IAP will seek to promote science-based solutions for mitigating major sources of pollution in streams, rivers and lakes. It also will seek to improve access to safe drinking water.
Contact: pdegoes@abc.org.br

Latest news ... Website goes live

On September 12, US NAS launched an interactive website and released a DVD titled "Safe Drinking Water is Essential". The event took place at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Both the website and DVD have been prepared in five languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, and Spanish). Users can explore explanations of health problems related to water and examine a broad array of strategies for providing safe drinking water.  An expert NAS committee oversaw the creation of both the website and DVD, and several IAP academies provided editorial assistance.  Jose Galizia Tundisi, chair of the IAP Water program and a lead player in the development of the project, was one of the presenters at the National Press Club. 

The website can now be viewed at www.drinking-water.org. NAS also has a large number of the DVDs.  One or more will be distributed to IAP member academies. Requests for additional DVDs, with a brief explanation of the intended distribution or use, should be addressed to jboright@nas.edu.

Latest Activities

The IAP water programme held a regional workshop for Africa organized by the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) in collaboration with the Water Research Commission, WRC from 16-18 August 2006 in Pretoria, South Africa. The workshop proceedings are available on the resource page of the ASSAf website: www.assaf.co.za/other_reports.html.
For more information, contact: mcbs@abc.org.br

- IAP European Regional Workshop on water resources and management - Lodz, 28-30 September 2006

A European Regional Workshop of the IAP Water Programme was held in Lodz, Poland from 28-30 September 2006. The event was co-sponsored by ERCE, EASAC and the Polish Academy of Sciences and focused on coupling surface and groundwater researches for long-term sustainable water management. The aims of the workshop were to:
*bridge scientists and managements to identify problems regarding the access to safe water in  different European countries and to propose solutions;
*provide a forum for exchanging information and stimulate discussions focusing on the coupling of engineering with ecological solutions, integrating quantity and quality water;
*encourage networking of researchers and managers and capacity building.

The full programme is available here. For more information, contact Maciej Zalewski: secretary@mcepan.lodz.pl.

-  An IAP regional workshop for the Americas on Bridging Water Research and Management: Enhancing Water Management Capacity in the Hemisphere, was held from 24-28 July 2006 in São Paulo. The workshop, organized by the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, focused on regional problems, aiming to identify areas where existing programmes for water conservation, wastewater treatment, contamination, and the rational use of the existing resources can be improved. The InterAmerican Network of Academies of Sciences (IANAS) co-sponsored the event. For more information, contact: mcbs@abc.org.br

-  An IAP workshop on Water Security took place in Beijing,12-15 June 2006. Organized by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the workshop examined the experience and knowledge gained in East Asian countries in water crisis management. Demonstrations of technology developed for improved water management was given. A two-day excursion to Three-Gorges Dam was also organized.

Background to the IAP Workshop on Water Security

At the beginning of the XXI century, there is a water crisis in East Asia. About one-third of its population is living under moderate or severe water stress, lacking access to adequate supply of safe water and without access to adequate sanitation. Water pollution continues to cause millions of preventible deaths every year, especially among children. This is a consequence of a long history of excessive and inadequate water use, pollution and contamination, and increasing water demand. Climate change, to a certain degree, makes the situation even worse. The increasing economic development has produced a rising demand for freshwater in large quantities. In the next 20 years, the rate of development will continue to grow. How to mitigate the increasing water crisis is a scientific, technological and managerial challenge. For more information on this workshop, contact: Suxia Liu at liusx@igsnrr.ac.cn or Zhonggen Wang at wang@igsnrr.ac.cn

- The IAP "International Symposium on Groundwater Sustainability" (ISGWAS), organized by the Royal Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences of Spain, took place in Alicante, Spain, from 24-27 January 2006 as part of the IAP-Water Programme for the period 2004-2006. From the outset the activity had the enthusiastic support of the UNESCO Division of Water Sciences. The Spanish Ministry of Education agreed to host the symposium at the University of Alicante, the Spanish Government’s support was  channelled through the research institute “Instituto Geológico y Minero de España (IGME)”. Support was also received from the National Ground Water Association, USA, the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, (lead academy for the IAP-Water Programme), as well as other IAP members, US National Academy of Sciences, Academia Mexicana de Ciencias. The total number of participants was around 250, from 50 countries.

One special feature of the symposium was a contest on groundwater issues for secondary education students. This was organized with the collaboration of the Alicante University. Almost two thousand private and public schools were invited to participate and four young researchers were selected to present the results of their research in the plenary session of the symposium on Thursday January 26.

The results of the symposium were presented at the 4th World Water Forum, (16-22 March 2006, Mexico City) along with the Alicante Declaration. A session, entitled “The manifold dimensions of groundwater sustainability” took place on Tuesday 21 March 2006. See: http://www.worldwaterforum4.org.mx/home/home.asp

For additional information, contact: mrllamas@geo.ucm.es

Symposium Announcement
Press release
Report

Link to activities under this programme run in 2005.