SedNet Newsletter – June 2015
Website: www.sednet.org
Compiled by: Marjan Euser (marjan.euser@deltares.nl)
Subscription Service: SedNet Secretariat (marjan.euser@deltares.nl)
Disclaimer: SedNet is not responsible for faults due to incorrectness of info in this newsletter.
Previous issues: www.sednet.org
CONTENTS
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9th International SedNet Conference,
23-26 September 2015, Krakow, Poland
“Solving societal challenges; working with sediments”
The conference is hosted and co-organized by the Faculty of Geology, Geophysics and Environmental Protection, AGH University of Science and Technology.
Sediments and society – what is the connection? Sediments – unseen or unnoticed most of the time – have a variety of impacts on human activities and vice versa, particularly along rivers. If the river is used for shipping, too much sediment may become an obstacle. The foundations of bridges may become unstable if too little sediment is available, creating a safety risk. After flooding, sediments are distributed over flood plains and with increased construction in natural flood plains these sediments add to the clean-up efforts and may become a health issue if contaminated. Even more dangerous are the mud and debris flows that can occur during larger floods.
Our aquatic resources are linked to sediment with its many and sometimes conflicting ecosystem services: recycling of nutrients, providing habitats for fish, adsorbing pollutants… But different ecosystem services are accompanied by different interests. How to deal along a watershed with too much or too little sediment? What to do about contaminated sediment that is mobile and may be taken downstream with the next flood? Or what about the contamination that stays in place but affects the local ecology and regional communities? Does contaminated mean “dangerous”? What is “too much” or “enough” sediment in a river and does it justify e.g. dredging or sand exploitation or are there alternatives?
Different countries have different experiences with the quantity and quality of sediments in their rivers, and with dealing with the challenges that arise from there. The role, attributed function and perception of sediments influence the way it is managed in a river system. At the core of the SedNet conference in 2015 will be the link between sediment and society, and the exchange of knowledge and respective experiences on an international level. Sediments are an integral part of the river system. Is this role acknowledged in a sufficient way?
Downloads
Preliminary conference programme
Conference registration form (Word-version / pdf-version)
Suggestions for hotels can be found here.
Accompanying persons
Is your partner joining your trip to Krakow? SedNet is willing to bring ‘accompanying persons’ into contact with each other, so that they can make tours together.
Call for Sediment stories!
2015 is proclaimed as the International Year of Soils. OVAM – Public Waste Agency of Flanders – had the idea to capitalise the momentum and to raise awareness about the role of soils, sediments and land. But instead of using raw facts and numbers, OVAM chose to use a more visual and appropriate language and are using ‘soil stories’. “Facts tell, but stories sell”. And also want to tell WHY we do things rather then WHAT we do.
To reach the general public, politicians and policy makers, it is important to show how soils and sediments help to provide solutions for current societal challenges. On www.bodembewust.be/soilstories you can already find some inspirational stories about the positive aspects of soils.
OVAM wishes to expand the website with sediment stories. We therefore invite you to take a look at the stories, reflect on your own inspiring experiences and submit your own stories via soilstories@ovam.be. Or share them on twitter using the hashtag #soilstories. It is not easy to make a connection between sediments and f.i. living environment, economy, health, innovation, but it will help us to ‘sell’ our work, to make our work more visible. It can help us to tell ‘why’ sediments are important.
At the SedNet conference in Krakow later this year, we will get back on this issue.
Awareness and Policy on Emerging Contaminants in Europe
Commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment (I&M) and the OVAM (Flanders), Witteveen+Bos and TTE consultants initiated an inventory on the awareness and policy on emerging contaminants in Europe. This inventory aims to wrap up available information, knowledge and experience related to legislation, governance and policy. Also SedNet members are kindly asked for their willingness to complete this questionnaire. The focus is on the presence in contaminated land and river basins (including sediment), and the aim is to focus on the curative policy for emerging contaminants in soil, groundwater and sediments.
For this project this questionnaire and a website is developed: www.emergingcontaminants.eu. Please look at this website for further information.
The results of this inventory are presented during the SedNet conference in Krakow (September 2015).
Thank you for your contribution!
Upcoming events
22-26 June 2015: IS.RIVERS – International conference Integrative Sciences and sustainable development of rivers – ZABR – Lyon, FRANCE, organised by GRAIE and ZABR
Full details about the conference can be found at: www.isrivers.org
24-25 June 2015: Final Conference ARCH ( Architecture and Roadmap to Manage Multiple Pressures on Lagoons), Newcastle University, UK.
Participation is free, registration at conferences.ncl.ac.uk/arch. For more info about the conference contact paul.cowie@ncl.ac.uk.
More info about ARCH on www.arch-fp7.eu.
2 July 2015: Seminar “Marine Data: What role for Europe?”, organized by the European Parliament’s Seas, Rivers, Islands and Coastal Areas Intergroup.
www.searica.eu
14-17 July 2015: 10th Iberian and 7th Iberoamerican Conference on Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, CICTA 2015, University of Tras-os-Montes e alto Douro, Portugal.
www.cicta2015.pt
6-9 September 2015: ECSA 55 – Unbounded boundaries and shifting baselines: Estuaries and coastal sees in a rapidly changing world, London, UK.
www.estuarinecoastalconference.com
7-11 September 2015: PIANC-SMART Rivers Conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Conference Topics are: information services and technology for inland waterway transport, international and transboundary collaboration in inland waterway transport and river management, integration of inland waterway transport in the inter modal supply chain, inland waterway transport and the environment (including climate change), inland ports and waterways, hydraulic structures, multi purpose use of river systems (e.g. transport, energy, etc.), operational management & maintenance of waterways, case studies of big fluvial navigation systems, inland recreational navigation and waterfront areas
See www.pianc.org.ar or contact smartrivers2015@aadip.org.ar for any questions regarding PIANC-SMART Rivers 2015.
8-10 September 2015: IMETE Summer Course 2015 “Management and Remediation of Contaminated Sediments”, Ghent, Belgium
www.imetesummer.ugent.be
21-23 September 2015: 18th International Riversymposium ‘Healthy Rivers – Healthy Economies‘ in Brisbane, Australia.
www.riversymposium.com
23-26 September 2015: 9th International SedNet Conference: Solving societal challenges: working with sediments, Kraków, Poland.
Hosted and co-organised by AGH University of Science and Technology, Kraków, Poland.
More info here.
Preliminary dates 2016
27-28 September 2016: the 9th Rostock dredged material seminar will be hold prospectively on 27 to 28 September 2016, Rostock, Germany. Documents about the previous seminar can be found at
www2.auf.uni-rostock.de
October 2016: International Magdeburger Seminar on River Protection, to be held in in the city of Dresden, Germany. Main topics will be urban waters and its management.
www.ikse-mkol.org
Disseminated by:
SedNet secretariat:
Mrs. Marjan Euser
Deltares
P.O. Box 85467
NL-3508 AL Utrecht
The Netherlands
E-mail marjan.euser@deltares.nl