Water Information System for Europe

The scanned map sheets are geo-referenced at the moment and are made available on a CD-ROM and as a web mapping service in 2008, to underpin the Water Information System for Europe (WISE). 

Article 16 also states that the list of priority substances needs to be reviewed by the Commission every four years. Eor the definition of the first list of priority substances, in accordance with the provisions of the WED, a Combined Monitoring-based and Modelling-based Priority Setting scheme (COMMPS) was devised. The implementation of this scheme also involved a data collection exercise to assess the level of contamination by chemical substances in Europe. This led to the development of the COMMPS monitoring database. But this was a one-off exercise (the database was never updated) and it was therefore recognised as fundamental that a data collection process should be carried out on a regular basis, with data to be included in the Water Information System for Europe (WISE) developed under the Common Implementation Strategy (CIS). 

The data flow under the WED, from the laboratory via the national competent monitoring authority to the EU Commission and the Water Information System for Europe is complex. 

Gardner, M., Morin, A. and Dulio, V. (2007) Current state of the art and existing gaps in the communication of QA/QC information for the Water Framework Directive, Report under EAQC-WISE project European Analytical Quality Control in support of the Water Framework Directive via the Water Information System for Europe, Contract No. 022603 (SSPI). 

In response to the above considerations, a concept is under development, through collaboration between EC DG Environment, DG Research and LIFE, aiming to establish an efficient and sustainable science-policy platform linked to WISE (Water Information System for Europe) which has a direct relevance and link to monitoring development and data (d Eugenio et al, 2006). This concept is known as WISE-RTD (de Lange et al., 2007) and is discussed in Section 10.1.6. 

However, it became clear that in order to better implement for policy purposes the impressive amount of data and results originated from European projects in FP5 and FP6, a targeted action at the science-policy interface would be necessary. The effort first put in place by the HARMONI-CA project, and later by SPI-WATER, led to the establishment of the research portal of the Water Information System for Europe, WISE-RTD, but additional effort is needed to make this interface work at its best and exploit all the existing potential of EC-funded research. 

Map of Europe at the scale of 1 1 500000 (IHME), to which more than 40 geological surveys and national geoscientific institutions on the European continent have contributed. These maps are scanned and geo-referenced, to make this unique set of groundwater-related information fit for European tools, such as the Water Information Systems of Europe (WISE), and to provide a reliable, harmonised background picture for the future. 

Many treatment facilities at different locations were installed to produce water from wastewater for different uses. In some cases, MF membranes are used directly on strained wastewater to remove suspended particles that are too large for the gap between two membranes [30], Simple wastewater-treatment facilities in Europe exist along all large rivers. Secondary treated waters flowing into the rivers are again pumped at a distance of about 200 meters downstream, treated with active carbon and UF membranes, disinfected and then distributed to the system. This is wastewater treatment without an RO section due to the low salinity of the water. The process cannot handle dissolved medicines, hormones, drugs, and other contaminants that could be removed with RO or NF membranes. In some cases, NF membranes are used for better treatment of the water. Information on wastewater costing may be found in Adham et al. [31]. 

PIET There is some information from Europe, for instance, on the Rhine River in Germany. I know that there are many big cities in Germany and also in our country where water is purified by bank infiltration followed by some ozone treatment that is a good system and leads to an excellent quality in terms of bacteriology. 

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