No. 9 (113) June 2006

DAY OF WATER SPECIALISTS IN UKRAINE

On invitation of the Chairman of the State Committee for Water Resources of Ukraine, SIC ICWC Director Prof. V.A. Dukhovny visited the Committee and met with the leaders of the Committee - Chairman Vasiliy Andreyevich Stashur, Deputy Chairmen Nikolay Mikhaylovich Babich and Vitaliy Vladimirovich Lelevskiy.

The leaders of the State Committee told about their successes and problems, which were considered in two accompanying interviews of Vasiliy Andreyevich Stashuk to the Governmental and Parliamentary Newspaper.

“The work on improving rational water resources use and conservation in Ukraine is being carried out by a specially authorized State Committee for Water Resources of Ukraine. Ukraine has a powerful irrigation and drainage system and a highly developed river network. In the country, there are 63,119 rivers and sources. The waterworks facilities in the country include the largest Northern Crimean Canal in Europe constructed in 1961-1990, with a length of 400 km and a flow capacity of 294 km3 a second.

The Main Kakhovskiy Canal with a flow capacity of 530 km3/sec, which irrigates 326,000 ha in two provinces in Ukraine, has no analogue in Europe as well. In the republic, 6 basin water management organizations act.

The status, formation and quality of water resources, undoubtedly, depend on the regime of their use. To this end, special interagency commissions consisting of representatives from public authorities, water users and ecologists were established at the state water management organization. Scientists and leading specialists from respective sectors of the economy are invited to participate in meetings of these commissions.

Disastrous floods in the recent years in Transcarpathian region caused a need for creating a common flood-control system. Based on the generalized world experience in solving similar problems, the state water management organization provides consultations on joint actions with neighboring countries sharing the Tisza river basin. The experience shows that despite a considerable progress, flood protection cannot be addressed by engineering methods alone, since the frequency of large floods increases, as anthropogenic catchment load grows and water use regime is affected.

The legislation entitles water management organizations to control measures for water resources protection, rational use and renewal carried out together with environmental authorities, representatives of the public prosecution department and taxation authorities.

Unfortunately, as the results of examinations show, the number of violations of the protective legislation is great enough.

In the recent years, floodplain development for summer cottage construction, gardening and truck farming significantly increased. The construction on river banks in the outskirts of Kiev and other large cities reached a great scope. In order to prevent negative consequences of these violations, the state water management organization developed methods for river protection and revival. However, no water management organization, committee or even ministry cannot solve the river problem without broader public participation. Therefore, the popularization of ecological knowledge and information among the population should be one of priority tasks of the government and public organizations. The state water management organization supported and continually participates in the Annual Ukrainian Action “For Clean Sources”. In accordance with the Decree of the President dated 1 April 2005, an All-Ukrainian Action “Green Shoot of the Future” was developed, the active participants of which are all the 35-thousand staff and millions of people united by an idea to improve the outskirts that is the most important condition for revival of Ukraine. They improve water sources, plant vegetation on the banks of rivers and water bodies, establish order in cities and villages.

However, the water and environmental situation in Ukraine is still quite intricate and requires comprehensive solution at new quality level, especially emphasizing the need for creating an IWRM system, which helps to advance the legal framework in Ukraine. At present, the state water management organization works on advancing the water legislation, developing methodological frameworks for basin water management system. The Supreme Council of Ukraine adopted a draft Law of Ukraine on Making Amendments to the Water Code of Ukraine at the 1st reading in 2006.

The principal position of the Committee is a provision that the basin management system should be developed with maximum use and considerable expansion of functions laid on water management organizations. Specialists of the state water management organization are sure that only such an approach is more promising and can serve as a basis for state water-resources system. The aspirations of the Committee in this direction were supported by the Global Water Partnership.

Ukraine ratified 22 of 23 international environmental conventions and agreements. All of them have are valid as national laws and answer legal environmental legislation of Ukraine. In accordance with the provisions in international conventions and under the national water legislation, bilateral water cooperation is conducted at the level of interstate agreements on joint use and protection of transboundary watercourses and international lakes. Ukraine signed such agreements with Russia, Slovakia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Hungary and Belarus.

Projects for water resources management and flood protection in Dniepr, Dniestr, Danube, Tisza, Western Bug and Northern Donets river basins are developed and advanced with the financial assistance of the EC and with the help of neighboring European countries. In these directions, the Committee actively cooperates with the EC, UN, International Commission for Danube Protection, Swedish International Development Agency, Swiss Confederation and other countries. Such cooperation speeds up solving of water-related problems and really contributes to approximation of policies of Ukraine and EC member countries. Harmonizing the legislations of Ukraine and the EC is one of the priorities of Ukrainian environmental policy.

Recently the Government gives a great attention to support and development of the water water-resources system, parliamentary hearings of urgent water-related problems were conducted, based on which the decision of the Supreme Council “On the recommendations of the parliamentary hearings, urgent problems, irrigation, water-logging and floods in Ukraine” has been adopted. The decree of the President “On measures for irrigated farming development in Ukraine” was signed in March this year. To fulfill these acts, the Government is planning to submit a range of draft laws aimed at renewal of effective functioning of irrigation and drainage system the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine for consideration.

Water specialists were welcomed by the President and Prime Minister of Ukraine, and Head of the Verkhovna Rada.

An agreement was reached on exchange of information and delegations between BWO "Amudarya" and BWO "Syrdarya", and two Basin Water Management Organizations of Ukraine.

3rd INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON TRANSBOUNDARY WATERS MANAGEMENT

The 3rd International Symposium on Transboundary Waters Management was held on 30 May to 2 June 2006 at the University of Castilia La Manch (Ciudad Real, Spain).

The Symposium was organized by the University of Castilia La Manch in association with the UNESCO and SAHRA (Sustainability of Semi-Arid Hydrology and Riparian Areas).

The sponsors of the Symposium were several ministries in the Spain, including the ministries of foreign affairs, education and the environment, and, what is notable, local (provincial) authorities and various firms dealing with water resources (“Aqualia”, “Acuamed”, “Cadaqua”, “Pridesa” and so on), and the Inter-American Development Bank, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA/Water Resources Program).

The Scientific Committee of the Symposium consisted of representatives from the UNESCO (Ms A.Aureli) and UNECE.(Mr. R. Anderlein), a number of ministries in Spain, leading specialists and scientists from higher education institutions in the countries of the Americas – USA (universities of New Mexico and Arizona), Mexico (Mexican Institute of Water Technologies), and Europe – Spain (universities and institutes of Madrid, Catalonia, Castilia La Manch, Cordoba, Valencia, Cantabria), Italy (University of Catania), Portugal (Technical University of Lisbon), private consultants.

The main themes of the Symposium included various aspects of transboundary waters management:

• “Tools and methods for transboundary waters management effectiveness analysis”,
• “Climate change and its impact on the amount and quality of transboundary waters“,
• “Boundary aspects of transboundary waters management”,
• “Decision support system modeling in transboundary waters management”,
• “Drough and transboundary waters management”,
• “Environmental flows conservation and protection”,
• “Education and knowledge sharing”,
• “Ethical principles in transboundary waters management”,
• “Groundwater quality and sustainability”,
• “Interaction between surface and groundwater”,
• “Transboundary waters and irrigation”,
• “Public participation in transboundary waters management”,
• “Settling transboundary water conflicts”,
• “Transboundary waters management and the European Union’s Water Framework Directive”,
• “Transboundary waters management and water legislation”,
• a number of other (information provision, market aspects of transboundary waters management and so on).

At the opening ceremony, the paper of Director of the UNESCO Division Mr. A.Czollosi-Nagy “Transboundary Waters Management: Past, Present and Future” was delivered. The paper was presented by Ms. A. Aureli (UNESCO, IHP).

Within the framework of the Symposium, these were carried out:

• 3 plenary sessions, papers presented:
  1. The Spain-Portugal International Water Treaty: The Albufeira Convention;
  2. Transboundary Waters Management in the Context of the EU-WFD;
  3. No-conventional TWM
• thematic and poster sessions in accordance with the main themes of the Symposium,
• 3 roundtables:
  1. Water market and transboundary waters;
  2. Political and social aspects of transboundary waters management;
  3. Sustainability and transboundary waters management).

The problems pf transboundary waters management in Central Asia were elucidated in papers (under the sessions attended by representatives of the SIC ICWC Central Asia):

1. “Boundaries in Transboundary River Basin Management Planning (Rbmp) as Seen in the EU Water Framework and Proposed Flood Directives”. (presented by professor Janusz Kindler, Warsaw Technological University, Poland),
2. “International Water Problems and Sustainable Co-Development: a Central Asian Example”. (presented by professor Jean Fried, Louis Paster University, France).

At the Symposium, altogether more than 150 papers from 40 countries were presented, the authors of some were granted by the organizers of the Symposium.

SIC ICWC Central Asia won a grant to participate in the Symposium and present paper “European Water Directive and Water Development Planning in Central Asian Project Site under Project “Rivertwin”. The paper was presented by Y. Rysbekov, Ph.D., Assistant Director of SIC ICWC Central Asia, and dedicated to the issues of water resources management in Chirchik-Akhangaran-KEles basin, which is tranboundary. Central Asia was also presented by Ph.D. Zhanat Zakiyeva, Kazakh National Commission for UNESCO and ISESCO, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, who delivered a paper on the problems of water resources management in Kazakhstan in a transboundary context.

Yu. Rysbekov