Newsletter - September
2010
Website:
www.sednet.org
Compiled by: Marjan Euser (marjan.euser@deltares.nl)
Subscription Service: SedNet Secretariat (marjan.euser@deltares.nl)
Disclaimer: SedNet is not responsible for faults due to
incorrectness of info in this newsletter
Previous issues:
www.sednet.org
CONTENTS
7th SedNet conference:
Sediments and Biodiversity: bridging the gap between
science and policy
More than 100 abstracts have been
submitted for the conference to be held on 6-9 April
2011 in Venice. In the next couple of weeks the
abstracts will be selected for oral or poster
presentation. Submitters will be informed in the course
of October of the outcome of the selection procedure.
The program for the special sessions,
which will take place prior to the conference, is under
construction. The following sessions will be held:
- Sustainable dredging of
Mediterranean Ports: the future for sediment
management
- Dredged materials assessment
nowadays
- The importance of sediment for
biodiversity
- Sediments in a changing
environment
It is anticipated that in November 2010
the program will be disseminated and registration will
be opened.
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SedNet Round Table Discussion 2009
on River Basin Sediment Management
Linked to the 6th SedNet Conference, a
Round Table discussion was held 6 and 7 October 2009.
This Round Table discussion built on the results of the
SedNet Round Table Discussion on River Basin Sediment
Management held in Venice in 2006 (see
www.sednet.org/roundtable.htm). In the SedNet
e-newsletter special on river basin management plans
(spring 2009 - see
E-News_special_on-RBMP_April2009.pdf
) the SedNet steering group concluded: “These few pages
on WFD compliant River Basin Management and sediment
management show a great variety. The river basins are
different in size and challenges, and the solutions are
as diverse as the recognition of sediments in the plans
is.”
On this background SedNet organised
another Round Table discussion preceding the Hamburg
conference. The goal was to discuss the position of
sediment management in water management and in regional
or local developments and to explore new pathways to
effectively link sediment management initiatives to
RBMP’s.
The invited participants represented
river commissions, governmental bodies, water agencies,
port authorities, research institutes, consultancies,
NGO’s, etc. Rivers represented where Douro, Ebro, Danube,
Sava, Drava/Mura, Elbe, Rhine, Scheldt and Thames. The
program of the Round Table was based on the outcome of a
questionnaire sent earlier to the participants and an
illustrative river basin case. During two days, a large
number of topics were covered: holistic system
understanding, dealing with uncertainty, better linkage
of sediment management to WFD objectives or to other
plans, communication (especially about the link between
sediments and ecosystem integrity), stakeholder
involvement and ecosystem services as a model to help
the stakeholder process.
A report about the outcome of the Round
Table discussion can be found on the website (Integration-of-Sediment-in-River-Basin-Management.pdf).
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Guidance on Sediment and Biota Monitoring
Mathias Ricking, FUB Berlin
The Guidance on Sediment and Biota Monitoring has been
issued in May 2010. It assists in setting up a
monitoring program for surveillance and compliance
monitoring according to the WFD. It covers freshwater
ecosystems as well as the transition and marine zone.
For applying EQS different options are possible, whether
to apply the EQS for the whole water phase or to set up
new EQS for SPM (suspended particulate matter), SEPM (settling
particulate matter – collected in traps) or sediments
beside biota, keeping in mind not to exceed the EQS for
a good ecosystem quality in the water phase. The
analysis for the PS and related compounds is performed
on the < 63 µm for the particulate phase. Further
normalisation factors like TOC, Li, Al are recommended
but not mandatory.
In the case of performing a surface sediment monitoring,
sampling once every year for compliance and every third
year for trend monitoring is the recommended minimum
frequency. In the case of SPM sampling with passive
systems a minimum of 4 samples per year is advised and
by applying a flow-through centrifuge in minimum 2 times
a month sampling is recommended. The time schedule has
to take into account the reporting time scale of 6 years
for the WFD. A short presentation is downloadable on the
SedNet website. (Implementation-sediments_Mathias-Ricking.pdf).
The Guidance document is available
here.
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The European Water Framework Directive beyond 2010:
let actions speak louder than words
Scientific Committee WFD Lille 2010 Conference
The first generation of WFD River Basin Management Plans
is now available. This is a formidable achievement and a
great step towards addressing Europe’s deteriorated
river systems. However, plans are only words: only the
actual implementation of the selected measures will
result in achievement of good ecological and chemical
status. The WFD Lille 2010 Conference pointed out that a
lot of new, but so far unused scientific knowledge is
available to improve the effectiveness of selected
measures or to inspire the introduction of complementary
measures. Furthermore, the complexity in terms of the
functioning of the water system, its interaction with
the socio-economic system and the uncertain consequences
of climate change, urges a ‘learning-by-doing’ approach.
This approach should be applied in well-designed, -coordinated
and -monitored learning catchments.
The full conference position paper is available
here.
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Competition of Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences
The Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences in Belgium
organises every year a competition in order to stimulate
high-quality scientific research regarding problems
inherent to overseas regions. The competition is open to
all scientists worldwide without any age restriction.
Members of the Academy are not allowed to participate in
the yearly competition. The work submitted for the
yearly competition of the RAOS should be an original,
recent and unpublished scientific manuscript, reaching
at least the level of a PhD thesis.
Two of the six topics that can be addressed for the 2011
competition are very relevant for SedNet:
- Question 5: A contribution is requested to the study
of the chemical, mineral and biological composition of
dredged material extracted from tropical riverbeds,
including estuaries and harbour areas, so as to reduce
pollutant dumping at their source and/or re-use or store
dredged material in such a way that the environment is
protected on a permanent basis.
- Question 6: A study is requested about the positive
and negative impacts of dams' construction on rivers in
developing countries. Their development is quite often
hindered by lack of water for a large part of the year.
Possible effects of climate changes are likely to make
the situation worse.
Studies must reach the secretariat of the Academy before
1 March 2011.
More info on the following website:
www.kaowarsom.be
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SCARCE - Assessing and predicting effects on water
quantity and quality in Iberian rivers caused by global
change
Water resources in Spain are subjected to rising
pressures, related to the socioeconomic activities of an
increasing human population, expressed by accelerated
land use changes, and the specific climate
characteristics of Mediterranean countries. The main
panels on climate change predict a future scenario of
increasing frequency of floods and extended droughts in
the Iberian Peninsula, mostly in the Mediterranean basin.
This will certainly add to the currently existing
problems, and will probably affect the available water
resources, their quality, the functioning of associated
ecosystems, especially rivers and their aquifers, and
the ecosystem services they provide.
SCARCE is a project that aims to describe and predict
the relevance of global change impacts on water
availability, water quality and ecosystem services in
Mediterranean river basins of the Iberian Peninsula, as
well as their impacts on the human society and economy.
SCARCE will study different aspects of SEDIMENTS such as
sediment transport dynamics, rivers´s morphosedimentary
structure and physical habitat, comparison of
sedimentary processes and chemical quality parameters
under water scarcity.
More info on
www.idaea.csic.es/scarceconsolider
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TIDE - Tidal River Development
TIDE focuses on tidally influenced estuaries of the Elbe
(D), Weser (D), Scheldt (BE/NL) and Humber (UK) which
are characterised by large sediment transportation and
heavily used as shipping channels leading to large ports.
The ecosystem services and estuarine habitats are
threatened and need to be considered to ensure both,
economic benefits and the maintenance of ecologically
important areas. At the same time decision-makers at
these estuaries are faced with an increasingly
challenging legal and global economic framework. By
implementing the knowledge and solutions generated in
previous projects such as New!Delta, Harbasins and the
achievements of SedNet, and integrating the needs for
economic development of the port areas with the needs of
the ecosystems, TIDE seeks to provide tools and
strategies for integrated management and planning in
these estuaries.
TIDE brings together ten partners – including port
authorities, universities, and environmental and public
agencies – from four countries, under the leadership of
the Hamburg Port Authority. The three-year project
(2010-2012) will improve knowledge on estuary
functioning through resilience quantification and
inter-estuarine comparisons, raise public awareness of
the issues at stake, improve policy mechanisms and
instruments, and gather and analyse mitigation and
compensation measures. By applying for the first time a
unified ecosystem approach to guide the process of
integrated participatory management planning, TIDE will
lead the path towards a more sustainable and effective
use of large scale investments made into mitigation and
compensation measures in estuaries.
The TIDE project is supported by the ERDF-financed
INTERREG IV B North Sea Programme.
www.tide-project.eu/
www.northsearegion.eu/ivb/home/
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MIRAGE - Mediterranean Intermittent River Management
Specific Targeted Research Project - Cooperation
Project No. 211732
This project is supported by funding from the specific
programme 'Cooperation,' theme 'Environment (including
Climate Change)' under the 7th Research Framework
Programme of the European Union.
The proposed research project MIRAGE (Mediterranean
Intermittent River ManAGEment) aims to provide specific
key knowledge for a better assessment of ecological
integrity (or ecological status in the words of the
European Water Framework Directive) in Mediterranean
temporary streams.
MIRAGE will develop the practical measures necessary to
understand their impact on nutrient dynamics, toxic
substances and organic matter and to link these aspects
to an Integrated flood management.
WP 6 deals with “Sediment regime”:
Expected outcome: Advance in knowledge of particulate
dynamics, the influence on water quality and guidance on
related measures in temporary waters.
For more info see
www.mirage-project.eu/
RISKBASE
Towards well-informed, adaptive and participatory river
basin management
The key-findings and recommendations of the RISKBASE
project (that was completed end of 2009) can be found on
www.riskbase.info.
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Upcoming events
2010:
25-27 October 2010: International Symposium on
Sustainability Science: The Emerging Paradigm and the
Urban Environment. PSEG Institute for Sustainability
Studies, Montclair State University, Montclair NJ, USA.
http://csam.montclair.edu/sustainabilitystudies/conferences/
2011:
6-9 April 2011: 7th International SedNet conference
“Sediments and Biodiversity: bridging the gap between
science and policy”, hosted by Thetis SpA, Venice, Italy.
www.sednet.org
2-6 May 2011: Coastal Sediments ’11; 7th International
Symposium on Coastal Engineering and Science of Coastal
Sediment Processes. Miami, Florida, USA.
http://coastalsediments.cas.usf.edu/
19-23 June 2011: 12th International Symposium on the
Interactions between Sediments and Water, Dartington,
Devon, England. Organised by the International
Association for Sediment Water Science (IASWS)
www.geog.plymouth.ac.uk/IASWS2011
10-11 November 2011: CEDA Dredging Days ‘Dredging and
Beyond’, conference centre Ahoy, Rotterdam, the
Netherlands.
www.cedaconferences.org/dredgingdays2011
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SedNet secretariat:
Mrs. Marjan Euser
Deltares
P.O. Box 85467
NL-3508 AL Utrecht
The Netherlands
E-mail
marjan.euser@deltares.nl
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