World Water Forum, Brazilia & EurEau

Are you or your colleagues attending the WWF in Brazilia later this month? Would you like to learn more about how people all over the world are promoting a circular economy by building an enabling environment? If so, join us for session 4.b.3 on Wednesday 21.03.18 at 11.00am.

The key address will be given by Dr Håkan Tropp (PhD), Head of OECD Water Governance Programme on the topic of the governance of the circular economy in urban contexts.

He will be followed by a panel debate featuring Miriam Feilberg (DANVA ), Shigenori Asai (Japan Water Forum), Dr.Thomas Honer (Windhoek Goreangab Operating Company) and Paula Keohe, (The San Francisco Water Utility).

The event is moderated by Bruno Tisserand.

EU news

Drinking Water Directive

The European Commission adopted a new legislative proposal on the DWD on February 1. You can find the proposal and all the related documents on the

EU matters blog.

The working group on Agriculture and Water Management, of the Intergroup on Biodiversity, Climate Change and Sustainable Development, chaired by MEP Michel Dantin will organise a meeting on the DWD on 16 May from 13.00 to 15.00: save the date, the invitations will be issued soon!    

Information to consumers

Carla from the EurEau Secretariat attended the meeting on information to consumers organised by Aqua Publica Europea on 8 February. The European Commission, the OECD and the Bulgarian Water regulators were among the speakers. The presentations of the event are available here

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Committee of the Regions opinion on the DWD

The Committee of the Regions (CoR) will deliver its opinion to the European Parliament and the Council on the DWD. To this end, the CoR Rapporteur, Mr Marc Weinmeister (DE/EPP), Member of the ENVE Commission of the CoR, organised a meeting with stakeholders on 27 February.

The adoption calendar of the opinion is as follows:

• approx. mid-March: deadline for the rapporteur to submit his draft opinion document (with political recommendations) to translation
• 27 March 2018: deadline for amendments for ENVE members
• 12 April 2018: CoR ENVE Committee: adoption of CoR draft opinion
• 16-17 May 2018: Plenary Session: Adoption of final CoR opinion.

Water Framework Directive: Strategic Coordination Group meeting

The CIS Strategic Coordination Group met on 8 February with discussions limited to two key topics: the revision of the Watchlist for surface waters and the forthcoming EU strategy on pharmaceuticals in the environment.

All meeting documents are available here.

Agriculture and Water: Joint OECD – Commission meeting

EurEau was the only non-governmental representative invited to speak at this event on 20-21 February which focussed on both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the water agriculture nexus. Agriculture Commissioner Hogan again stressed the need for more sustainable farming practices, but emphasised that farmers should not be “punished”.

Pesticides: moving towards neonicotinoid ban?

The European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) confirmed that three neonicotinoid pesticides – clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam pose a threat to three types of bees. The EFSA report might convince Member States to extend the current ban on the use of these pesticides on flowering crops to include wheat in their 22 March meeting.

Plastics Strategy: ECHA launches restriction dossier for intentionally added microplastics

As announced in its Communication ‘A European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy’, the Commission requested the ECHA to prepare a restriction proposal targeting intentionally added plastic particles in products for both professional and consumer uses, such as paint and detergents. The ECHA launched a call for evidence to identify uses, impacts and alternatives. A preparatory Webinar will be held on 12 March 2018.

EIP on Water

The European Commission is conducting a mid-term implementation review of the European Innovation Partnership on Water (EIP Water) with the help of consultants and independent participants.

On 7 February, we participated in a workshop on the evaluation of the governance of the EIP Water. We highlighted the lack of connection and communication between the different levels of the organisation and the absence of a clear definition of the decision process and action plans from the Action Groups to remove barriers and bottlenecks for innovation in the water sector.

Water reuse

The Regulatory Scrutiny Board gave a positive opinion on the draft impact assessment for a potential EU level instrument on water reuse. The legal proposal on water reuse should come by April/May. The final document of the proposed standards for irrigation in agriculture by the JRC is available on CIRCABC. Regarding groundwater recharge, a guidance document will be prepared by a group of experts and the JRC.

Other news

Call to Register for EBC’s International Benchmarking exercise

In 2018 the European Benchmarking Co-operation organises its 12th annual benchmarking exercise for drinking water and waste water utilities in Western Europe.

EBC’s benchmarking and improvement programme offers participants a comprehensive analysis of the performance of its utility in comparison with colleague utilities from across Europe. This ‘fitness check’ helps participants finding improvement areas and priorities in a structured and objective way.

Furthermore, the programme offers participants an opportunity to improve by learning from best practices and innovations from EBC’s extensive European utility network.

The benchmarking exercise runs from 1 May to 15 December 2018 and starts with an Orientation and Training workshop on 6 April 2018 in Copenhagen, in particular for those who are new to benchmarking.

Further details about the upcoming exercise are available in the ‘call to register’ and on EBC’s website www.waterbenchmark.org.

Water solution centre inaugurated

AquaGlobe, a new Water Solution Center, in Skanderborg, Denmark just opened. Dedicated to connecting the most innovative and ambitious actors in the water sector, the centre provides solutions to deal with global water threats such as water shortage, flooding and pollution.

Read more.

Events

18-23 March - World Water Forum (Brasilia). We are co-hosting the 21 March session on Promoting a circular economy by building an enabling environment (Session 4.b.3).

10 April – EP breakfast on Pharmaceuticals in the Environment hosted by BDEW and MEP Tiemo Wölken (registration link https://tiemowlken.typeform.com/to/Db7KmM)  

11-12 June – third Third European Sustainable Phosphorus Conference, Helsinki. Deadline for proposing presentations on sustainable phosphorus policy or management actions, or of business or action success stories, for ESPC3 is 28th February. More information is here

26-31 August - World Water Week on the theme ‘Water, ecosystems and human development’

16-21 September - IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition 2018, Tokyo

7 November - Young Water Leaders first global Event, Berlin (InterContinental Hotel) http://www.ourfuturewater.com/berlin/