Issue 1, January 1999
Welcome to Global Water Review!I am pleased to introduce the first issue of the GEMS/Water newsletter, Global Water Review. Many of you, and especially those who have been part of the GEMS/Water programme since its early days, will remember previous incarnations of Global Water Review. From 1976 to 1990, WHO and Environment Canada published the highly successful Water Quality Bulletin. It is ironic that the success of the Bulletin was also the reason for its demise. Indeed, it grew from 10 to more than 50 pages per issue in its almost 15 years of uninterrupted free distribution to 120 countries. The sponsoring agencies believed it was important that they continue to distribute a free publication, but could not cover the escalating publishing costs by charging subscriber fees. As a result, in 1990 the Bulletin was converted into the GEMS/Water Quality Newsletter, a four-page document that was published twice a year. It ceased publication in 1994.Since 1994, we have had a great number of requests from around the world to bring back a newsletter. As GEMS/Water is a service programme, it is important that GEMS/Water be responsive to the needs of its clients and partners, hence the birth now of Global Water Review. This newsletter will be published twice a year (January and July) in a four-page format. Its future content is entirely up to the participation of its readers! We at the GEMS/Water Collaborating Centre cannot write the articles we gladly accept the task of producing the newsletter, but its content remains the responsibility of our readers. In coming issues, we will include profiles of GEMS/Water people, agencies, participating countries, and related programmes and activities. I would also like to see major issues discussed and highlighted in Global Water Review. The people in the GEMS/Water programme, whether at a UN or partner agency or national focal points in participating countries, all have interesting and unique perspectives on water quality issues. We would like to share their viewpoints through the pages of Global Water Review. Please accept our invitation to participate in Global Water Review - its success as an informative and useful publication depends on our readers and contributors.
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Global Water PartnershipThe Global Water Partnership (GWP), established in 1996, is an international network open to all parties involved in water resources management, e.g., governments of developing and developed countries, UN agencies, multilateral banks, professional associations, research organizations, the private sector and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The main goal of the GWP is to translate the fundamental principles for water resources management emerging from the Dublin and Rio de Janeiro conferences into operational programmes and activities.Regional stakeholders are invited to develop activities agreed upon,
while the GWP facilitate strategic assistance and financing. As a
starting point, technical advisory committees have been formed at the
regional level in South Africa (SATAC), South East Asia (SEATAC), South
America (SAMTAC) and South Asia (SASTAC). They respond to regional
problems and are supported by the central GWP and its Technical Advisory
Committee (TAC). These regional groups are progressively "taking over"
from the global units in pursuit of their own regional water development
agendas.
Operational structure To strengthen the networking process in the region, SASTAC has also undertaken the promotion of national water partnerships. SATAC was officially launched at the beginning of 1998 and is now operational, with a secretariat at the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) office in Harare, Zimbabwe. SAMTAC has set forth a work plan, including the establishment of a Latin American kiosk in the GWP web site Water Forum as well as case studies integrating water resources management. SEATAC has adopted a comprehensive work plan and carried out a number of activities. National consultations on integrated water resources management and the GWP were held in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. Similar meetings are scheduled for the Philippines and Indonesia. At a ministerial conference held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in March 1998, the formation of a West Africa TAC (WATAC) was decided in principle. Preparations are under way for a similar initiative for Central America. The TAC had a meeting in Warsaw in November 1998, and preparations for a regional structure in Central-Eastern Europe are under way. A TAC meeting to be held in China in May 1999 is being organized.
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Global Programme of Action for the Protection of Marine Environment from Land-Based ActivitiesIn November 1995, 108 governments declared their commitment to protect and preserve the marine environment from the adverse environmental impacts of land-based activities by adopting the Washington Declaration on Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Activities and a Global Programme of Action (GPA). They called upon UNEP to act, in close partnership with other relevant organizations, as Secretariat of the GPA.The GPA Coordination Office was established in The Hague, in January 1988. Some of its main objectives include promoting and facilitating the implementation of the GPA at the national, regional and subregional levels in particular, through a revitalization of the Regional Seas Programme and playing a catalytic role with other organizations and institutions in the GPA implementation at the international level. The following eight priority tasks have been identified by the GPA Coordination Office:
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Implementation of the GPA
Governments, in close partnership with stakeholders, are responsible for the implementation of the GPA. As the secretariat of the GPA, UNEP, together with other agencies, will assist them. The formulation of national and regional action programmes remains the cornerstone for successful implementation. At present, such regional action programmes have been drafted in seven Regional Seas Areas. In most cases, urban sewage has been identified as the main-source category. Another important source of marine degradation is the physical destruction of habitats. The GPA Coordination Office will concentrate its near-future activities on developing the clearing house information system, with special emphasis on sewage, and on interesting potential donors in providing funds for regional prioritized GPA projects.
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Marine Environmental Studies LaboratoryThe Marine Environmental Studies Laboratory (MESL) operates under a tripartite agreement between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) and UNEP. Some of the main functions of the MESL involve acting as the analytical support centre for the Mediterranean Pollution Programme (MEDPOL); implementing marine monitoring programmes, in collaboration with regional laboratories; providing training in analytical techniques; and supporting quality assurance programme for the determination of non-nuclear contaminants in the oceans. The analytical capabilities of the MESL cover a wide range of pollutants such as heavy metals, pesticides, petroleum hydrocarbons, PAHs, PCBs and sterols. In order to produce reliable scientific results, monitoring laboratories need to follow a quality assurance/quality control system that must include regular measurement of contaminants in reference materials and participation in intercomparison exercises.Reference materials are marine samples which have been certified for certain analytes such as chlorinated hydrocarbons, trace metals and radionuclides. Laboratory sample analyses enable routine checks to be performed so results may be compared with the certified values. For years, the MESL has been producing marine reference materials and has supplied them to laboratories in Regional Seas Programmes. Intercomparison samples of suitable matrix such as sediment, fish and algae are also prepared, tested for homogeneity and distributed to laboratories around the world. Results of analyses reported by the laboratories are then statistically evaluated and compared with the certified values. The final results of the intercomparison exercise allow the laboratories to validate the accuracy of their results in the analysis of a "blind" sample. Reference methods are distributed by UNEP and the MESL. The Reference Methods for Marine Pollution Studies series was set up to facilitate the adoption of tested and reliable methods by laboratories. The adoption of the methods saves time and money and fosters adoption of common methodologies as well as the generation of comparable data by regional laboratories. The MESL also conducts research and collaborates with programmes and laboratories around the world on issues such as pesticide residues in tropical marine environments, speciation, and cycling of trace metals and contamination by petroleum hydrocarbons. These and other services related to data quality are fundamental to the accuracy of pollution measurements for the protection of the environment. However, on the basis of a questionnaire sent by the MESL to 350 environmental laboratories worldwide, it was concluded that 85% of the laboratories are not as yet regular participants in quality assurance processes, that is, in intercomparison exercises. The results obtained in a recent Worldwide Intercomparison Exercise with mussel tissue homogenate (IAEA-142) show that the performance of laboratories (245 participants) in the analysis of common persistent organic pollutants needs to be greatly improved — only 11 laboratories could identify each persistent organic pollutant in a simple suite. From results reported by 84 laboratories, approximately 25% were outliers, and a further 50% were outside the range of acceptable precision. Monitoring laboratories, therefore, must improve accuracy and precision of analytical results. Ongoing intercomparison exercises include the analyses of chlorinated hydrocarbons, petroleum hydrocarbons and trace elements in an estuarine sediment, and fish sample.
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World Hydrological Cycle Observing SystemDuring this century, the effects of a fast-growing world population, industrialization and expansion of irrigated agriculture have dramatically increased the pressure on freshwater resources. In 1997, one-third of the world population was estimated to live under water-stress conditions, and it is estimated that by the year 2025, this figure will have doubled. Without adequate remedial measures, the availability of suitable fresh water is likely to be reduced considerably within a few decades. It is therefore essential to plan adequate management and development of our water resources. For this purpose, we need timely, accurate and comprehensive water-related information that will complement economic, social and environmental dimensions of water use. Unfortunately, a lack of awareness of the value of hydrological information often means that even the basic hydrological activities are not adequately funded. Thus, data collection, storage, processing, quality control and dissemination are seriously affected. This situation is particularly alarming in the developing countries.To contribute to a better knowledge of the water cycle, in 1993 the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) launched the World Hydrological Cycle Observing System (WHYCOS). Its main objectives include the strengthening of technical and institutional capacities of hydrological services to ensure that the needs of end users are met; the establishment of a global network of national hydrological observatories to provide real-time information of a consistent quality; and the promotion of the use of water- related information through modern technologies such as the World Wide Web and CD-ROMs.
General scheme of the data collection and dissemination network implemented. WHYCOS is being developed through a series of regional components (HYCOS), under the coordination of the WHYCOS International Advisory Group. The HYCOS components are implemented independently and respond to local needs. The regional components for the Mediterranean Rim countries (MED-HYCOS) and for the Southern Africa countries (SADC-HYCOS) are already being implemented. To date, the major goals achieved are the establishment of regional networks of hydrological stations and the creation of regional data banks that are constantly being updated via satellite. Data from the MED-HYCOS project can be accessed through the Internet at www.hycos.orstom.fr/medhycos/. Other components are under development for West and Central Africa, the Congo River, the Caribbean and Central America, the IGAD countries of East Africa, and the Baltic Sea.
For further information, please contact:
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Global Runoff Data CentreThe Global Runoff Data Centre (GRDC) operates under the auspices of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). It was officially established in the Federal Institute of Hydrology, Koblenz, Germany, in 1988. The main objective of the GRDC is to collect, process and disseminate discharge data for important rivers of the world.The GRDC database is constantly updated, and current contributions
include data from over 3650 stations which monitor about 2900 rivers
worldwide. The GRDC is the only data centre for river discharge within
the United Nations system operating on a global basis. The GRDC is also
involved in different international programmes such as the Global Energy
and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) and the World Hydrological Observing
System (WHYCOS).
A strong link exists between water quantity and quality and, therefore, there is close collaboration between the GRDC and the GEMS/Water Collaborating Centre (GWCC). A common database catalogue which will contain all the existing stations from both the GRDC and the GWCC will soon be published on the Internet. A joint pilot study is also envisaged to compute fluxes of total suspended solids for selected rivers discharging into the world oceans. The two centres coordinate their data acquisition activities and the use of the RAISON/GEMS software in the GRDC and collaborating hydrological services. The GRDC receives approximately 100 requests for data per year both from researchers within international programmes and projects and from universities involved in the field of climatology and/or hydrology. A series of 21 reports covering the GRDC's main activities are available upon request. Detailed information about the GRDC is available on our web site at the following address: www.bafg.de/grdc.htm.
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A Successful Collaboration: the GEMS/Water Book Series
Since the early 1990s, the GEMS/Water programme has been providing
practical guidance to member countries with a series of handbooks and
guidebooks on different aspects of water resources management. These
guidebooks gather the collective experience and consensus opinion of
experts from all over the world. Produced in conjunction with a
commercial publisher in London, originally known as Chapman & Hall, they
now appear under the name of E & FN Spon, an imprint of Routledge.
Collaboration with a commercial publisher has given the GEMS/Water book series access to worldwide marketing and has led to international recognition of the series among professionals engaged in water resources management. Copies have been sold in countries of every world region, from Nigeria and Zimbabwe in Africa to Sri Lanka and Indonesia in Asia to Ecuador and Chile in South America. Evidence suggests that the books are becoming popular as teaching texts at the university level and with environmental health professionals. Two of the early books in the series are now "best sellers". Water Quality Assessments. A Guide to the Use of Biota, Sediments and Water in Environmental Monitoring, edited by Deborah Chapman, was first published in 1992 — the updated second edition (1996) has sold over 2000 copies worldwide. Both this book and its companion volume Water Quality Monitoring: A Practical Guide to the Design and Implementation of Freshwater Quality Studies and Monitoring Programmes, edited by Jamie Bartram and Richard Ballance, have had to be reprinted due to demand. The more recently published Water Pollution Control: A Guide to the Use of Water Quality Management Principles, edited by Richard Helmer and Ivanhildo Hespanhol, is also proving to be very popular. New books in the series include A Water Quality Assessment of the Former Soviet Union (September 1998), Toxic Cyanobacteria in Water (December 1998) and Recreational Water Monitoring (April 1999). A few books are in preparation: a groundwater monitoring handbook and a book on reservoir monitoring and management. The series is co-edited by Drs. Debbie Chapman, University College Cork, Ireland, and Richard Helmer, Division of Operational Support in Environmental Health, WHO, Geneva.
For further information, please contact:
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