Monday 30 January 2012

RIVERS TRUST DIRECTOR SPEAKS TO LORDS AS PART OF EU FRESHWATER INQUIRY

 Dr Dylan Bright, Trust Director, Westcountry Rivers Trust, will be questioned by the Lords Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries EU Sub-Committee on Wednesday 1 February as part of their inquiry into EU freshwater policy.

The Westcountry Rivers Trust is an environmental charity working to preserve, protect, develop and improve the UK’s freshwater system in the West Country. The Committee are particularly interested in the Trust’s experiences of applying the ecosystem services concept to water management (by paying farmers for clean water), an approach which may become more widespread as implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) continues.

The Committee will quiz Dr Bright on issues such as:

• his view on the UK’s current arrangements for water management and the impact of the WFD on water management and river water quality so far;
• whether the payment for ecosystem service approach could be expanded beyond farming and integrated with other benefits such as carbon capture; and
• what governments can do to help with these changes and what role the EU can play in making it happen.

The evidence session will take place on Wednesday 1 February at 11.00am in Committee Room 3A of the House of Lords.

Notes to Editors

1. Journalists and members of the public are welcome to attend. A regularly updated schedule of meetings will be available on the website. Please contact the Lords Press Office or subscribe to email alerts and newsfeeds if you would like to be kept informed. The Committee expects to publish its report in spring 2012.
2. You can watch the session live on the internet at www.parliamentlive.tv.
3. The Committee has previously heard evidence from:

• Laurence Smith, Senior Lecturer and Head of the Centre for Development, Environment and Policy for the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London;
• Andrew Fairburn, Head of Public Policy at Severn Trent Water;
• Howard Brett, Wastewater Policy and Strategy Manager at Thames Water;
• Sarah Mukherjee, Director of Environment at Water UK;
• Professor Alan Jenkins, Deputy Director and Water Science Director of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology;
• Andrew Clark, Head of Policy Services and Gwyn Jones, Vice President, NFU;
• Frau Heide Jekel, German Ministry for the Environment;
• Tony Smith, Chief Executive, Deryck Hall, Head of Policy & Research and Dr Ana-Maria Millan, Policy Manager, Consumer Council for Water; and
• Keith Mason, Senior Director of Finance and Networks and Noel Wheatley, Director of Environmental Policy, Ofwat.

You can find a transcript of these evidence sessions on the Committee’s website.

1. The House of Lords Agriculture, Fisheries and Environment EU Committee’s remit is to scrutinise EU documents and policy in agriculture, fisheries and the environment. For more information about the Committee, please see its website.
2. The Lords Agriculture, Fisheries and Environment EU Committee is chaired by Lord Carter of Coles. To arrange interviews or other media activity with the Committee please contact Clare Ramsaran on +44(0) 207 219 8550.

House of Lords Press Office

House of Lords

London SW1A 0PW

020 7219 8550

www.parliament.uk/lords

Topics and Keynote speakers are:

Hydrological Processes -Prof. Keith Beven, Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, United Kingdom -Dr. Isabel Braud, CEMAGREF, Lyon, France

Atmosphere and Land Surface -Prof. Martin Beniston, Institute for Environmental Sciences (ISE), Geneva, Switzerland -Dr. Ingjerd Haddeland, Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate, Norway

Nature, Risk and Extremes -Prof. Farrokh Nadim, International Centre for Geohazards (ICG), United Kingdom -Prof. Kerstin Stahl, Universitetet i Freiburg, Germany

Climate and Water Resources Management -Prof. Inger Hanssen-Bauer, Høgskolen i Telemark, Norway -Dr. Florian Pappenberger, ECMWF, United Kingdom

Abstract submission new DEADLINE: February 17th  2012

For more information and contact details please go to the  web page

On behalf of the Norwegian Hydrological Council

Alongside this there is also a debate over the suitability of traditional culture versus new molecular methods for enumerating faecal indicator organisms (e.g.  E. coli) in bathing waters. These regulatory parameters are used to assess microbial water quality and to index risks to human health associated with faecally contaminated water. This potential future shift in quantification tools adds an extra layer of complexity for regulators, policy makers and scientists to explore in the interest of public wellbeing.

In response to this challenge the University of Stirling (Dr David Oliver & Melanie van Niekerk) are leading a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Knowledge Exchange project ‘Delivering healthy water: building the science-policy interface to protect bathing water quality’. The 18-month project started on 1^st October 2011 and is being run in close association with Professor David Kay (Centre for Research into Environment & Health, University of Wales) and Professor Louise Heathwaite (Lancaster University). A Working Group of experts, comprising science providers and science users, has been formed to enable the sharing of knowledge relating to cutting edge, innovative research in microbial quantification techniques for regulatory monitoring of bathing and shellfish harvesting waters.

More information about the project can be found on the newly launched website at www.deliveringhealthywater.net or by contacting Melanie van Niekerk, the project Co-ordinator at delivering.healthy.water1@gmail.co.uk

Love Your Lakes is a business event organised by Nurture Lakeland.  Core funding partners are the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Environment Agency, Lake District National Park Authority, the National Trust and the Universityof Cumbria.

The subject matter has relevance to a wide grouping of stakeholders. The afternoon Panel Session will include Chris Ryder, Defra; Paul Hickey, EA; Milo Purcell, DWI and Sarah Mukherjee, Water UK. For those of you who wish to attend and show examples of your on-going work, there is a free poster display opportunity.

]]> http://www.catchmentchange.net/news/rainfall-runoff-modelling-the-primer-2nd-edition/feed 0 http://www.catchmentchange.net/news/uk-china-bridge-project-comes-to-lake-windermere http://www.catchmentchange.net/news/uk-china-bridge-project-comes-to-lake-windermere#comments Thu, 22 Dec 2011 10:57:09 +0000 Ruth Alcock http://www.catchmentchange.net/?p=1006 The problem of algal bloom contamination in lakes was the topic of a one day meeting in the Lake District between scientists from the UK and China together with members of the local community.

The initiative is part of the UK-China Bridge project to share expertise between the two countries.

Professor Gang Pan from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing is an expert in lake contamination and has devised equipment to clean up Lake Taihu in Jiangsu Province. The lake is the size of the entire Lake District and had turned green because of the algae, which is harmful to fish.

He joined Professors Phil Haygarth, Roger Pickup and Dr Maria Fernanda Aller from Lancaster University, Professor Stephen Maberly from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) and local representatives including the Mayor of Windermere Joan Stocker, Nigel Wilkinson from Windermere Lake Cruises and Bob Cartwright, Director of Park Services at the Lake District National Park Authority at an event hosted by the Fresh Water Biological Assocation (FBA).

They met in Ambleside to discuss common solutions to lake bloom algae before taking a cruise on Lake Windermere.

Professor Haygarth said: “Algal blooms are a potential health hazard and can be toxic – they have even been known to kill animals. Last year the Great North Swim was called off because of algae in the water.

“Human activity is making the problem worse because the bloom is caused by phosphorus and nitrogen from run–off from agricultural land and sewage discharge seeping into the lake.”

The Mayor of Windermere Joan Stocker said the meeting had been useful.

“What we’ve learned from China is the work that they’ve done very quickly to solve their problems and we need to share more of that information.”

This was a reciprocal visit following a trip by Lancaster researchers to meet Professor Gang Pan and the Mayor of Wuxi at Lake Taihu last year.

Professor Haygarth said: “We are working together to find a solution by managing phosphorus reserves better so they don’t leak into rivers and lakes, but Professor Gang’s approach is different – he is cleaning up Lake Taihu – so we can both learn from each other.”

For more details of the project please visit  the Lancaster Environment Centre website.

Sharing ideas with Professor Gang Pan and Mayor Joan Stocker

Follow this link to view Cook, Benson, Inman, Jordan and Smith (2011) Catchment management groups in England and Wales: extent, roles and influences in the CIWEM  Water and Environment Journal.