EurEau newsletter - edition 4 - June 2016

EurEau General Assembly

The EurEau General Assembly meeting was hosted by our Dutch member Vewin in The Hague on 26-27 May.

Five position papers were approved on:

• Overflows from collecting systems
• Micropollutants and the control at source approach
• Transparency in water governance and water services
• Protection of surface water resources used for drinking water abstraction
• Shale Gas.

The General Assembly representatives had a very interesting discussion about the way their countries are getting ready for the challenge of water infrastructure resilience to climate unpredictability.

Circular Economy

The European Council of national environmental ministers should adopt their conclusion on the Action Plan of the Circular Economy Package on June 20.

The draft report of Simaona Bonafé on the four legislative packages have been published and will be discussed on 15 June at the ENVI committee of the European Parliament. All documents are available here

. Deadline for amendments is 23 June 2016 and adoption on 7 November 2016. The article related to the exclusion of sewage sludge from the scope of municipal waste is important for the water industry as it allows sewage sludge not to be affected by the targets on landfill and incineration.

Materials and products in contact with Drinking Water

EurEau Vice President Dr Claudia Castell-Exner presented at this meeting on 12 May in Brussels. You can find the presentations here.  

Sustainable Development Goal 6 on Water

On 31 May Carla attended the meeting ‘Sustainable Development Goal on Water: Business as Usual in Brussels?’ organised by the EWP and Team Finland.

The meeting was an occasion to reflect about the implementation of Goal 6 in the EU thanks to the variety of speakers that gave an overview of the Agenda 2030 process and the developments at UN level. You can find the presentations clicking here.  

Micropollutants

EurEau submitted the answer to the public consultation on the chemical legislation REFIT (deadline 27 May 2016).

The roadmap of the chemical legislation REFIT exercise is finally available here. Comments to the roadmap can be submitted till mid-June.

Europe and India    

We spoke to a group of MEPs interested in progress of partnership work on water between India and the EU. Neil Dhot spoke alongside Dr Jack Matthey, Director of Policy Development and Coordination at DG Research and Innovation. Whilst operators, including members of EurEau’s associations, are doing interesting work in India, the EU needs to work more as a team and bring the range of expertise from across member states, to maximise the many opportunities out there.

Communications and media

Bruno Tisserand contributed to the first edition of the Portuguese APDA magazine. You can read his article here , page 34 (and it’s in English!).

Bruno is spreading our message on water reuse in a video you can use and share.

EurEau Vice President Dr Claudia Castell-Exner wrote an opinion piece for the EU media outlet EurActiv on materials in contact with drinking water. You can read it here.

To mark the 25th anniversary of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive, co-chair of EU2, Jean Pierre Silan also contributed to EurActiv with this piece.

Hello!

A huge hello to our newest member country, Slovenia! The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia were approved in the May GA meeting. Representatives will be at the EurEau congress in Copenhagen, and we will welcome new commission and GA members to our meetings soon.

Important dates

EurEau events

EurEau Congress: will take place in Copenhagen. The committees will meet on 19-20 September.

Other events

13-17 June: AEAS, IWA, Aqualia and the University of Santiago de Compostela are co-organising the 13th IWA Leading Edge Technology Conference on Water and Wastewater Technologies (LET 2016) in Jerez da la Frontera, Spain. For further details on the topics, location and the programme please visit the conference website.

If you have any questions, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

17 June: ESPP will organise a meeting of struvite technology providers and water companies operating struvite plants in Europe in Amersfoort, Netherlands, 9h00 – 12h00.

29 June: Bertrand will present the position of the water industry related to the Fertiliser Regulation proposal at a meeting organised by ESPP on recycled nutrient products in the proposed EU Fertiliser Regulation revision at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Brussels. DG Grow will present the project. Registration is compulsary by providing your name and organisation to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

6 September: Please note the change of date (from 14 July)! Workshop on Pharmaceuticals in the Environment – make ideas work. This workshop is by invitation only. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

10 September – 29 January: The Municipality of Cremona is organising an exhibition on the engineer Jannello Torriani, who obtained universal popularity thanks to his technological innovations. Cremona is 90 Km south of Milan.

10-11 October: Enviconin Poznan, Poland