Archive News 2011

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December

IWA Project Innovation Awards - Competition is now open

IWA establish the Project Innovation Awards (PIA) to recognise excellence and innovation in water engineering projects throughout the world, in keeping with IWA's mission of connecting water professionals worldwide to lead the development of effective and sustainable approaches to water management. Submission is open until 15/01/12. » more

Second Assessment of Transboundary Rivers, Lakes and Groundwaters

The Second Assessment provides a comprehensive overview of the status of transboundary waters in the European and Asian parts of the UNECE region, covering more than 140 transboundary rivers, 25 transboundary lakes, about 200 transboundary groundwaters and 25 Ramsar Sites or other wetlands of transboundary importance. » more

November

KFW to Disburse Additional 7 million EUR for Rehabilitating Batumi Sewerage System

The Reconstruction Credit Institute of Germany will disburse 7 mil. EUR for rehabilitating the Batumi sewage system rehabilitation as part of the agreement Levan Varshalomidze, head of the government of the Autonomous Republic of Achara, will conclude with KFW in the near future. The additional tranche will be allocated in 2012. KFW has already allocated 39 million EUR for Batumi sewage system rehabilitation in 2011, including 20 million EUR is a preferential credit and 19 million EUR is a grant.

Annual Report of Water Partnership Program

The WPP 2010 Annual Report provides an overview of the Program’s accomplishments and outlines its future direction. The report provides examples of how the WPP enables the Bank to respond to the emerging needs of its client countries and bring innovative solutions and transformative knowledge to help them resolve complex water challenges. » more

October

Georgian Water&Power to spend 10 mil. Lari on rehabilitation of water supply and sewerage

Georgian Water&Power (Tbilisi company of water supply and sewerage) plans to invest 10 mil. Lari in rehabilitation of water and sewerage this year, a comany representative said. Rehabilitation work, which started in July, is expected to be completed in the first half of November. The rehabilitation measures comprise water and waste water networks of all diameters and a total length of 45 km.

Call for submissions: IMPACT Business Award 2011

The IMPACT Business Award rewards enterprises that apply innovative business solutions in combating Climate Change. The award implemented on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and organized by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit will make a total of up to five International Awards available in 2011. » more

Huber Technology Prize 2012: Future Water

At IFAT ENTSORGA 2012 in Munich Huber-Technology-Foundation will award the Huber Technology Prize for the third time. The jury is looking for "ideas, proposals or concepts that deal with the subject Energy from Wastewater in a holistic way and take into consideration the interaction between technology, environment and society". Deadline for applications is Jan 16, 2012. » mehr

Georgia to build 15 new hydroelectric power plants

A total of 15 new hydroelectric power plants will start to be built in Georgia from 2012, Minister for Energy and Natural Resources, Alexander Khetaguri, said at a meeting of the parliamentary committee on industry economics and economic policy. The total capacity of the hydropower plants will exceed 2,000 MW. » more

Infographic: China’s Water Pollution Events and Protection Policies (2004-2011)

China has some of the dirtiest and most dangerous water in the world. This detailed and interactive timeline shows key pollution events, protests, and policy reforms from the last eight years at both the national and regional levels as China tries to clean up its act. » more

DWA German Rules and Standards

The German Association for Water, Wastewater and Waste (DWA) has reissued the German DWA Rules and Standards CD-ROM in English language.DWA-Standards contain the generally accepted rules of technology. Advisory leaflets describe the state of the art. » mehr

Building China’s 21st-century Megacity: Shanghai’s Experiment with Water and Nature

A new community on the Yangtze River has, so far, been more successful at attracting ducks than people. But city officials have their sights set high for Lingang Port City, which they say could be home to nearly a million people by 2050. Cleaner water will be a big help. » more

Water History of our time

The revised version of Water History of our Times was published end of June 2011 by UNESCO-IHP. The book's purpose is to foster a better understanding of the historical development, cultural diversity and ethics of freshwater use and management, and its relationship to issues of equity, cooperation and social cohesion, which is considered a prerequisite for the equitable and peaceful sharing of water resources. » more

VDMA: First time German pavilion at water and energy exhibition POLLUTEC MAROC 2011

"Till 2020 Morocco wants to invest 4 billion Euros in the wastewater sector as well as 9 billion Euros in wind energy and solar thermal systems.", explained Richard Clemens, speaker on energy-efficient process technology at VDMA, on the occasion of the water and energy exhibition Pollutec Maroc 2011. Reason enough for the VDMA to further open the doors to Morocco market for German technology providers with a German pavilion at the environmental technology exhibition. » more

September

Water Management in Germany

The Flyer published by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety comprises the latest data on water supply and waste water disposal in Germany. » more

Iraq launches groundwater database to reduce uncertainty in the country’s water supply

The Government of Iraq reasserted its commitment to tackle the ongoing water crisis on 3 July as it completed the first stage of a national initiative to map the country’s underground water resources. » more

Negotiation and Cross-Sector Cooperation for Good Water Governance

ACWUA in cooperation with GIZ is planning for the 4th Regional Training course within the "Water Utilities Performance-WUP" Program. This training course enables participants to analyse and understand conflicts over competing water uses, to be part of a water dialogue process to explore and implement fair and equitable solutions in the allocation and efficient use of water, and to act as change agents in a complex institutional setting towards solutions for sustainable water uses,following the internationally accepted principles of IWRM. » more

Ground Glass Solution for Cleaner Water

British science has led to a use for waste glass that cannot be recycled that could help clean up polluted waterways by acting as an ion-exchange filter to remove lead, cadmium and other toxic metals. Details are published in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Environment and Waste Management. » more

13/09/11

BORDA and Eawag: Recipients of the IWA Development Solutions Award 2011

The inaugural IWA Development Solutions Awards will be presented at the 2nd IWA Development Congress in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in November. Read an interview with Andreas Ulrich and Christian Zurbrügg who represent the award winning organisations and will deliver keynote speeches at opening ceremony of the Congress. » more

07/09/11

India’s Water Management Challenge

By July this year, the monsoon has established itself vigorously over much of the subcontinent. The anxieties of the long, intense summer months, when nations hold their collective breath in anticipation of the cooling, life-giving rain, have receded. But the region’s 1.6 billion people know that next summer, the worries will return. » more

07/09/11

Initiating integrated solutions for the Green Economy

The German Federal Government is organizing the international “Bonn2011 Conference: The Water Energy and Food Security Nexus – Solutions for the Green Economy” to be held from 16 to 18 November. The conference has been announced by German Chancellor Angela Merkel as a specific German contribution to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development “Rio2012”. » more

02/09/11

World Water Week: Providing Water and Sanitation to the Poorest

For 1.2 billion people - nearly a fifth of the world's population - access to safe drinking water remains a distant dream. In the third world, women and girls are particularly affected - they walk miles every day, fetching and carrying water for their families, which means they miss out on opportunities to work and go to school. » mehr

August

31/08/11

Stockholm World Water Week 2011: Megacities, Human Rights, Sanitation, Tech Tools, Energy, and Food

The largest mass migration in history, drawing billions of people from rural areas to cities, is posing a major risk on global water security and prompting planners, experts, businesses, and policy makers to design new standards for measuring water risk. But the world’s capacity to respond to age-old problems like sanitation is in doubt, as conventional estimates of safe access to water and sanitation globally might be “grossly underestimated” — several times smaller than the reality on the ground. » more

30/08/11

Secure drinking water access, urges UN

Investing as little as 0.16% of the world's gross domestic product - or $198bn per year- could give half a billion people regular access to safe drinking water within four years, a UN official said on Friday. That would halve the number of people who risk serious illness and death on a daily basis, the United Nations Environment Programme said. » more

29/08/11

Premiere for GWP at SIWW 2011

As a global platform Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) unites politics, industry and experts to name and discuss current problems and progresses in water management. This year, for the first time, GWP took part in the fair with a joint booth in line with the German Pavilion. » more

29/08/11

Hydropower for Zambia

The government of Zambia is planning to build two new hydropower plants which are expected to add an estimated total of 250MW to the national power grid by 2016, boosting the regional supply in the process. » more

July

19/07/11

Water sector in India: Overview and focus areas for the future

India, home to 16 percent of the world’s population, has only 2.5 percent of the worlds land area and 4 percent of the world’s water resources at its disposal. The KPMG brochure analyses the situation of the indian water sector and concludes with key imperatives for various stakeholders in the water sector. » more

June

01/06/11

Water treatment plant as art object in Venice

The artist Ayşe Erkmen has made water the focus of her art object which will be shown as part of the Turkish contribution to this year's Biennale contemporary art exhibition in Venice. A water treatment plant supplied by Berkefeld / VWS Deutschland GmbH forms the centre of her presentation under the title 'Plan B'. By means of the plant's interconnected components water from a canal will be treated in an exhibition room. » more

01/06/11

MoU between GWP and the Eurasian Water Center in Astana, Kazakhstan
As of July 2010 GWP and the Eurasian Water Center signed a Memorandun of Understanding concerning cooperation in projects for water and waste water. Kazakhstant aims at developing the Kazakh water sector following the German, federal model. Further conversations held in May of this year confirmed the cooperation. » more

May

26/05/11

More cooling water for Qatar
In March, KSB Aktiengesellschaft of Frankenthal in Germany, received a pump order in the double-digit million euro range. The pump units are intended for one of the biggest seawater cooling plants in the world. It is situated in the industrial city of Ras Laffan in Qatar on the Persian Gulf approximately 80 kilometres north-east of Doha, the state’s capital. The seawater is needed for cooling processes in a gas liquefaction plant. » more

24/05/11

Transnational Project for decentralized waste water treatment

The ACT CLEAN project supports Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) throughout Central Europe to implement eco-efficient production processes. It promotes environmental technologies and management systems by connecting demand and supply: It provides SMEs with technological and managerial know-how on one side and it facilitates the marketing of already existing solutions on the other. » more

13/05/11

Water partnership aims to provide safe drinking water access in Africa
A new strategic partnership between The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation, beverage company Diageo, and WaterHealth International has been launched in Africa to provide sustainable access to safe drinking water there.
The partnership, 'Safe Water for Africa' (SWA), will work with communities to drive the expansion of WaterHealth International's water service delivery model across the continent. Building on a core investment of over US$6 million, SWA plans to raise a total of over US$20 million to fulfill its ambition of providing safe water to at least 2 million Africans by 2012. » more

13/05/11

European development finance to transform water supply for 2 million people in Kampala
Access to safe drinking water and sanitation by more than 2 million people in Uganda’s capital Kampala is set to improve dramatically following key funding agreements signed today to support operations by the Ugandan National Water and Sewerage Corporation. Germany and France through their respective agencies KfW Entwicklungsbank (The German Development Bank) and Agence Française de Développement (AFD - The French Development Agency), alongside the European Investment Bank, the European Union’s long-term lending institution, as well as the EU-Africa Infrastructure Trust Fund, will provide UGX 605 bn (EUR 178m) for the UGX 720 bn (EUR 212m) project through a combination of loans and grants to the Republic of Uganda. » more

April

28/04/11

Launch of the GCUS-JSC Newsletter
The Japan Global Center for Urban Sanitation and the Japan Sanitation Consortium launched a new newsletter. This quarterly edition will provide useful news and information on off-site and on-site sanitation in Japan. The 1st
issue is addressed to the professionals that the organizations have met throughout their activities or to organizations and professionals involved in sanitation.
To subscribe send an e-mail to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

11/04/11

American Environmental Scientist Named the 2011 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate
Stephen R. Carpenter, Professor of Zoology and Limnology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, will receive the 2011 Stockholm Water Prize. This announcement was made in connection with the UN World Water Day. Carpenter's groundbreaking research has shown how lake ecosystems are affected by the surrounding landscape and by human activities. His findings have formed the basis for concrete solutions on how to manage lakes. » mehr

March

01/03/11

Dramatic shift in water balance

Within a single generation, recent studies show, water demand in many countries will exceed supply by an estimated 40%, with one-third of humanity having half the water required for life’s basics. In flood-prone places, meanwhile, catastrophic flood events normally expected once a century — similar to those recently witnessed in Pakistan and Australia — can now be expected every 20 years instead. » more

01/03/11

UN: “Sustainable Sanitation: The Five-Year-Drive to 2015”
Sanitation has received another major boost at the international level: On December 20, 2010 the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution establishing a global effort to realize “Sustainable Sanitation: The Five-Year-Drive to 2015”
The Resolution (A/RES/65/153) calls upon the UN Member States to “redouble efforts to close the sanitation gap”. This can be achieved by scaling-up ground-level activities, community participation and the further mobilization of financial and technological resources, complimented by better political prioritization of sanitation. » more

January

28/01/11

Third Call for ACQUEAU

The EUREKA Cluster ACQUEAU is an ‘Industry/Business led water network’, whose ultimate aim is to facilitate the generation of market driven, pan-European collaborative water research and technological development projects for the benefit of the European Water Industry. Deadline: Feb 21st, 2011. » more

10/01/11

ACWUA launches Water Utilities Management Capacity Building Program

The Arab Countries Water Utilities Association (ACWUA) and Engicon O&M in cooperation with the German Association for Water, Wastewater and Solid Waste (DWA) are pleased to announce the launching of the Water Utilities Management Capacity Building Program (WUM-CBP). WUM-CBP offers a series of training modules in
the following areas:
1- Non-Revenue Water Management
2- Operation & Maintenance of Water & Wastewater Facilities
3- GIS application for Water Utilities
4- Planning & Design for Water and Wastewater Systems

» more

06/01/11

ADB to Invest $20 Million USD in First-Ever Water Fund

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on November 17 approved investment of as much as $20 million USD in its firstever private equity fund for the development of water and wastewater-related infrastructure in Southeast Asia and China. » more

06/01/11

India’s New Water Policy to Cover Better Usage Regulation, Pricing

India’s federal government is working on a new water policy that is expected to regulate how the resource is used by various sectors in the country. The new policy is also expected to introduce a more coherent system of usage charges. It is expected to be rolled out in next few months. India’s central planning body, the Planning Commission, is working on it with the Ministry of Water Resources. » more

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