies like primary treatment and maturation ponds that are based on the
long term experience of the AR schemes in Mexico City and South Africa. Moreover investigations on advanced dual membrane systems (MF and RO) of the Newater's
brine treatment are the main contributions from the Singapore's new partners.
The overall project budget is about 6 M€, including an EC grant of 3,56 M€.
Progress towards FP7 (2007-2013):
On 24 July 2006 the Council of the EU has reached a political agreement on FP7. A common position, derived from this agreement, will be sent to the European Parliament
for a second reading. It contains also an indicative breakdown of spending among programmes (in million EURO).
Cooperation 32.365
Health 6.050
Food, agriculture and biotechnology 1.935
Information and communication technologies 9.110
Nano-sciences, nano-technologies, materials and new production technologies 3.500
Energy 2.300
Environment (including climate change) 1.900
Transport (including aeronautics) 4.180
Socio-economic sciences and the humanities 610
Space 1.430
Security 1.350
Ideas 7.460
People 4.728
Capacities 4.217
Research infrastructures 1.850
Research for the benefit of SMEs 1.336
Regions of knowledge 126
Research potential 370
Science in society 280
Coherent development of research policies 70
Activities of international cooperation 185
Non-nuclear actions of the Joint Research Centre 1.751
TOTAL 50.521
The specific programmes and the rules for participation of the FP7 legislative package will be decided at a later stage.
More information on FP7 preparation phase is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/research/fp7/
The African Water website was launched to provide support to the African researchers wishing to participate in FP7.
African Water is a 2-year (2006-2007) Specific Support Action funded under FP6 and promoted by the Research Working Group of the EU Water Initiative to increase
involvement of African researchers in the water-related components of FP7.
The African Water website will provide within the coming months the latest information about FP7. The training material and guides for participation will
be uploaded.
The African Water newsletter is also available free of charge. To subscribe please register at: www.africanwater.net.
A knowledge network for solving real-life water problems in developing countries: Bridging contrasts (ANTINOMOS).
The project aims at contributing to global and local knowledge networks for solving real life water supply and sanitation (WSS) problems in developing countries
in view of reaching the MDGs. Based on an account of failures of WSS interventions in the last decades, ANTINOMOS aims at making an impact through bridging contrasts
(between conceptual approaches, or between perceptions of global and local knowledge networks) and knowledge gaps (between knowledge areas which have only
recently been recognized by decision makers as a key issue in reaching the MDGs). The core part of the proposal will be devoted to try to bridge these contrasts
and knowledge gaps. For this purpose, special effort will be devoted to link state-of-the-art technological advancement in WSS with local resources and grassroots
innovations, in order to enable context-specific learning opportunities for more sustainable solutions to real water problems.
For more information please contact Mr Dino Borri, Dipartimento di Architettura e Urbanistica, Politecnico di Bari: e-mail: d.borri@poliba.it
Resource-Oriented Sanitation concepts for peri-urban areas in Africa (ROSA).
The UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs, target 10) call for halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation
by 2015. ROSA promotes resource-oriented sanitation concepts as a route to sustainable and ecologically sound sanitation in order to meet the MDGs.
These concepts shall be applied in four cities in East-Africa, namely Arbaminch (Ethiopia), Nakuru (Kenya), Arusha (Tanzania) and Kitgum (Uganda). The
consortium comprises 2 partners from each of these countries, a university and an end-user. For the model cities strategic sanitation & waste plans (SSWPs)
will be developed for the whole city area. These SSWPs will come up with the best solution for the city combining several techniques (resulting in hybrid systems)
according to the local requirements.
Dissemination activities will be focused on establishing the local East African network between universities, end-users, etc. This network will ensure
the consolidation and the replication of the knowledge gained within the region.
For more information please contact Mr Günter Langergraber, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna: e-mail: guenter.langergraber@boku.ac.at
Integrated High Resolution Imaging Ground Penetrating Radar and Decision Support System for WATER PIPEline Rehabilitation (WATERPIPE).
Many EU cities are experiencing increasing problems with their water pipeline infrastructure. The cost of replacing these old, worn-out systems, if left
to deteriorate beyond repair, is astronomical and clearly beyond the resources of many communities. Replacement, however, is not the only choice as many of
these systems can be rehabilitated at 30 to 70 percent of the cost of replacement. Accordingly, resources are now increasingly being allocated to address pipeline
rehabilitation management issues. Due to the emphasis on sustainable management, risk-based approaches for the rehabilitation management of the water
supply network need to be developed.
Rehabilitation decisions should be based, inter alia, on inspection and evaluation of the pipeline conditions. Yet, utilities cannot locate a number of
their old pipes and current inspection technologies typically do not provide the needed detailed information on pipeline damage.
The objectives of this work are:
To develop a novel, high resolution imaging ground penetrating radar for the detection of pipes, leaks and damages and the imaging of the damaged region and
evaluate it at a test site.
To produce an integrated system that will contain the equipment in ‘1’ and a Decision-Support-System (DSS) for the rehabilitation management of the underground
water pipelines that will use input from the inspections to assess, probabilistically, the time-dependent leakage and structural reliability of the pipelines
and a risk-based methodology for rehabilitation decisions that considers the overall risk, including financial, social and environmental criteria.
To field test the equipment and the DSS.
For more information please contact Mr Nikolas Uzunoglu, Institute of Communication and Computer Systems: e-mail: nuzu@cc.ece.ntua.gr
Optimised Radar to Find Every Utility in the Street (ORFEUS).
This project addresses the requirement for advanced technologies for locating, maint
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