Capacity building for better water management - Training information management Cooperation - Office International de l'Eau

Page created by Albert Chavez
 
CONTINUE READING
Capacity building for better water management - Training information management Cooperation - Office International de l'Eau
News 2006   7/03/06   9:24   Page 1

     Capacity building for better water management

                                           Training
     International
     O f f i c e                           information
     f o r Wa t e r
                                           management
        Special
        World
                                           Cooperation
        Water
        Forum
        Mexico
                              N° 13 - December 2005 / January 2006 - English version
Capacity building for better water management - Training information management Cooperation - Office International de l'Eau
News 2006      7/03/06     9:24     Page 2

                       CNFME - CNFME - CNFME - CNFME -
                T h e F r e n c h N a t i o n a l Tr a i n i n g C e n t e r f o

                                                    The catalogues for 2006
                                                    "Water" and "Wastes"
                                                    Unrivalled skills in dealing with continuing training...
                                                            Relying on its strong knowledge of the various
                                                            water professions, the National Training
                                                            Center for Water Professions proposes mo-
                                                            dules allowing to gain all the knowledge and
     5,500                                                  skills necessary for serenely fulfilling your duty,
                                                            either being an operator exploiting a system, a
 trainees/year                                              river technician, the manager or department
                                                            head of water syndicates or farming companies,
                                                            or even the engineer of a consulting firm or the
                                                            person in charge of the environment in industry.

       For already 15 years, the International
       Office for Water (IOWater) has carried out,
       with a recognized teaching ability, its
                                                            “   The "CNFME" is ISO 9001 certified.
                                                            In addition to these "professional" training pro-
                                                                                                                  The "CNFME" hydraulic installations in Limoges
                                                                                                                  The catalogue of 2006 can be downloaded
                                                                                                                  from the Internet:
                                                            grams, specific modules on electrical enginee-
       mission: "capacity building for better wa-
       ter management" through the transfer of
                                                            ring, automatism, maintenance, pumping, wa-           www.iowater.org/cnfme
                                                            ter analysis, are dealt with in full compliance
       knowledge and know-how by the National
                                                            with good practices and directly related to the
       Training Center for Water Professions
                                                            drinking water supply and sanitation systems
       (CNFME) in the French-speaking countries of
                                                            or production processes.                               A few figures to summarize:
       course. But it is also successfully exported
                                                            In order to optimize the beneficial effects for a
       beyond language barriers in South Africa,
                                                            community or a company, our team can formu-            l    5,500 trainees in 2005.
       Kenya, Nigeria, Mexico, Poland: these are some
                                                            late the best suited multiyear training                l       370 training programs offered in
       examples of training centers created similar to
                                                            plans and propose a simple and effective eva-                the catalogue,
       the model that has been developed by
                                                            luation system for assessing the gained know-          l       450 training courses,
       "CNFME" in France.
                                                            ledge and skills.                                      l        10 training sites: Limoges and La
       Just perusing the 2006 catalogues of con-            The National Training Center for Water                       Souterraine of course, but also Le Bour-
       tinuing training programs will allow you to          Professions offers a service, ISO 9000                       get, Paris, Saint-Brieuc, Cholet, Pau,
       better weigh the quality of the training offer.      certified, version 2000, and entirely com-                   Tarbes, Antibes, Nancy, all these loca-
       All the great water-related topics are dealt with:   puterized from registration, the measurement                 tions being selected for their field
       the city and its sewerage, water supply, aquatic     of the gained knowledge and satisfaction up to               teaching contribution.
       environments, management of skills and servi-        the convening, the trainee can directly access         l     Our educational units allow the
       ces, water in agriculture and industry, regula-      to his/her own results in the modules from the               trainee to study under working condi-
       tions, etc.                                          catalogue, and the client can follow up the                  tions, either through visits, demonstra-
                       One of our potabilization units      "Intra" modules developed on his behalf.                     tions or practical work.
                                    at La Souterraine       2006 is the year in which the "waste" cata-                  These units are unique in Europe,
                                                            logue will be created: 10 training courses al-               due to their number, allowing the cove-
                                                            ready cover the organizational, regulatory and               rage of the entire water cycle, or to
                                                            technical fields.                                            their capacity, identical to real plants or
                                                            4                                                            parts of plants.
                                                                                                                       All the courses can be carried
                                                                                                                       out in English and Spanish.

                                                                                                                   The "CNFME" also offers other opportu-
                                                                                                                   nities: training of elected officials, the
                                                                                                                   "technical days of the International
                                                                                n˚ 12345                           Office for Water"...

   2                 The News N° 13 - December 2005 - January 2006
Capacity building for better water management - Training information management Cooperation - Office International de l'Eau
News 2006    7/03/06      9:24     Page 3

E - CNFME - CNFME - CNFME - CNFME
er for Water Professions

          New units ....                                                                                              Training
          The "CNFME" has just completed a signifi-              l   Located close to the pilot unit with acti-
          cant investment plan for the renewal and                   vated sludge, the new analysis labora-
                                                                                                                      on wastes
          extension of its educational units.                        tory is equipped with a microscopic ob-          For Municipalities
          l The metrology unit includes installations                servation room for assessing the bacterial       and Urban
              for the checking and calibration of flowme-            population in wastewater during the              Communities
              ters (electromagnetic, ultrasonic, Doppler             treatment cycle.                                                          Its usual customers
              effect, etc...), water level meters (ultrasonic,   l A presentation and demonstration
                                                                                                                                               have been appea-
              ball with bubble and pressure sensor), sam-            room was installed with modern equip-                                     ling to "CNFME" re-
              plers, thermometers and pluviometers,                  ment for collector management:                                            garding this topic:
              electronic devices for the control of measu-           TV inspection, waterproofing tests, leak                                  local authorities,
              ring equipment (analyses and generation of             detection.                                                                consulting firms or
              gauged signal).                                    l Finally, the dehydration workshop was
                                                                                                                                               private operators,
                                                                     entirely rehabilitated: the centrifuge and the                            both in France and
          Wastewater microscopic observation
          and analysis laboratory                                    filter-press were changed and the band-fil-                               abroad.
                                                                     ter renovated.                                                            IOWater proposes,
                                                                 These facilities are designed and developed          for the first time in 2006, a training offer
                                                                 by the IOWater trainers and technicians.             dealing with the municipal waste sector in
es
                                                                 Doubling the surface area of the techni-             a specific catalogue, which includes about
                                                                 cal hall is planned in 2006 for the instal-          fifteen training courses addressing regula-
                                                                 lation of new units for the instrumenta-             tory, technical, financial and organizational
                                                                 tion of under-pressure systems and                   aspects.
                                                                 hydrology in rivers.
                                                                                                                      4
                                                                 4

           1991 - 2006
           IOWater celebrates its 15 years
           and is preparing the future!
          The International Office for Water is                  The International Office for Water is                The main issues are:
          going to celebrate its 15 years of exis-               going well!                                          n new information and documenta-
          tence.                                                 Its actions are recognized at the national and          tion-related services;
          It is an opportunity to make an evaluation of          international levels, it is a leader in many         n exportation of training for water
          our Association’s activity and a progress re-          fields (training for water professions, promo-          professions;
          port on the evolution of our professions and           tion of water management at the level of river
                                                                                                                      n development of data administration
          fields of action.                                      basins and of integrated water resources
                                                                                                                         activities;
                                                                               management, institutional inter-
                                                                                                                      n advice on Governance of municipal
                                                                               national cooperation, manage-
                                                                               ment of water-related data and            drinking water supply and sanita-
                                                                               information, etc).                        tion utilities;
                                                                                                                      n development of integrated basin
                                                                               Big stakes and new opportunities
                                                                               are offered to us, it is thus neces-      management over the world.
                                                                               sary to define a strategy to meet      The strong motivation of our staff gua-
                                                                               them even better.                      rantees a new dynamics and the deve-
                                                                                                                      lopment of the new strategy of the
                                                                                                                      International Office for Water in the
                                                                                                                      coming years.

                                                                                                                      4
                                                                               A team of motivated experts

          Information: Fax: +33 5 55 11 47 01 - E-mail: cnfme@oieau.fr
                                                                                                                                      The News N° 13                  3
Capacity building for better water management - Training information management Cooperation - Office International de l'Eau
News 2006     7/03/06    9:24    Page 4

                        s in
                             eng
                                lish
                                                        Information - Documentation - W
                     ent        Information, Documentation, W
                  cum
         0      do        WATERDOC             "iREP"
       00
    50.      A world-wide documentation and information                                                     The French register
                                                                                                            of industrial pollutant
   1       service devoted to water
                                                                                                            emissions
          "WATERDOC", the IOWater documenta-            "WATERDOC" Topics:
       tion base, gathers the scientific, technical,    l   Tech'Waterdoc: 195,000 interna-
       legal and economic information and includes          tional technical, scientific and economic
       more than 250,000 documents in the various           references,
       European languages. Our base is daily upda-      l   "Fontaine": 18,000 study reports and
       ted and proposes about 6,000 new refe-               regional and local information produced
       rences each year, available for free consulta-       by the Water Agencies, the Water
       tion on the Website:                                 Directorate of the Ministry of Ecology and
       http://waterdoc.iowater.org                          Sustainable Development,
       The "WATERDOC" documents are selected            l   Juri'Waterdoc: 2,900 references,
       by our study engineers then analyzed by a            French and European Community water-
       network of experts, thus ensuring the rele-                                                          The Directorate for the Prevention of
                                                            related legal texts, comments and jurispru-
       vance of later research.                                                                             Pollution and Risks (DPPR) of the French
                                                            dence,
                                                                                                            Ministry of Ecology called upon IOWater
       Documents can be ordered online                  l   Administr’Waterdoc: 11,500 ad-                  skills to disseminate on the Web the informa-
       through access in the English language.              ministrative references on institutional        tion of the French register of industrial pollu-
                                                            management and the organization of the          tant emissions (iREP): emissions of dangerous
       The Press Review                                     water world,                                    wastes into water and the air.
       "WATERDOC" proposes online an elec-              l   Eco’Waterdoc : 6,000 references on              The website, created by the International Office
       tronic Press Review of 60 international              water economy,                                  for Water, uses free software technologies
       periodicals, available upon subscrip-            l   R&D'Waterdoc : base of European                 (OpenSource) and provides many accesses to
       tion.                                                research on water,                              the information: search by pollutant and waste,
       A specialized search engine enables an auto-                                                         search by plant, and is supplemented by a
                                                        l   WFD: more than 400 methodological
       matic search in all articles as soon as pub-                                                         powerful cartographic visualization.
                                                            guides in full text, conferences, legal texts
       lished. They can also be ordered online.                                                             IOWater is working on the optimization of
                                                            and case studies related to the implementa-
                                                                                                            data-gathering flows and at simplifying their
                                                            tion of the European Water Framework
                                                                                                            management.
                                                            Directive (WFD) in France and Europe,
                                                        4                                                   The website of industrial pollution in France:
                                                                                                            www.pollutionsindustrielles.ecologie.gouv.fr
                                                                                                            4

                                                        A series                                            RM&C
                                                        of syntheses                                        Water Agency
                                                                                                            Modernization
                                                        "WATERDOC" is also a series of syntheses
                                                        dealing with issues selected for their topi-        of the information system
                                                        cality or significance.                             The Rhone-Mediterranean and Corsica
                                                        The list of the available syntheses can be          Water Agency entrusted IOWater with the
                                                        accessed on:                                        review of the overall operation of its informa-
                                                        http://waterdoc.iowater.org                         tion system, of the new needs and the strate-
                                                        Syntheses are provided in electronic version        gy for developing the future application
                                                                                                            in the Agency to improve the reliability of
          250.000                                       under PDF format. They can be ordered and
                                                        delivered online.                                   data on the pollution flows entering and lea-
                                                                                                            ving municipal and industrial wastewater
         References                                     4                                                   treatment plants.
                                                                                                            4
     in the different
   European languages                                   http://waterdoc.iowater.org
                                                        Subscriptions - Fax: +33 5 55 11 47 48 - E-mail: waterdoc@oieau.fr
   4                The News N° 13 - December 2005 - January 2006
Capacity building for better water management - Training information management Cooperation - Office International de l'Eau
News 2006    7/03/06     9:24     Page 5

on - Water information systems
n,    Water                         Data

          WIS
          The French Water Information System - WIS
          In France, the Water Information System (WIS)        When adhering to this protocol, IOWater was        IOWater participates by providing its
          gathers many partners, coordinated by the            committed, in particular, to facilitate the        know-how on the issues of data ex-
          French Water Directorate and cooperating for         "SANDRE", by managing the geographical             change (SANDRE) and WEB applica-
          improving water-related data and the envi-           and attribute reference frames of the water        tions.
          ronments.                                            field and by giving access to this information,    A green book, written by the French Ministry
          An agreement protocol, signed in June 2003,          through its website.                               of Ecology and IOWater has defined the
          and which succeeds to RNDE (National Water           The technical architecture of WIS                  general framework of this WIS architecture,
          Data Network, 1992-2002), defines the obliga-        "To make water flow between several sys-           real specifications for data-processing com-
          tions of the partners with respect to the produc-    tems, it is necessary that the pipes, built by     munities: the use of Web technologies was
          tion, conservation and availability of water data.   each one, comply with the construction stan-       selected (Internet, HTML, Web services, etc.)
          The adhering partners are the Ministry of            dards and are correctly connected". This also      while highlighting the standards and free
          Ecology and Sustainable Development,                 applies to data: it is necessary to have a         software (OpenSource) to be used.
          the 6 Water Agencies, the Higher Council             common architecture that is compatible             For further information:
                                                                                                                  www.sandre.eaufrance.fr
          of Fisheries, Electricity of France, BRGM,           between the information producers, so
          Ifremer, the French Environment Institute,           that the French data flow from one to              4
          INERIS, the Water Offices of the Reunion             another.
          and the Martinique and the International
          Office for Water (IOWater).

          "SANDRE" on the Web
                                                                               the "SANDRE" has a metada-
                                                                               ta consultation and search         "SANDRE"
                                                                               service available which
                                                                                                                  the common language
                                                                               allows the finding and direc-
                                                                                                                  of water data
                                                                               ting of the user towards the
                                                                               data produced or managed           The National Data Reference Center
                                                                               by the WIS partners.               for Water (SANDRE), is the body in
                                                                               ¸ support to the WIS
                                                                                                                  charge of standardizing water data in
                                                                               users with the dissemination       France and disseminating the national
                                                                               of the WIS tools: This last sec-   (cartographic and topical) reference frames.
                                                                               tion makes the data-proces-        For more than 10 years, it has worked with
                                                                               sing tools developed within        the definition of a common infrastructure
                                                                               the WIS available.                 for the management and dissemination of
                                                                                                                  water-related information.
                                                                               4                                  The “SANDRE” is managed by IOWater
          The "SANDRE" website allows direct online                                                               according to its mandate and its Multi-
          access to its services:                                                                                 year Objective-targeted Convention
          ¶ the standardization of data and
                                                                An example
                                                                                                                  with French Ministry of Ecology, and
             services: semantics, common definitions,           of “SANDRE” format                                gathers the partners of the Water Infor-
             exchanges. This "Standardization" section          Since 2001, “SANDRE” has worked on                mation System but also organizations
             gathers all the standardization work of the        the definition of a national standard allo-       not involved in the protocol: water
             "SANDRE", either regarding the data or             wing the harmonization of data exchanges          analysis laboratories, National School
             computerization.                                   between analysis laboratories and clients.        of Public Health, Universities, Water
          · the dissemination of water-related                  The computerization of these exchanges            Suppliers, etc.
             reference frames and metadata:                     has been proven to be a strategic stake to        4
             where can available water-related in-              improve knowledge of aquatic environ-
             formation be found at each geographi-              ments and water uses.
                                                                4
             cal level? To answer this question,

          www.sandre.fr
          Information: Fax: +33 5 55 11 47 48 - E-mail: waterdoc@oieau.fr
                                                                                                                                   The News N° 13                 5
Capacity building for better water management - Training information management Cooperation - Office International de l'Eau
News 2006     7/03/06     9:24     Page 6

                      Websites
                                                                                                             Website
       "Water in Mountains"                                                                                  on French
                                                          n   Section "current events" provides a re-
                                                                                                             water policy
                                                              port on the most recent and relevant in-       The French public stakeholders
                                                              formation on the topics related to water in    mobilize themselves to meet the
                                                              mountains;                                     global water challenge
                                                          n Section "library" gathers digitized docu-
                                                              ments that can be consulted by the web-
                                                              site subscribers;
                                                          n Section "forum" is a space of free ex-
                                                              change open to everyone;
                                                          n Section "contacts" gathers information
                                                              on the website subscribers;
                                                          The "water in mountains" website is a col-
       "Water in mountains" is the name of a new
                                                          laborative site fed by the contributions of its
       website which aims at providing water stake-
                                                          users.
       holders in mountainous areas with a common
       space to dialogue and share information            The partners of the website include: UNESCO,
       (documents, current events, contacts).             the Consignments and Loans Fund, the               IOWater participates in the development of
       Accessible to any person interested in this        European Information System on Forests in          the website of the French public water
       topic, the "water in mountains" website            Mountains, the Alpine Company of Upper             stakeholders, opened for the 13th Commis-
       proposes several kinds of access to the infor-     Savoy, the Public Works Company of the             sion for Sustainable Development, which
       mation:                                            Upper Savoy Department, DATAR/DIACT, the           took place in March 2005 in New-York.
       n Section "general information": built
                                                          International Office for Water and INBO..          This site introduces the French expe-
           with an interactive and relief-patterned                                                          rience and know-how in the water
                                                              Alpine Economic Company of Savoy               sector. It focuses on 4 great concepts of
           map, this section allows you, when navi-                  www.echoalp.com
           gating on a catchment area to access to                                                           water management: democracy, trans-
                                                                   (section "water in mountains")
           the various topics related to water in                                                            parency and good governance, users’ par-
           mountains: natural risks, climate, forestry,                                                      ticipation and basin management.
                                                                                                             This website in three languages is accessible
           pastoralism, town planning, tourism;                                                              through the following addresses:
                                                                                                             www.eau-international-france.fr
                                                                                                             www.water-international-france.fr
       www.iowater.org                                                                                       www.aqua-internacional-francia.fr
                                                                                                             4
       3,000,000 visitors
       on IOWater website in one year!
       IOWater website, opened in 1997, has be-           This portal is addressing professionals           The site proposes synthetic information on
       come with the passing of years a real inter-       and decision makers of the water sector           the water situation over the world, the Euro-
       national portal to worldwide water                 and reflects on the Web the main IOWater          pean water policy and the overall organiza-
       information, giving access to many re-             vocation, which is to gather, in France, in Eu-   tion of the French water sector.
       sources: documentation, current events,            rope and in the World, public and private         IOWater portal, with free access and in
       training, cooperation or data.                     abilities for better water management. It pro-    4 languages (French, English, Spanish
                                                          vides access to:                                  and Portuguese), is consulted for 50%
                                                          n information on French and interna-              by Web surfers originating from France,
                                                              tional current events,                        and for the other 50% by Web surfers
                                                          n IOWater online services,                        coming from abroad, North America in
                                                          n the best specialized websites of the            particular.
                                                              water sector,                                   You are looking for information
                                                          n the sites of the national and interna-                        on water?
                                                              tional partners of IOWater,                     With 2 clicks, you will certainly
                                                          n the documents of the great interna-                  find it on IOWater portal!
                                                              tional conferences on water.

                                                          www.iowater.org
   6                The News N° 13 - December 2005 - January 2006
Capacity building for better water management - Training information management Cooperation - Office International de l'Eau
News 2006   7/03/06     9:24    Page 7

     Studies – Syntheses - Tests
     Patrimonial       "DEPURANAT"
     management        Promoting natural techniques for wastewater treatment

     of drinking water
     supply systems
     Stakes
     and recommendations
     Upon the request of the Professional
     Syndicate of Water Supply and Sani-
     tation Companies (SPDE), the Inter-
     national Office for Water made a study for
     helping the utilities to manage the significant
     assets which are the drinking water supply
     pipe networks. Those have a long lifespan,
     several decades, and the decisions made by
     the public Authority and its manager, will
     commit the utility over a duration longer than
     the mandates of the elected officials or the
     delegation contracts.
     The total length of the drinking water
     supply pipes in France is estimated at
     850,000 km and, very roughly, the                  On 20 and 21 October 2005, the Interna-            n   Enhance by-products resulting (sludge,
     value of this renovated network, all               tional Office for Water hosted the 3rd meeting         organic matter, treated wastewater, etc.);
     materials included, would be about                 of the partners of the "DEPURANAT" project         n Create a market for such techniques in
     80 billion euros: the stakes are thus              (Depuración Natural of Aguas Residuales)               the Atlantic Arc;
     very high.                                         which aims at developing natural techniques        n Strengthen the "relation" which is es-

     These assets are always increasing, because        for wastewater treatment (also known as                tablished around such sites with the sur-
     of new infrastructures and changes in urban        extensive techniques) on the European                  rounding population (water classes for chil-
     space: their management must meet this             Atlantic Arc and especially in Southern                dren, market-gardening products, flowers,
     dynamic prospect.                                  Europe.                                                etc.),
                                                        The "DEPURANAT" project is based on a              n Develop training tools to promote a real
     The local Authority will have, above all, to
                                                        partnership made up of ITC- Instituto                  natural wastewater treatment engineering.
     make a choice on the performance level
                                                        Tecnológico de Canarias, project leader, the       The "CENTA" and IOWater provide technical
     which it wishes to reach and on the deadlines
                                                        University of Minho - Portugal, the CENTA -        support for the drafting of the guides and the
     needed to achieve it, and this will have con-
                                                        Centro de Nuevas Tecnologías del Agua -            enhancement of know-how after construction
     sequences on the water price.
                                                        Spain, and some Canaries and Portuguese            and during operation, for better making
     It will have to define its strategy of             municipalities, and IOWater.                       known these often neglected techniques,
     common cause between generations:                  Based on the study of the operation of             which integrate themselves well in the envi-
     is it necessary to pay more now to guarantee       6 plants already using such technologies and       ronment, especially for a population-equiva-
     the performance of the service for a longer        of 6 planned or already-built plants applying      lent between 100 and 500.
                                                                                                           4
     period or to leave this care to our successors?    these treatment principles, the consortium is
     Is it necessary to make significant invest-        assigned to:
     ments for renewal, to prevent possible degra-      n Draw up technical guides for helping
     dations, or simply to set up a vigilance policy,       the main contractors to design their treat-
     and to only react when the problems arise?             ment plants according to good engineering
     It is thus advisable to arbitrate between              practices;
     preventive or curative strategies.                 n Develop methods for supporting deci-
     The manager will have to make tools for                sion-making to select the best techniques
     knowledge of the assets available to the               according to the conditions which the con-
     Community, as well as for decision-making              tracting authorities are encountering in the
     support or communication.                              field;
     4

     Information: Fax: +33 5 55 11 47 48 - E-mail: waterdoc@oieau.fr
                                                                                                                            The News N° 13                    7
Capacity building for better water management - Training information management Cooperation - Office International de l'Eau
News 2006     7/03/06      9:24    Page 8

                       international events
                       MEXICO 2006

       4th World Water Forum
       The International Office for Water                  The strong mobilization of the local elected     The French Partnership for Mexico City
       (IOWater) has been strongly involved in             officials will exert a strong pressure for not   The French Ministries for Foreign Affairs and
       the World Water Forum of Mexico City:               only generating general declarations, but        Ecology took the initiative of organizing a
       8,000 participants are expected and this            also for an effective involvement of the local   joint participation of all the various stake-
       shows the great interest in this event.             authorities and especially the municipalities,   holders of the sector, within a "French
                                                           which are directly concerned.                    Partnership for Mexico City (PFM)", in
                                                           The meetings of Mexico City must provide         order to ensure coherent presence and to dis-
                                                           strategic outlines, recommendations for          seminate common messages. The "PSEau",
                                                           advancing with the new ideas which are           "ASTEE" and the International Office for Water
                                                           emerging from the Forum preparation work.        take care of the Secretariat, within a "French
                                                           The organizers received 600 proposals for        Coordination Team", which prepared the
                                                           sessions coming from the various interested      collective actions of the Partnership (stand,
                                                           parties, and could only selected 185 of them,    messages, sessions, side events, etc.).
                                                           of 2 hours each.                                 The French stand will convey the PFM mes-
                                                           The organizers also received 1,700 proposals     sages and disseminate leaflets of French
                                                           to present local actions of which only 600       examples and recommendations on the to-
                                                           will be presented.                               pics which France wants to promote.
                                                                                                            These documents are available on the PFM
       A preceding strong mobilization                     A database will be developed on the Internet.
                                                                                                            website:
       The Forum was prepared by the great regions         IOWater promotes its ideas                       www.water-international-france.fr/mexico
       of the World, all of them produced reports          IOWater has strongly mobilized the               4
       which show the diversity of the problems.           International Network of Basin Organi-
       IOWater was thus called upon to write the           zations (INBO), which will organize an
       IWRM section on the European Water
       Framework Directive (WFD) and European
                                                           exceptional "8-hour mega session", the               Invitation !
                                                           whole day of 18 March, on the topic of Basin
       Water Initiative (EUWI) of the European             Management. It aims at transmitting the fol-           Our 5 sessions in Mexico
       regional report.                                    lowing message: "the basin is the rele-           Saturday 18 March 2006:
                                                                                                             å Management of African
       One can already note a strong mobilization          vant territory to manage water". It is a
       on the basin management topic and espe-             practice to be generalized worldwide and it         transboundary basins
       cially on the issue of transboundary aquifers       should be said that "it works"!                     (AMCOW/ANBO)
       and rivers.                                         In addition, IOWater organizes another              “63 transboundary rivers in Africa”
                                                                                                             å Implementation of the European
       The importance of the role of local authori-        official session on Water Information
       ties and the idea that governance should be         Systems with "CONAGUA". It will show                Water Framework Directive
       decentralized as much as possible will also be      the result of cooperation in the creation of a      (EUROPE-INBO)
       reaffirmed.                                         Federal Water Information System in Mexico,         “29 countries agreed to achieve
       Special attention will also be paid to natural      the French Water Information System (WIS),          good ecological status
       hazards: floods, droughts, erosion, these risks     or the Mediterranean Information System             in river basins in 2015”
                                                                                                             å Users’ and public participation
       exist everywhere, even in developed countries,      (EMWIS), which already gathers the national
       and it is urgent to develop effective prevention.   systems of all the Mediterranean countries,         and common cause in basin
       At last, there is an enormous delay regarding       etc.                                                management (INBO)
       sanitation in the Southern countries and this       A stand in the "Water Fair" will show our           The Basin Committees:
       may originate great health and ecological risks     main activities and French-Mexican coopera-         Local Water Parliaments”
       on a large scale in many countries.                 tion actions with CONAGUA.                        å Synthesis of the progress made
       Tangible results are expected                                                                           in transboundary basin manage-
       The question raised is to know how to respect                                                           ment over the world (INTBO).
       the already made commitments and to                                                                     "“Water has no boundary!”
       achieve in practice the millennium goals of                                                           Tuesday 21 March 2006:
       the United Nations, how to finally act to                                                             å Development and implementation
       transform these commitments into concrete                                                               of Water Information Systems
       actions.                                                                                                (IOWater/CONAGUA)

                                                           www.iowater.org/mexico
   8                 The News N° 13 - December 2005 - January 2006
Capacity building for better water management - Training information management Cooperation - Office International de l'Eau
News 2006   7/03/06      9:24    Page 9

     international events
     A new priority for IOWater:
     Governance of water utilities
     Reducing by half before 2015 the percentage         IOWater increases its involvement in               l   participation in the preparation of
     of the population who has no access to drin-        this governance topic within the Multiyear             two sessions for the 4th World Water
     king water, and that without access to sanita-      Objective-targeted Convention signed with              Forum (Mexico City, March 2006):
     tion, such are the Millennium Development           the French Ministry of Ecology and                     å "transparency and democratic
     Goals (MDGs) laid down by the World                 Sustainable Development for 2005-2007.                    control" for better governance of
     Summit on Sustainable Development of                For this reason, IOWater especially carried out           local drinking water supply and
     Johannesburg in 2002.                               the following activities in 2005:                         sanitation utilities (session mana-
     It appears that improving governance                l creation and facilitation of a wor-                     ged by the French Association of Ma-
     in community water utilities is one of                  king group gathering the French public                yors of Large Towns - AMGVF),
     the first priorities.                                   and private stakeholders, Ministries,              å "needs of developing countries
     Governance is "all the rules, procedures and            French Development Agency, Public es-                 and contributions from interna-
     behaviors related to the exercise of authority          tablishments, Local Authorities inter-                tional initiatives" (session mana-
     at the various decision levels, characterized           vening within decentralized cooperation,              ged by the French Ministry of Ecology
     by responsibility, transparency, legibility, con-       NGOs and private stakeholders to ana-                 and Sustainable Development).
     sistency, efficiency and effectiveness in partic-       lyze the lessons learned and draw
     ular".                                                  conclusions from cooperation activi-           4
                                                             ties, to better identify the demand
                                                             and to define priority topics.

     The "TWINBASIN" Project is progressing: please participate!
                                                         significant progress made by the project           This tool has become operational recently,
                                                         during the last few months, allowing it to         although it should be improved.
                                                         advance significantly in the achievement of        Nearly 6,000 Web surfers have already con-
                                                         its objectives.                                    sulted it and many members are already regis-
                                                         After the first two Calls for Proposals sent in    tered. The website will be soon the support of
                                                         2005, 14 twinning arrangements were                Web-Forums, which will allow starting the
                                                         selected to be supported by the project,           thinking of experts and specialists about signi-
     The TWINBASINXN project, financed by the            involving 26 Basin Organizations of 14             ficant issues specific to IWRM. Finally, the entire
     European Commission (6th Framework Pro-             countries. The participation of the Countries      knowledge gathered by TWINBASIN, regar-
     gram for European Research) and managed             of the South is paramount (51%).                   ding IWRM, will be supplemented and
     by the International Office for Water in coo-
                                                         TWINBASIN plays its part, by incontestably         enriched by the results and products of
     peration with INBO, GWP and Techware,
                                                         promoting and inspiring these cooperation          "clusters", with the other projects related to the
     aims at promoting twinning arrange-
                                                         arrangements. Indeed, more than 70 % of            "Twinning" topic (WADE, RIVERTWIN & TWIN-
     ments between Basin Organizations in
                                                         the signed twinning agreements were esta-          BAS projects) supported by the European
     order to disseminate good practices and
                                                         blished within the project and are thus attri-     Union.
     strengthen their human resources.
                                                         butable to it.                                     Ultimately, the TWINBASIN project is at a key
     Guides are drawn up for developing benefi-
                                                         The wide dissemination of the first                stage of its implementation. The second mee-
     cial twinning arrangements. Scholarships
                                                         "TwinBasin Newsletter" (6,300 sub-                 ting of the Steering Committee allowed the
     are allocated to facilitate the mobility of
                                                         scribers) through INBO in particular, the pro-     broadening of thoughts and the making of
     young executives between basins (short prac-
                                                         motion of the project during international         decisions necessary for the project evolution
     tical periods), tools for managing know-
                                                         IWRM-related events, and the recent distri-        towards the achievement of all the planned
     ledge and distance training will be avai-
                                                         bution of leaflets (20,000 copies in French,       TWINBASIN objectives.
     lable, etc.
                                                         English, Spanish and Russian) are as many          The next meeting of the Steering
     The network already relies on a group of 40         events that give the project the adequate and      Committee will take place in Mexico on
     founder members, representatives of the             necessary international recognition.               20 March 2006.
     stakeholders concerned.
                                                         The website: www.twinbasin.org, main
     During its Marrakech meeting in May 2005,                                                              4
                                                         interface of the project with all its community,
     the Steering Committee of the                       allows and ensures a capitalization and a dis-
     TWINBASIN project was pleased with the              semination of the acquired knowledge.
                                                                                                            www.twinbasin.org

     Information: Fax: +33 4 93 65 44 02 - E-mail: aquacoope@oieau.fr
                                                                                                                              The News N° 13                      9
Capacity building for better water management - Training information management Cooperation - Office International de l'Eau
News 2006   7/03/06     9:24     Page 10

                                                                     from one continent to another
                                                             "
                                  u m 06                 ins
                                       0
                                or 2                  as
                              F h                    B
                          er rc 30 :            ry
                        at Ma 8: ion da AFRICA

                                                                                                           Large project
                     W         1 s        n
                 ld 18 - es bou
              or – 30 S ns
           W ico 6: O ra
                          B               The Volta: towards the creation
           ex 1 NT f T
        M            I     o
                     e nt          of a Transboundary Basin Organization
                   m   EUWI                            tions intervening in Africa, a Priority Action      This intergovernmental consultation body has
             a ge
                   The European  Union Water  Initia-  Plan for a first group of 5 transboundary           been mandated for creating the necessary
         an                                            basins with identified strategic activities and     conditions for creating a Volta Transboun-
              tive (EUWI), launched in 2002  during
    "M
         the World Summit for Sustainable Deve- funding requests made to the European Com-                 dary River Basin Organization for Inte-
     lopment of Johannesburg to facilitate the im- mission.                                                grated Water Resources Management,
     plementation of the Millennium Development They are:                                                  including ecosystems and other related
     Goals (MDGs), includes an African compo- l Southern Africa: Orange/Senqu Commis-                      resources.
     nent which aims at improving Integrated Wa-           sion (ORASECOM),                                French bilateral Cooperation supports the In-
     ter Resource Management (IWRM).                   l Central Africa: Lake Chad Basin Com-              ternational Office for Water to back up the
     Since 2003, the Strategy and Work Program             mission (LCBC),                                 VBTC activities in two steps:
     approved by the African Ministers Council on l Eastern Africa: Lake Victoria and Kagera               ¶ Support to the 2 nd meeting of the
     Water (AMCOW) has been promoting:                     River Basin : Nile Equatorial Lakes - Subsi-        VBTC’s Technical Committee in close
     u management of transboundary basins;                 diary Action Plan (NEL-SAP) and Kagera              cooperation with the Coordination Unit for
     u formulation of national plans for water             River Basin Organizations (OBK),                    Water Resources (CUWR) of the Economic
          effectiveness.                               l Western Africa: Niger Basin Authority                 Commission of Western African States
     This component is led by the French Ministry          (NBA) and Volta Basin.                              (ECOWAS), with experts from each member
     for Foreign Affairs, which entrusted the Inter- The European funds would be available for                 country of the basin, and from the IWRM
     national Office for Water with the formula- mid-2006.                                                     group of the European Initiative.
     tion, with AMCOW and European Coopera- The Volta project                                              · Technical assistance to the VBTC and
                                                                                                               member countries with the prepara-
                                                                     In the meantime, the decision-            tion of an effective implementation of
                                                                     makers of the 6 countries of the          the Basin Authority: statutes / organiza-
                                                                     Volta Basin (Benin, Burkina Faso,         tion chart / identification of human and
                                                                     Ivory Coast, Ghana, Mali and              financial resources / financial mechanisms /
                                                                     Togo) have shown their determi-           inter-country coordination systems / plan-
                                                                     nation and strong political will          ning processes.
                                                                     to quickly go forward.                These activities are taking into account the na-
                                                                     The Volta has not yet a Basin Au-     tional strategies for water resources manage-
                                                                     thority.                              ment of the six Member States. They are also
                                                                     A Volta Basin Technical Com-          integrating the parallel programs developed by
                                                                     mittee (VBTC) was set up in           the African Development Bank, the World
                                                                     July 2004 and held its second         Bank, the French Fund for Global Environment
                                                                     meeting, from 20 to 24 June           and other donors in order to quickly define a
                                                                     2005.                                 consistent action plan.
                                                                                                           4

     South Africa
     A river basin approach
     Where are we five years after the passing          and efficient for solving water resource sharing   It entrusts the existing 294 “Irrigation Boards”
     of the Water Law in South Africa?                  between the various uses.                          and 400 village irrigation networks with the
     In November 2004, 90 delegates from                South Africa is a good example of this.            local management of water resources, by
     14 countries met on the banks of Loskop Lake,                                                         changing them into Water Users Associations
                                                        The objective of the South African Department
     200 km East of Pretoria, in order to share their                                                      (WAUs).
                                                        of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) is to gua-
     experience on the implementation of Inte-          rantee “some water for all for ever”.              So far, 5 CMAs have been set up and some
     grated Water Resource Management (IWRM).                                                              50 WAUs have been operating.
                                                        Thus, the Water Law has defined 19 Catchment
     IOWater, which participated as a member of         Management Agencies (CMAs) on river basins
     AFEID delegation (French Association for           of the country.                                    4
     Irrigation and Drainage), has endeavored to
     demonstrate that the creation and develop-
     ment of basin organizations has been useful

   10             The News N° 13 - December 2005 - January 2006
News 2006   7/03/06     9:25     Page 11

r        from one continent to another
         AFRICA
                                                                                                        Large project
         South Africa - NCWSTI
         Capacity building for better water management
         Background                                         Precise objectives                               IOWater designed the technical specifica-
         Improving drinking water supply and sanita-        They deal with the development of an entire      tions for the various technical training
         tion utilities is considered as one of the prio-   training system:                                 facilities, which were built by the South
                                                                                                             African Engineering Company UWP.
         rities of South Africa.                            n creating a national training-center
         The South African Government has thus                  network for the water sector,                At the same time, NCWSTI gathered the
                                                                                                             first network of South-African trainers
         wished to increase the capacity building of        n developing technical training programs,
         these utilities.                                                                                    composed of some 120 persons from DWAF,
                                                            n training a first group of South African        WSAs, WSPs and municipalities.
         In order to achieve a high level of servi-             trainers and facilitators,
         ce quality, the persons in charge of the
                                                            n generating a sector demand for
         installation, operation, maintenance
                                                                continuing training,
         and management of these systems
                                                            n organizing quality practical, ana-
         should be qualified and have good pro-
         fessional skills.                                      lytical and theoretical training
                                                                programs.
         The concerned employees requiring training
         are about 20,000 to 30,000 people.                 The National Community for
                                                            Water & Sanitation Training Ins-
         A promising project                                titute (NCWSTI), which is based at
         The "Human Capacity Building for South-            the University of the North, Limpopo
         African Water Sector" Project is financed by       Province near Polokwane city, is the
         the “Priority Solidarity Fund”, within the         focal point of the training system.
         French-South African bilateral cooperation.        NCWSTI will develop this “National
         On the French side, the International Office for   Training Network for the Water Sec-
         Water, in partnership with SAUR/IDFP, was          tor” relying on two other Regional
                                                                                                             Training unit for the laying out of mains
         selected to implement this 3-year project.         Centers (Branches) located in the KwaZulu
         The overall aim of the project is improving        Natal and the Eastern Cape provinces.
         professionalism in the Water and Sanitation        Provided with training kits (training ma-        Training of Trainers and specific training
         Sector in South Africa, with a training pro-       nuals, facilitation and evaluation tools),       programs (Assessor Workshops) were orga-
         gram for the staff of the Water Services           adapted to the South African context, the        nized enabling the participants of this net-
         Authorities (WSAs) and Water Services              trainers will be incorporated in this “nation-   work to be accredited as Training Facilitators,
         Providers (WSPs).                                  al network” managed by NCWSTI.                   according to the rules of SAQA (South African
                                                            First achievements                               Qualification Authority) and NQF (National
                                                            A Project Steering Committee (PSC) composed      Qualification Framework).
                                                            of representatives of the Department of Water    At the end of 2005, several training
                                                            Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) and NCWSTI as        courses had already been organized by
         Training of Trainers                                                                                IOWater and SAUR-IDFP on the main
                                                                          well as representatives of the
                                                                          French Embassy in Pretoria and     following topics: drinking water treatment,
                                                                          French Development Agency          wastewater treatment, electrical and mecha-
                                                                          (AFD) was constituted and          nical maintenance, customer management,
                                                                          already met twice.                 supervision and management of water
                                                                                                             utilities and human resources management.
                                                                                                             Finally, a Senior Trainer has been especially
                                                                                                             recruited by NCWSTI, on the project budget,
                                                                                                             for coordinating activities in the field.
                                                                                                              4

         Information: Fax: +33 4 93 65 44 02 - E-mail: aquacoope@oieau.fr
                                                                                                                               The News N° 13                  11
News 2006   7/03/06     9:25    Page 12

                    from one continent to another
                    AFRICA                                                                               INDIAN OCEAN
                                                        Uganda                                           Mauritius
                                                        Kampala City Council                             MPU & CWA
     Congo                                              The "Kampala Urban Sanitation Project" - KUSP    In Mauritius, the main bodies in charge of the
     Technical assistance                               –initiated by the Kampala City Council (KCC)     water sector, under the supervision of the
     to RCIC                                            and supported by the French Development          Ministry of Public Utilities (MPU), wish to im-
                                                        Agency (AFD), aims at improving the District’s   plement an important professional continuing
                                                        staff skills with a capacity building contract   training program for their staff for accompa-
                                                        entrusted to HYDROCONSEIL, assisted locally by   nying the water sector reforms and backing up
                                                        AQUACONSULT.                                     their strategy.
                                                        In November 2005, Hydroconseil entrusted         The 2005 French-Mauritius bilateral coopera-
                                                        IOWater with a training activity dealing with    tion program, for which the International Of-
                                                        “Human resources recruitment and manage-         fice for Water is operator, focused on the two
                                                        ment”.                                           following components:
                                                                                                         ¶ Strengthening the modernization
                                                        4                                                     strategy of the Central Water Autho-
                                                                                                              rity (CWA), by developing the use of
                                                        Rwanda                                                Performance Indicators, to which
                                                        Audit of the Draft                                    80 executives were trained during two
     Audit of a chlorination plant                      Water Law                                             missions carried out in February and April
     in cooperation with REGIDESO
                                                        Considering that the Country is under-                2005 by IOWater experts.
                                                        equipped for drinking water supply, flood pro-        Support is planned for the implementation
     In March 2005, within the training program         tection and for agricultural hydraulics, the          and follow-up of this Benchmarking Sys-
     that the National Training Center for Water        World Bank has required technical assistance,         tem within the CWA company project.
                                                                                                         · A feasibility study for a Training Cen-
     Professions of IOWater has been implemen-          to be provided by a group led by BRLi in part-
     ting for 3 years for the RCIC (Red Cross           nership with IOWater, with the formulation of         ter for Water Professions in Mauritius
     International Committee), the "CNFME"              the Draft Water Law.                                  including the assessment of training needs
     carried out an audit of 3 drinking water                                                                 for the Mauritius staffs of the water sector,
     production plants of Kindu, Uvira and              The draft Water Law
                                                                                                              the definition of a training Masterplan and
     Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo :         It is recommended that the draft be comple-           the identification of equipment, human
     3 very different technical situations as regards   mented with:                                          and financial resources needed for crea-
     the waters of the Congo river, of the Kivu Lake    u the protection of wetlands and peat bogs;           ting this Center.
                                                        u the collective organization of water deve-
     and groundwater which encounter iron and
                                                                                                         4
     manganese problems.
                                                             lopment works;
     The technical analysis has led to propo-           u a revitalization of unofficial water supply
     sals for improving plant operation.                     services;
     These audits were used as case studies in the      u the organization of irrigation;
                                                                                                         Mayotte
     training course for the RCIC Wathab (Water-        u an integrated approach to the manage-       Cooperation
     habitation) team who came to Limoges in                 ment of some 350 river basins;           is continuing
                                                        u the organization of data collection.
     October 2005.                                                                                    In 2005, IOWater / CNFME continued its tech-
     The analysis has proven that the staff of                                                        nical support to the SIEAM (Inter-municipal
     REGIDESO, Congo national water supply uti-         4                                             Syndicate for Water and Sanitation of
     lity, had huge training needs.                                                                   Mayotte).
     A training plan is being prepared to be pro-                                                          The conformity of almost all the sources
                                                                            Combani earth dam in Mayotte
     posed to the European Union for financing.                                                            of drinking water currently exploited on
                                                                                                           Mayotte has thus been analyzed.
     4                                                                                                     IOWater is also carrying out, in partnership
                                                                                                           with the Department of Agriculture and
                                                                                                           Forestry, the follow-up, over a longer pe-
                                                                                                           riod, of the variations in water quality of
                                                                                                           the Combani dam reservoir, in order to
                                                                                                           offer the best solution for supplying raw
                                                                                                           water to the Ourovéni plant (10,000 m3/d).
                                                                                                              4

   12             The News N° 13 - December 2005 - January 2006
News 2006   7/03/06    9:25   Page 13

     from one continent to another
     CENTRAL ASIA

       Tajikistan - Dushanbe – 30 May – 1st June 2005
     International Conference on Regional Cooperation
     and the Management of Transboundary Basins
     The Government of the Republic of Tajikistan   and the Management of Transboundary               INBO President, Mrs. Madeleine Jouye de
     organized, with UNDP support, an Inter-        Basins, which took place in Dushanbe from         Grandmaison, gave an introductory address
     national Conference on Regional Cooperation    30 May to 1st June 2005.                          during the opening ceremony in the presence
                                                    Its main objectives were:                         of the President of the Tajik Republic, and
                                                    n establishing dialogue between the               chaired the 3rd session on "Integrated Basin
                                                        Central Asian States and strengthening        Management".
                                                        regional cooperation;                         Mr. Jean-François Donzier, IOWater General
                                                    n organizing a discussion with the parti-         Manager and INBO Permanent Secretary,
                                                        cipants originating from other regions        chaired the first topical session on
                                                        having transboundary basins;                  "Sustainable Management of Transboundary
                                                    n drawing up recommendations likely to            Waters".
                                                        solve the problems related with safety
                                                        and sound use of rivers.                      4

     Central Asia
     Participative management of transboundary rivers
                                                    Mr. Jean-François Donzier, IOWater General        He could visit, accompanied by Mr. Oumarov,
                                                    Manager and INBO Permanent Technical Se-          the Fergana valley, where a very interesting
                                                    cretary went to Uzbekistan from 23 to 30 Oc-      reform is taking place for an integrated and
                                                    tober 2005, at the invitation of the Scientific   decentralized participative management of the
                                                    Information Center of the Interstate Coor-        irrigated areas by groups of concerned farmers.
                                                    dination Water Commission of Central
                                                    Asia (ICWC), to launch, in particular, with       International Commission
                                                                                                      for the Protection of the Aral Sea
                                                    Mr. Viktor Dukhovny the creation of the Rus-      dukh@icwc-aral.uz - www.icwc-aral.uz
                                                    sian-Speaking Regional Network of INBO and
                                                    to have a progress report on the achieve-         4
                                                    ments of the Information Center in Tashkent
                                                    and on its last modeling for the protection of
                                                    the Aral Sea, with a better management of
                                                    the Syrdarya and Amudarya.

                                                        Invitation!
                 Mexico - 21 March 2006
                      16:30 - 18:30
                   IOWater / CONAGUA
                  Official Session (5.13):
               "Developing and Implementing
               Water Information Systems"
      4th World Water Forum – Mexico – 16 - 22 March 2006

     Information: Fax: +33 4 93 65 44 02 - E-mail: aquacoope@oieau.fr
                                                                                                                       The News N° 13                   13
News 2006   7/03/06      9:25    Page 14

                     from one continent to another
                     ASIA

     China
     French year in China on the water classes issue
                                                             Just one year after the visit to Paris of a     nized after daily courses or even the organi-
                                                             Delegation of 5 Chinese experts on the          zation of water forums allowing people in
                                                             "water classes" topic, a return visit to        charge to emphasize the water problems that
                                                             Beijing of French experts of the Seine-         the country has to face.
                                                             Normandy Water Agency and International         The adaptation of the work achieved in
                                                             Office for Water, supported by the French       France by the Seine-Normandy Water
                                                             Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Deve-       Agency in its "water classes" program,
                                                             lopment, was organized during the Water         consisting in “log books” on water topics
                                                             Week from 20 to 26 March 2005.                  for all school levels have drawn much interest
                                                             It was an opportunity of seeing that public     from our Chinese interlocutors, who wish to
                                                             awareness to water resources protection         develop further cooperation on this topic.
                                                             was on the move in the Middle Kingdom,
                                                             with very interesting extracurricular prac-     4
     Mrs. Zhou You Hong and Chi Xinyang                      tices such as project competitions for stu-
     directing an awareness-raising session after school    dents or awareness-raising classes orga-
     in an experimental primary school in Beijing.

     India                                                                                                   Cambodia
     Towards the creation of a Training Center                                                               Water 12 months out of 12
     for Water Professions
                                                                                                             After an invitation to tender, the Asian Deve-
     Background                                            In 2005, IOWater defined the criteria for         lopment Bank and the French Development
     A French-Indian working group has been                building this Training Center in Ghaziabad        Agency entrusted BCEOM, in partnership with
     constituted under the aegis of the French Mi-         area (25 km East of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh          IOWater, with a study of irrigation in the
     nistry of Public Works and Indian Ministry of         State), in the Central Public Works De-           Northwest of the country, the “North West
     Urban Development (MUD), in order to define           partment (CPWD), which extends over an            Irrigation Sector Project” (NWISP), which
     cooperation actions likely to efficiently con-        area of 14 hectares, with a magnificent turfed    includes an approach to a national policy for
     tribute in abating the difficulties of Indian         campus, a building and a residence for            Integrated Water Resources Management
     public water supply and sanitation utilities.         trainees, that can easily be adapted for water    (IWRM) in Cambodia.
                                                           professional training.                            There is no Cambodian tradition for irrigation
     Professional training seems to be one of
     keys to the improvement of public utilities           IOWater presented to the MUD officials the        during the dry season and flood agriculture
     in India.                                             main guidelines of this project, they are:        developed, thanks to the overflowing of Lake
                                                           u a Professional Training Master Plan             Tonle Sap, swelled at each monsoon by the
     The International Office for Water (IOWater) and
                                                               for the water sector in India,                Mekong high flow.
     the Central Public Health & Environmental Engi-
     neering Organization (CPHEEO) were thus en-           u an economic analysis demonstrating              The purpose of the NWISP is to develop a par-
                                                               the economic viability of the Center and      ticipative and integrated management of the
     trusted with a feasibility study for creating a
                                                               training costs compatible with the Indian     irrigation systems.
     Training Center for Water Professions.
                                                               economic conditions,                          It aims at building or restoring irrigation sys-
     A necessary project
                                                           u the organizational chart of the Cen-
                                                                                                             tems and also at organizing some thousand
     An enquiry on training needs, carried out in                                                            millions of ha with out of season agriculture.
                                                               ter executive team with a view to de-
     2004 and involving several Indian big cities of                                                         IOWater has proposed to set up the embryo
                                                               velop training activities for 10,000 per-
     more than 1 million inhabitants (Delhi, Ban-                                                            of future “Basins Committees” on a few
                                                               sons per year (after 10 years of activity).
     galore, Mumbay, Chenay) showed that there
                                                           u a description of the training infra-
                                                                                                             pilot hydrographic areas of the Tonle lake tri-
     are training needs, estimated at about                                                                  butaries. They would gather the officers in
     20,000 persons per year.                                  structures and facilities needed.
                                                                                                             charge in the Ministries of Water Resources,
                                                           4
     The French Ondeo and Veolia groups also re-                                                             Agriculture and Rural Development and
     port important training needs for their Indian                                                          would be the ‘core’ of a dialogue with the
     staff.                                                                                                  multiple water users within the large decen-
                                                                                                             tralization process under way in Cambodia.
                                                                                                             4

   14             The News N° 13 - December 2005 - January 2006
News 2006   7/03/06    9:25    Page 15

     from one continent to another
                                                                                            "M            M W
                                                                                              an             ex o
                                                                                                ag             ic rld
                                                                                                                  o
                                                                                                   em          1 – W
                                                                                                       en IN 6:3 18 ate
     ASIA                                                                                                  t TB 0 M r
                                                                                                             of O -          a Fo
                                                                                                                 Tr S 18 rc ru
                                                                                                                    an es :3 h 2 m
                                                                                                                      sb sio 0 0
     Mekong River Commission                                                                                             ou n:         0
                                                                                                                                         6
                                                                                                                            nd
     Water Resources Management in the Mekong River Basin                                                                      ar
                                                                                                                                  y
                                                    This requires regional cooperation to More than one hundred experts             B
                                                                                                                                      as
                                                    manage water resources on the Basin came from all over the world to parti-           in
                                                    scale: Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Viet- cipate in this Conference.                   s"
                                                    nam signed, on 5 April 1995, a Cooperation Mr. Jean-François Donzier, IOWater General
                                                    agreement for Sustainable Development of Manager and Permanent Technical Secretary
                                                    the Mekong River Basin. The Mekong River of the International Network of Basin Organi-
                                                    Commission (MRC) was created on this oc- zations (INBO) was invited by MRC to come
                                                    casion.                                    and present the “INBO-GWP” Associated
                                                    Ten years later, the Chiang Rai Conference Program for the “creation and streng-
                                                    focused on the following questions:        thening of Basin Organizations over the
                                                    l What are the needs for development in    world” and the results obtained by the
     For its 10 th anniversary, the Mekong River                                               TWINBASIN and other ongoing projects sup-
                                                        the Mekong Basin?
     Commission (MRC) organized in Chiang Rai
                                                    l How to achieve effective cooperation to  ported by the EU
                                                        obtain sustainable management of water 4
     (Thailand), on last 29 and 30 November, an
     International Conference on the topic of
                                                        resources?
     Integrated Water Resources Manage-
                                                    l How Integrated Water Re-
     ment in the Mekong River Basin.
                                                        sources Management can
     With about 4,800 km, the Mekong river is the       be implemented on the
     longest of South-East Asia. It crosses China,      basin scale?
     Burma (Myanmar), Laos, Thailand, Cambo- l How to ensure develop-
     dia, Vietnam. Its river basin covers a surface     ment without affecting en-
     area of 795,000 km2. The populations who           vironmental integrity?
     live on its banks are among the poorest of the l How to develop, at all le-
     world.                                             vels, the stakeholders’ ne-
     How to achieve the Millennium Development          cessary abilities?
     Goals and reduce poverty in the Mekong
     Basin?

     Sri Lanka
     One year after the Tsunami
     IOWater had intervened in 2003 in Sri Lanka, The Canal de Provence Company (SCP) and             ¶ of benefiting from the experience of the
     on the World Bank’s request, to propose, the Water Company of Marseilles intervened                   three organizations: SCP/AE RM&C/IOWa-
     within the formulation of the draft water law, in the area of Trincomalee harbor, with the as-        ter,
     which has been submitted to the Parliament sistance of the Rhone-Mediterranean and               · of bringing a tangible response to the im-
     of Sri Lanka, the principles of a reform of the Corsica Agency and "PACA" Region, for the re-         mediate problems to solve,
     Mahaweli Authority, in charge of rural deve- habilitation of wells, the recovery of pipes        ¸ of intervening in a lasting way in the pro-
     lopment on about 50 % of the territory.         and the rebuilding of devastated public buil-         grams supported by French Assistance to
     The draft water law also plans the creation of  dings.                                                Development.
     Basin Organizations on rational territories and A joint SCP/AERM&C/IOWater mission went          The mission was also an opportunity of having
     the establishment of abstraction and pollu- there in 2005 to evaluate the results and con-       contacts with the National Water Supply
     tion taxes.                                     sider continuing actions in the Trincomalee      and Drainage Board of Sri Lanka (NWS-
                                                                                                      DB) which has an in-house Training Center, lo-
     Unfortunately, the East coast and the South of area.
                                                                                                      cated in Colombo, which includes 3 class
     Sri Lanka were highly affected by the tsunami The choice of the future projects is guided by
                                                                                                      rooms, a 60-seat hall, two workshops for prac-
     of December 2004.                               the concern:
                                                                                                      tical works and 10 trainers, and with which a
                                                                                                      lasting cooperation is under consideration.
                                                                                                      4

     Information: Fax: +33 4 93 65 44 02 - E-mail: aquacoope@oieau.fr
                                                                                                                       The News N° 13                  15
News 2006   7/03/06    9:25    Page 16

                    from one continent to another
                    THE AMERICAS

     First Binational Summit
     Rio Grande / Rio Bravo
     McAllen (Texas) - Reynosa (Mexico) - 17 - 18 November 2005
                                                        The first Binational Rio Grande / Rio Bravo Sum-     The Summit was organized around 4 topics as
                                                        mit was held in Reynosa and McAllen on 17 and        varied as:
                                                        18 November 2005, within the framework of            n the legal and institutional framework,
                                                        the International Mexico / USA Commis-               n the binational management of the Basin,
                                                        sion on Limits and Water (CILA).                     n the environment and water quality,
                                                        This meeting, co-chaired by the two Commis-          n financing.
                                                        sioners, Messrs. Arturo Herrera Solís (Mexico)       Mr. Jean-François Donzier, General Manager
                                                        and Carlos Marin (USA), was attended by about        of the International Office for Water and Per-
                                                        300 participants, representatives of the various     manent Technical Secretary of the Internatio-
                                                        Organizations intervening in the water sector on     nal Network of Basin Organizations (INBO),
                                                        both sides of the border and aimed at enriching      was invited to make the main conference of
                                                        the work of the International Commission by          the opening plenary session on the topic of
                                                        highlighting the real questions which arise in the   the implementation of the European Water
                                                        field.                                               Framework Directive.

     Brazil
     How to organize Training                            for Water Professions?
     In 2002, the International Office for Water        As a whole and including direct and indirect         Several inter-ministerial meetings were
     initiated a cooperation with the University of     staffs working in the drinking water supply          organized in Brasilia in the last few months,
     Brasilia (UNB), with support from the              and sanitation sector, the Brazilian profes-         under the supervision of the Ministry of Cities
     Brazilian Authorities in charge of water - the     sionals concerned by training for water pro-         and PMSS (Modernization Program for the
     Secretariat for Water Resources (SRH) of the       fessions can be estimated at 200,000 people.         Water and Sanitation Sector), in order to pro-
     Ministry of the Environment and the National       The investment linked to a training project is       mote a broad partnership between the va-
     Water Agency (ANA) - in partnership with the       very low, with considerable benefit, as com-         rious stakeholders of the sector and to effi-
     French Embassy in Brasilia, for carrying out a     pared to the 50 billion Euros required over a        ciently deal with practical and technical trai-
     feasibility study for the creation of a Training   20-year period for modernizing the water             ning aspects.
     Center for Water Professions in Brazil.            supply and sanitation utilities in Brazil.           Whatever may be the organization selected,
     A detailed analysis of the drinking water supply                                                        it will be necessary to proceed with network
     and sanitation sectors was carried out, based,                                                          practices in order to develop sufficient geo-
     in particular, on data from the SNIS (Sistema                                                           graphical coverage and to meet local needs.
     Nacional de Informações sobre Saneamento -                                                              4
     National Water Information System).

        "CEMCAS" - A success story!
                                                                                     Let’s share our experience…
                                                                         During the 4th World Water Forum of Mexico, please visit
                                                                         “CEMCAS” (Mexican Training Center for Water and Sanitation),
                                                                                          created by CONAGUA
                                                                                 with the French-Mexican cooperation
                                                                                          and IOWater support.

                                                                                       www.cemcas.com

   16            The News N° 13 - December 2005 - January 2006
You can also read