REBECCA - Relationships between ecological and chemical status of surface waters
(Posted 18 August 2006)

The 7th issue of the REBECCA newsletter (July 2006) includes articles by the project coordinator Seppo Rekolainen, ‘REBECCA enters its final phase’, summing up the state of play within the REBECCA project and by Anna-Stiina Heiskanen, ‘Good ecological status of northern lakes: a major breakthrough for WFD intercalibration’, and gives first information on the final REBECCA Conference, 22-23 May 2007 in Oslo, Norway.

The Newsletter is available for download from the Project’s website:
(http://www.environment.fi/default.asp?contentid=175127)

SWIFT-WFD
Screening methods for Water data InFormaTion in support of the implementation of the Water Framework Directive
(Posted 18 August 2006)

Most of the Work Packages (WPs) of the SWIFT-WFD project, funded by the DG Research under 6th Framework Research Programme, deal with the technical, quality control, field testing and validation aspects of screening methods and emerging tools. Two WPs (WP6 & WP7), however, focus on the integration of the project’s technical results into the policy making and management spheres.

These WPs aim at developing and applying a framework for the assessment of the impacts of alternative/ emerging monitoring tools. As part of WP6 & WP7 activities, case studies were conducted in five countries (UK, Germany, France Latvia and Czech Republic). The latest SWIFT Newsletter, Issue 5, June 2006, reports the main results obtained in these different case studies, relative to both technical and socio-economic aspects.

The newsletter is available for download from the Project’s website:
(http://www.swift-wfd.com/document.php?project=swift&locale=en&level1=menu1_
swift_d4d62076d3b01800_6&level2=6&doc=newsletter_5)

THAMES21 – CALENDAR OF EVENTS 2006
(Updated August 2006)

Thames21 work to improve and maintain London’s rivers and canals in partnership with local communities. They hold lots of community clean ups across the capital every year as well as fun and informative public access days where the members of the local community can find out more about their local stretch of river or canal.

The Cleaner Thames Challenge is a 5-day litter blitz on one of the most littered stretches of Thames foreshore in the Isle of Dogs, East London. It’s Thames21’s biggest ever clean up and will take place from Friday September 8 to Tuesday September 12.

More information on the Challenge and a list of the events during August and September 2006 are available on the Thames21 website:
(http://www.thames21.org.uk)