EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENT AGENCY

EUROPEAN TOPIC CENTRE ON INLAND WATERS

BACKGROUND

The European Environment Agency, based in Copenhagen, was established in 1990 by a Council Regulation of the European Union. The Regulation laid down a number of tasks for the Agency and prime among these is the establishment and coordination of a network for collecting, processing and analysis of environmental data. The network is EIONET (European Environmental Information and Observation Network) and the Agency is central to it. The main purpose of the Agency is to produce objective, reliable and comparable information for those concerned with framing, implementing and further developing European environmental policy, and for the wider European public.

The Agency is an independent, legal entity working at the hub of a decentralised, distributed network designed to make maximum use of resources already existing throughout Europe. Key organisations within this network are the European Topic Centres. These are organisations or institutions appointed directly by the Agency to act as centres of expertise and to execute particular tasks identified in its Multiannual Work Programme.

Five European Topic Centres have been appointed by the Agency:

Marine and Coastal Environment - led by Italy,

Air Quality - led by the Netherlands,

Air Emissions - led by Germany,

Nature Conservation - led by France,

Inland Waters - led by WRc in the United Kingdom.

EUROPEAN TOPIC CENTRE ON INLAND WATERS

WRc has been appointed the lead organisation of the Topic Centre. This consists of a consortium of several European organisations which each have a representative on a Management Committee. This agrees the allocation of tasks and members are accountable to the Chairman for the satisfactory prosecution of the Work Programme. The Management Committee is chaired by Dr Tim Lack of WRc who also provide the services of a Technical Secretary and Coordinator (Steve Nixon). The organisations represented on the Management Committee are:

Austrian Working Group on Water (AWW)

Centro de Estudios y Experimentacion de Obras Publicas (CEDEX - Spain)

Instituto da Agua (INAG - Portugal)

International Office for Water (IOW - France)

National Environmental Research Institute (NERI - Denmark)

Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA)

Flemish Environment Agency (VMM)

There are a number of supporting organisations throughout Europe who will also contribute to the Topic Centre's work programme carried out on behalf of the Agency. These include:

Institute of Hydrology (UK)

Danish Geological Survey (DK)

Bundesanstalt fur Gewasserkunde (D)

Environmental Protection Agency (IRE)

Institute for Inland Water Management and Wastewater Treatment (NL)

National Board of Waters and the Environment (Fi)

Societe Wallone de Distribution d'Eau (B)

and a number of Portuguese and Spanish organisations being coordinated through INAG and CEDEX respectively.

CEDEX provide the Deputy Leader of the Topic Centre (Alfredo Iglesias).

For further information on Management committee contacts.

An international team of specialists coordinating the Topic Centre's work programme is based at WRc Medmenham.

WORK PROGRAMME

Three projects (MW1-3) were initially identified by the EEA to be undertaken by the ETC/IW during 1995 and subsequently two additional projects (MW4-5) were brought forward from the 1996 programme for an earlier start.

Project MW1 - Water Resources Quality and Quantity. General Approach to Assessment

This project will establish the detailed requirements of European Union legislation and International Conventions in terms of:

water types (surface, groundwater, coastal and marine)

matrix (water, sediment or biota)

determinands

methodologies

frequency of monitoring

location and density of monitoring sites

quality control procedures

data treatment and storage.

Project MW2 - Inventory of Water Resources Monitoring Networks

This project will determine the extent and structure of current monitoring networks and practices across the EEA area and assess how well they meet the identified requirements and how individual countries may differ reflecting the national priorities.

Project MW3 - Design of a Freshwater Monitoring network for the EEA Area.

This project will use the findings of MW1 and MW2 and will address the design and development of a European-wide water quality and quantity network based wherever possible on existing networks to provide high quality, reliable and comparable data for the purposes of the EEA's objectives and work programme.

Project MW4 - Development and Establishment of the European Water Quality Monitoring Network and Databases.

The initial work on this project has focussed on reservoirs, their usage and associated water quality problems .

Project MW5 - Key Water Resource Issues

This project is starting with a review of the issues in arid and semi-arid areas.

Within this programme there are a number of products required which need to be consistent with the Agency's requirements for aggregated information - knowledge in a nutshell, ready for use by policy makers, planners, developers and reformers. The Agency is committed to producing sound environmental information, analysing and assessing environmental data from all available sources and making the results known through many, various outlets. The focus will be on regular outputs aimed at a large audience. The partners in the consortium forming the European Topic Centre on Inland Waters share the Agency's commitment and look forward to supporting it in its aims and expectations

For further information please contact:

European Topic Centre on Inland Waters

Water Research Centre (WRc)

Henley Road

Medmenham

Marlow

Bucks SL7 2HD

United Kingdom

Phone: +44 1491 571531

Fax: +44 1491 579094