WaterProtect News: Innovation in Water Governance, Sampling Campaigns and Awareness Raising. News from our Irish, Polish and Belgian Action Labs

Enabling Drinking Water Protection in Rural and Urban Environment

Newsletter #3 - November 2018

If this newsletter was forwarded to you, click below for a subscription

Your e-mail will only be used to inform you about the activities of WaterProtect

Message from the Project Coordinator

Piet Seuntjens (VITO)

Dear reader,

I am pleased to present you a new issue of the WaterProtect newsletter.

We are halfway our project and we are coming at a point where the actors in the action labs are aware of the issues related to water quality and start thinking about how to setup and implement measures.

This requires active engagement of the farmers and other actors in the action labs to find alternative strategies to enable or finance the measures.

Reality shows that continued efforts of awareness raising, information on available programs and financing options and communication are crucial. Some action labs have found ways to attract the farmers to the workshops, through licensed training programs or by reaching out WaterProtect at the farmyards or in cantinas where farmers gather..

I also like to attend you on the WaterProtect theme-based workshop in Belgium next month and the joint FairWay-WaterProtect policy conference with debates and workshops about the role of EU policies in addressing drinking water management challenges involving the agricultural sector .

I wish you a pleasant reading!

Piet Seuntjens

Scroll down to discover the approach and the activities in our action labs.

Action Lab Poland

WaterProtect in the spotlights

at the agricultural fair AgroPomerania

Just like last year, the AgroPomerania exhibition in Barzkowice was marked in red on the agenda of the Polish action lab where WaterProtect was one of the exhibitors.

The local WaterProtect team ran an extensive information campaign on agricultural-related nitrate pollution in surface water and the fair was also the location for an important stakeholders meeting. Read more.

Innovation

in Water Governance:

The approach of WaterProtect

Water governance is at the center of the work packages of WaterProtect.

More precisely, WaterProtect is working on the development and investigation of innovative water governance models.

Els Belmans ( ILVO ) is responsible for this work package and explains us about the approach and the current status of the work in the action labs. Read more.

Action Lab Ireland

Sampling campaign in private drinking wells, info campaigns to engage local actors

The Irish Action Lab has been busy working on several aspects of a pesticide monitoring programme specifically designed to inform WaterProtect and national knowledge gaps surrounding pesticides in rural Ireland and private drinking water wells. Read more.

Action lab Belgium

Sampling campaign confirms: plant protection residues in the Bollaertbeek

Sampling campaigns by the local environmental agency and the local drinking water company De Watergroep during the past spring and summer show that the water quality in the Belgian Action lab is not good. The substance tests reveal that between 10 and 15 substance residues were exceeding the drinking water treshold of 0.1 μg / l. The found concentrations of the active substances were presented to the farmers in the action lab for each monitoring location.

Joint Policy Conference

About WaterProtect

WaterProtect has received funding from the

European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement No. 727450.

Disclaimer: this publication only reflects the authors’ views and the European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.

You receive this e-mail because you have shown interest in our activities related to agriculture, water and soil protection. In case you do not want to be informed about this project, we kindly ask you to unsubscribe below.