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Consortium and management

MANAGEMENT

The management of the project will be the duty of OFFICE INTERNATIONAL DE L’EAU, the project coordinator. All decisions of high importance will be taken by the Executive Board (ExB), which will gather all contractors, with full voting rights (one partner, one voice) the representatives of each partner will have to be from its top management.

It is anticipated that the decisions of the ExB will normally be unanimous, however, the quorum and voting rights (should any matter prove contentious) will be set out in a Consortium Agreement signed by all contractors. The Partners intend to base this upon a model agreement used in other EC projects.

The ExB membership will be open to new members willing to join the process in additional countries ; however they will be accepted as observers in the project, being not financially supported and having only consultative voice, and no voting rights, since they are not full contractors with the EC.

OIEau, as the coordinator of the project, in charge of the day-to-day operation of the project, will chair the ExB.

OIEau will name a project manager, and provide the staff supporting the administration of the project, under the control and direction of this project manager. For doing the work, each WP-leader will rely on its own resources and the resources of the other partners involved in the WP, as detailed in the consortium agreement.

The coordinator will be in charge of the quality policy definition (Quality Assurance Scheme) and the internal auditing of the project, and will report to the ExB. The role of the ExB will include:

·         approving strategic planning and direction of the project,

·         approving the commitments and rights of the partners

·         agree new “members” of the ExB, as observers

·         review and resolve any difficulties in the project

·         build confidence and trust between the participating organisations

·         ensuring that high standards of technical and administrative excellence are maintained throughout the activities of the project

·         reviewing progress against objectives and timetable to ensure successful delivery of the project outputs

·         developing close links with the working environment of the project.

·         approve the project outputs before their official release

In case of durable conflict among partners, after co-ordinator’s resolution efforts have failed, and in the unexpected case that the ExB cannot find agreement regarding a particular matter, OIEau will at the end decide in order to avoid a standstill of the project.

The co-ordinator will issue short 6-month interim progress reports, which will present the state-of-work of every component of the project, against the agreed planning ; these reports will have to be formally approved by the Executive Board, before to be displayed, with the corrective actions to be taken if needed. They will also include a list of all the deliverables and milestones and their status.

Reporting: not withstanding any terms and conditions of the contract, the following reports are due:

·         Months 6, 12, 24, 30: short interim activity report (2-3 pages) detailing progress at the management level

·         Month 18: report on suggested review of the description of work, progress/activity report and management (financial) report

·         Months 18 and 36: audit certificates

·         Month 36: publishable final report

 

CONSORTIUM

OFFICE INTERNATIONAL DE L’EAU (FRANCE)

OIEau is an independent non-profit-making organisation whose principal aim is to develop skills for improving water and river management. OIEau is supported by 149 partner organisations (administrations, catchment organisations, municipalities, universities, professional associations, drinking water companies, NGOs,..), including 32 foreign organisations.

OIEau’s main spheres of activity are:
• Institutional development for water management (integrated catchment management, water in industry, water in agriculture, management of drinking water production plants)
• Management of water data
• Professional training in all water vocations
• Documentation and information concerning water

Main staff to be involved in the project :
Gilles Neveu, Director for Innovation and Development at OIEau, is in charge of the creation of new business opportunities, in the field of water related training, information management, capacity building and expertise, in France and abroad. These activities are related to e-learning, web-based information services, transfer of knowledge from research and others' experiences to practitioners, tools for monitoring water management.

Natacha Amorsi, OIEau project manager, is the coordinator of IWRM-NET, where she is involved in the identification of research needs, creation of IWRM-Net knowledge management tool, the elaboration of the principles of the call as well as the liaison of IWRM-NET with other water related ERA-NET and institutions. IWRM-Net started to widespread its network to other Water related ERA-Net to build up a common approach and reinforce the water thematic. In parallel, she is involved in a discussion group with the Commission on Science Policy interfacing. Apart from IWRM-NET, she is in charge of the organisation of participatory events on water management and consultation.

Jacques Malrieu, is the head of the training department at OIEau, and as well in charge of courses and seminars (including at a distance) on urban water issues – he has a deep knowledge of available water technologies, and of the governance of water utilities. He is an expert in the development of training materials.


ECOLOGIC INSTITUTE

Ecologic Institute is a private not-for-profit think tank for applied environmental research, policy analysis and consultancy with offices in Berlin, Brussels, Vienna, and Washington DC. Founded in 1995, the Ecologic Institute is dedicated to bringing fresh ideas to environmental policies and to promoting sustainable development. Ecologic's work programme focuses on obtaining practical results and on enhancing the importance of environmental protection and sustainable resource management in the fields of foreign and security policy, international relations and global governance structures. As an independent, non-partisan body, it undertakes applied research and analysis to increase awareness and understanding of the political, economic and technological forces driving global change.
Ecologic Institute undertakes applied research. It is mainly project-funded and carries out projects in environmental policy and other policy fields, the outcomes of which are e.g. reports, comparative studies, policy evaluations, literature studies, meta-studies or discussion and background papers. Ecologic Institute conducts interviews and utilises questionnaires in order to reflect current developments. Ecologic Institute prepares scientific information for the political decision-making process in order to develop goal oriented concepts for environmental policy. Ecologic furthermore provides policy consultancy, and animates and facilitates international policy processes in order to develop new approaches at interfaces between different policy fields, and also between different policy communities. This includes the creation and the fostering of international policy networks.
Water and river basin management are at the focus of Ecologic’s research. In this context, Ecologic has been engaged with the issues related to the Water Framework Directive since its inception phase. During the current implementation phase, Ecologic has been supporting national and European institutions on a number of issues, with a particular emphasis on programmes of measures, economic analysis, public participation, heavily modified water bodies as well as integration of water with agricultural and energy policies. Ecologic devises of a broad network of associated institutes and experts in the area of water and river basin management.
Ecologic has a multi-disciplinary staff of ca. 65 that includes lawyers and negotiators, social and natural scientists, economists, technologists and planners that work together in individual project teams. Ecologic's legal expertise is represented by its Legal Team. The Events Team has been set up for the organisation of conferences, workshops and events. Ecologic's staff are well-experienced in handling international contacts and are multi-lingual.

Dipl.-Geoökol. Cornelius Laaser
Cornelius Laaser, a researcher with Ecologic, focuses on sustainable water resource management and especially on all aspects of the European Water Framework Directive. Recently this involved projects on monitoring water quality, on water scarcity, and on the impacts of using biomass for bioenergy on water resources. His interests also cover the topics climate change, land use change, nature conservation and sustainable soil management. Mr. Laaser works in German and English.
Cornelius Laaser holds a diploma in Geo-ecology from the University of Potsdam. He studied at the Universities of Potsdam, Berlin, and Southampton focussing on hydrology, river basin management, and environmental management. Before joining Ecologic he worked as research assistant at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) where he focussed on modeling the impacts of climate change on the water balance.

Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Darla N.Nickel
Darla Nickel is an Associate of Ecologic. She recently completed a dissertation at the Faculty for Civil- and Environmental Engineering, Universität Stuttgart. Her dissertation research addressed the relationships between drinking water prices and regional differences in water availability and quality, land use, relief, subsurface conditions and degree of urbanization. A US-citizen, Darla works in both English and German.
From 2001 until 2006, Darla Nickel was a scientific researcher at the Institute of Hydraulic Engineering, Universität Stuttgart, and a member of the research consortium „GLOWA-Danube – Integrative Methods, Scenarios and Strategies to Mitigate Global Change Impact on the Water Cycle” hyperlink: www.glowa-danube.de. Within GLOWA-Danube, she analyzed the long-term effects of climate change upon water availability and the resulting structural and economical implications for the public drinking water sector in the upper Danube catchment. In addition to these research activities, Darla Nickel assumed teaching and administrative responsibilities for the international M.Sc. Program „Water Resources Engineering and Management (WAREM)”, Universität Stuttgart.

 


 

GdanskWater Fundation (Poland) GFW was created in 1994, with the aims of :
• promoting knowledge serving water economics, in particular the principles of water management in catchments,
• providing additional professional training in the fields connected with water and sewage economics and waste management
• facilitating the exchange of information and contacts between water-users and local and central administration
• undertaking activities conducive to water-saving as well as in the field of ecological education;
• facilitating the exchange of information between research centres as well as promoting the results of their work
• cooperating with other foreign countries in order to disseminate new technologies, to unify standards as well as to exchange experience and information in the field of water economics.

In order to achieve the above objectives, the Foundation concentrates its activities in two basic areas:

• providing professional training for those involved in water economics, and facilitating continuous adjustment to the changing requirements resulting from technical progress, local and regional conditions and the current legal regulations.
• gathering and facilitating access to current documentation and scientific, technical, economic and legal information in the field of water economics;

The activities of the Foundation are supervised by Polish Ministry of Environmental

In its activities Gdańsk Water Foundation targets various groups, all of which are to a varying degree connected with water issues. Among these groups the most prominent are local government administration (municipalities and districts), water supply and sewage enterprises, inspection units (Environmental Inspectorate, sanitary-epidemiological stations), consulting firms, …

Gdańsk Water Foundation runs proficiency testing schemes programs in the field of chemical and microbiological analyses of water, sewage and food. GFW is the only one at the scale of Poland which has such an offer (up to 319 labs involved).

Starting from 1997, Gdańsk Water Foundation have been involved in several international projects, mainly co-financed from PHARE & Leonardo da Vinci Programs.

Contact : Zbignew Sobocinski  - zbigniew.s@gfw.pl  Mr Zbigniew Sobociński is a professional manager with over 20 years experience in training and education as well as  in consulting services of water and MSW management. Key skills: team work, strong leadership, work experience in a European dimension. Trainer at courses for administration, water and waste professionals. Polish Ministry of Environment expert on environmental impact assessments, many publications,  organizer of special courses on legal and economic aspects, especially on transposition and implementation of European law into Polish legal systems

Ms Marta Borucka is an expert in preparation and coordination of projects realized in the frame of different European and Polish programs. Good organizational skills, specialized in technical training courses and interlaboratory testing schemes, competent in task and people coordination Responsible for quality system in company. Experienced in international cooperation.

Ms Katarzyna Sulewska is a lawyer specialized in environmental law, specialist on educational undertakings preparation, with good skills in communication with the people, fully computer literate, with good skills in presentation of subjects in front of audience

 


CFPPDA - ASOCIATIA ROMANA A APEI - ARA (Romania) 

Fundatia Centrul de Formare si Perfectionare Profesionala in Domeniul Apei, Contact : Silviu Lacatusu, wide@ara.ro

Asociatia Romana a Apei – ARA (Romanian Water Association) was founded in 1995 as independent, non-profit, self-funded organisation and represents the national network of water professionals which span the continuum between research and practice and covering all facets of the water cycle.

Through ARA, members collaborate to lead the development of effective and sustainable approaches to water resources management, drinking water, wastewater and stormwater management in areas through the country, creating value and driving the advancement of both the science and best practice of water management.

The ultimate strength and potential of ARA lies in the professional and geographic diversity of its membership - a “mosaic” of members communities including academic researchers and research centers, utilities, consultants, industrial water users and water equipment manufacturers. ARA members from each of these communities represent the leading edge in their fields of specialty, and together are building new frontiers in national water management through interdisciplinary exchange and collaboration.

In the environment, ARA and its members are committed to furthering sustainable and holistic resource management and service provision, built on the concept of the water cycle.

ARA key areas of activity are:
• information and communication (newsletters, publications for dissemination, events like conferences, seminars and study trips, collection of experiences)
• education (courses, workshops, training on the job, technical publications for dissemination,…) 
• policy action (policy documents, organization and participation to national and international conferences and meetings, fostering interaction and coordination with similar international centres worldwide)
• demonstration and research (promoting and supporting pilot and demonstrative projects, carrying out applied research projects)

Since 2007, ARA is involved research projects related to the water sector (national reach project: A-PORT and European project: CHANCE).

Staff foreseen:

Vasile Iuliu CIOMOS has over 25 years experience in all aspects of planning and delivering water and sewerage services, including promotion of best practices and policy development at a local and national level.  This has been achieved in a very challenging environment that characterizes Romania and the Central and Eastern European Countries after a major political turnaround in the region at the end of last century. He has extensive senior management experience in municipal utilities and in the consultancy field of institutional development, environmental issues, financial and operational improvement programmes.
He has been a member of the Asociatia Romana a Apei (ARA) since its establishment in 1995 and in 2002 he was elected as President of the ARA. Through his position he promotes institutional reforms, technical and scientific activities and research in the Romanian water sector. He has coordinated the organizing committee for important events under the IWA aegis in the region (2005 – Young Professional Conference, 2006 CEO Workshop, 2007 – Water Loss Conference). In 2005 Mr. Vasile Ciomos have been nominated as Romania’s representative in the Mirror Group of the Water Supply and Sanitation Technology Platform (WSSTP).
He is also professor at Dimitrie Cantemir University where he dedicates an important part of efforts to the research activities. In present he in involved in 3 research project founded by the national government (as member: KnowHowReg, e-MultiCult or as team coordinator: A-PORT ) and he is the team leader for the Romanian team in the European Project: CHANCE.

Victoria Goldenberg-Vaida has an experience of over 30 years in information campaigns and awareness, making manual for implementation and training of adults. During last years she was involved in organizing and preparing curricula Course on "Financial analysis" and "Project management infrastructure” and in making manuals implementing projects with grant funding. She was an important member of the implementing team for the project “Apa Curata” which disseminates the requirements of the European water directives in the pre-accession period (2004 - 2006).

Silviu Lacatusu a manager with over 5 years experience in collecting the different types of data from different bodies (local authorities, private companies, water operator) about the water quality or investment project on-going.

 

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER NETWORK – ESKTN (United Kingdom)

A Knowledge Transfer Network brings together people from businesses, universities, research, finance and technology organisations to stimulate innovation in a specific field of technology or business application through knowledge transfer. And their Mission Statement is : “To accelerate the UK’s transition to a low carbon, resource and energy efficient economy, enhance the competitiveness of British business and deliver environmental and social benefits by catalysing the development and uptake of innovations in key priority areas which aim to address the critical and linked issues of: excessive us and depletion of natural resources; environmental degradation and loss of biodiversity; and climate change, through facilitating the rapid transfer of high quality knowledge to and between businesses, the effective connection of stakeholder, and the generation of new collaborations.”

The Environmental Sustainability KTN is hosted by Oxford University and delivered in partnership with C-Tech innovation Limited.

As environmental protection costs escalate, treatment of waste and wastewater at source is increasingly being seen as a sustainable option which overcomes issues associated with the increasing heterogeneity and complexity of wastes and wastewaters being received at off-site facilities. The Environmental Sustainability KTN is giving particular focus to the following key priorities in Water Supply, Sanitation and Use.
• Management of Water and Wastewater at Source : We focus on micro and community scale domestic wastewater treatment technologies; on-site treatment technologies for industrial wastewaster; and management of diffuse and urban drainage.
• Low Impact Water and Wastewater Treatment : There has been significant growth in the use of water treatment chemicals to improve global water quality. However, health & environmental concerns combined with escalating use and cost, and security of supply issues, is pushing the water industry to look at the sustainable use of chemicals. We are working with those exploring the road towards chemical free water and wastewater treatment

 

CENTRO ITALIANO PER LA RIQUALIFICAZIONE FLUVIALE- CIRF (Italy)

CIRF (www.cirf.org) is an independent, no-profit, self-funded, technical-scientific association created in Italy in 1999 by a group of technicians with different background to promote the culture of River Restoration and its related know-how. Currently it has approximately 450 members, including around 50 organizations, such as Provinces, Municipalities, Drainage Authorities, Parks and research centres.

CIRF key areas of activity are:
• information and communication (newsletters, publications for dissemination, events like conferences, seminars and study trips, collection of experiences)
• education (courses, workshops, training on the job, technical publications for dissemination,…) 
• policy action (policy documents, organization and participation to national and international conferences and meetings, fostering interaction and coordination with similar international centres worldwide)
• demonstration and research (promoting and supporting pilot and demonstrative projects, carrying out applied research projects)
Since 2006, CIRF runs the secretary of the European Centre for River Restoration (ECRR: www.ecrr.org).

CIRF can significantly contribute to WaterSPiis because of its experience in river management issues and long lasting interaction with public water and land management bodies which enabled CIRF to identify weaknesses and to develop specific guidelines. At the same time, CIRF is on the edge of applied research particularly for what concerns River Restoration which, indeed, strongly involves a number of different disciplines ranging from hydrology, water resources management, fluvial geomorphology, environmental economics and social sciences, together with system analysis tools (mathematical simulation optimization models, Decision Support Systems). Also CIRF has long lasting experiences in communication and dissemination with a number of public events organized for a broad range of different participants and production of specific dissemination material from web-sites, CD roms, policy papers and technical manuals.

Staff foreseen :
Andrea Nardini holds a degree in hydraulic sanitary engineering from the Politecnico di Milano, Italy (1985). He is currently member of the directory board of CIRF and responsible for the technical-scientific research and international cooperation sector. Furthermore, he is consultant in several international projects with organisms like the United Nations Environmental Programme for the Egyptian Ministry of Public Works and Irrigation and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Andrea Goltara graduated in 2000 in environmental engineering at the Politecnico di Milano, with an experimental thesis on water treatment with membrane bioreactors. After a short experience in soil remediation and industrial water treatment, he works with CIRF since 2002. As part of multidisciplinary teams, he has carried out over 20 projects, both national and international, in river and water related issues.
Simone Bizzi : his PhD research will contribute to the development of approaches, methods and tools for an integrated approach to river basin management, involving: analysis of geomorpho. and biological river processes, modelling conceptualization and implementation and development of novel assessment methodologies as requested by the WFD. 

 

 

AMPHOS 21 (Spain)

Amphos 21 (formerly Enviros Spain S.L.) is a strategic and environmental consultancy created in 1994, with a long experience in waste management, water management, strategic environmental communication and environmental and energy management. Amphos21 has around 60 highly qualified professionals in hydrogeology, physics, biology, environmental sciences, chemistry and economics.
Amphos 21  provides strategic services covering a wide portfolio of water management topics, including:
• Assessment and management of the integrated water cycle.
• Design of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) tools and numerical models for decision making.
• Assessment of contaminant behaviour, risk analysis and vulnerability. Hydrochemistry of groundwater, environmental and radiogenic isotopes studies and contaminant processes.
• Water basin planning taking into account the corresponding water directives.
• Characterization and quantification of groundwater resources, including the development of hydrogeological and numerical models as well as scenario analysis.
• Impact assessment
• Water Use, Demand and Resource Analyses,
• Alternative resources, use of rainwater and recycled water.
• Communication and public participation in river basin management plans, in the context of the European Water Framework Directive.

 

Amphos 21 is deeply involved in the International Course on Subsurface Hydrology, providing tutors for the course and organising modules. Amphos 21 has also a large experience on International Cooperation in developing countries on water sanitation and competence building through the development of specific projects mainly in South America and Africa. 

 http://www.amphos21.com/, Contact : Beatriz Medina, beatriz.medina@amphos21.com

 


TRIPNITY (France)

For the past 4 years, Tripnity successfully designs, develops and animates communities bearing their own names or on behalf of commercial trademarks such as Air France KLM with www.bluenity.com - KLM, iDTGV with www.idtgvandco.com or Thalys with www.thalyseo.com.
Tripnity helps also trademarks to build their virtual identity through all big social media like Facebook, Twitter and so on. Tripnity is implementing a specific tool for enterprises 2.0 (www.tweegg.com) aiming colleagues of a same company to work in a collaborative way thanks to the best tools of Social Media.
Tripnity employs 12 staff members.

Jérôme Boudot is CEO and Co-founder of Tripnity in 2005 – he is a consultant in web 2.0 marketing strategy for international brands (Fondation Nicolas Hulot, Air France, Eurodisney, SNCF), and a professor in web marketing at Esmod. He is a graduate from Lyon Business School (EM Lyon) where he studied marketing and management science.
Previously, he worked 7 years in the luxury industry for cosmetic brands (Dior, Guerain, Nina Ricci) in operational marketing department (in charge of the launch of the famous fragrance J'Adore in Holland and Belgium) then in development marketing department (specific products for Travel Retail and fragrances for Asia area).

Céline Salomon is co-founder and Artistic director of Tripnity ; she worked abroad (U.S and U.K.) during 6 years in the hospitality industry before joining "crazylibellule and the poppies" (Fragrances, France) for which she was running operational marketing for Europe, U.S.