Newsletter 05 July 2019

In February, the Water JPI submitted a proposal for a new ERA-Net Cofund action under the H2020 Societal Challenge 5 (Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials) for the Work Programme 2018 to 2019. The three Joint Programming Initiatives (JPIs) on Water, Oceans and Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) worked together to develop the proposal called ‘AquaticPollutants’ under the topic 'Risks posed to human health and the environment by pollutants and pathogens present in water resources'.

The Water JPI is very pleased to announce that the proposal was well-received by the European Commission and that the consortium has been invited to sign the Grant Agreement. An EU contribution of up to €6 million will be provided to member states for the project.

The main objective of the project is to develop a common strategy between the three JPIs dealing with emerging pollutants, pathogens and antimicrobial resistance in the whole water cycle, from ‘source to mouth’. This will be achieved by announcing a joint transnational call for research projects and by carrying out Additional Activities that support the alignment of the three JPIs along with the transfer and implementation of the joint call research projects.

AquaticPollutants will start in January 2020 and will run for five years. The joint transnational call is planned to be announced in early 2020. The overall coordination of the project and management of the call secretariat will be carried out by Germany (Federal Ministry of Education and Research BMBF/Research Center Jülich).

On 28^th August 2019, during World Water Week in Stockholm, the Water JPI will join forces with the Oceans and Antimicrobial Resistance JPIs to discuss water contaminants.

A serious and increasing risk for freshwater and marine ecosystems and ultimately human health is derived from emerging contaminants and pathogens, especially antibiotic resistant bacteria, in the environment. The three Joint Programming Initiatives (JPIs) along with the Swedish Research Council and Formas, the Swedish government research council for sustainable development, will gather to discuss the area of emerging contaminants and pathogens.

This showcase event will pave the way for more efficient implementation of water policies by

• enabling stakeholders and end-users to present their respective challenges, and by
• informing the development of the objectives and strategies of the upcoming AquaticPollutants joint call.

World Water Week is the annual focal point for the globe's water issues and will take place in Stockholm from the 25^th to 30^th August 2019. This year it will address the theme "water, ecosystems and human development". More information on Speaker Profiles here. Registration and programme here.

The Water JPI is proud to announce the publication of a second policy brief on Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CECs). The paper was produced as a result of the collaboration between international researchers involved in the first Water JPI Knowledge Hub on CECs (Water JPI SRIA Theme 2). The policy brief is entitled “Contaminants of Emerging Concern – an emerging risk in our waters”.

Climate change and the growing demand to satisfy human and economic needs are increasing the pressure on our water resources. The volume of chemicals used in our daily lives has increased tremendously over the last number of decades and new chemical substances are regularly put on the market. Both during and after their use, these compounds find their way into our water bodies and our environment.

One of the main tasks of the first Water JPI Knowledge Hub is to improve communication and knowledge exchange between stakeholders and the scientific community in the field of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs). The topic of CECs is a complex one, with questions frequently asked about their impact on the environment and on human health. A better understanding of their occurrence and fate in the water cycle is needed, as are strategies for their monitoring, mitigation and removal. This should be considered in the implementation of any legal regulatory requirements after risk assessment.

Mobility and water-related Research Infrastructures were identified by the Water JPI in its Implementation Plan as ‘other relevant instruments’. This would support the Water JPI community and its network within the Additional Activities of the ERA-NET Cofund program WaterWorks2015.

Mobility actions can involve capacity transfer of individual persons working or visiting a place that is not the one they belong to (foreign Institutes, other sectors), or the exchange of larger groups such as among research infrastructures. The platform aims to be an important tool for supporting mobility actions and promoting access to research infrastructures within the entire water community.

Following on from the first workshop held in June 2018, a second event took place in Rome at Ministry of Agricultural, Food, Forestry and Tourism Policies (MIPAAFT) on the 6^th of June 2019. It provided the opportunity to exchange views on the findings/recommendations from the first workshop and from the Water JPI Task Force on Research Infrastructures. A representative from ENVRI Ari Asmi from the University of Helsinki, was invited to present the work of ENVRI Community. This is a community of Environmental Research Infrastructures, projects, networks and other diverse stakeholders interested in environmental Research Infrastructure matters. The workshop facilitated discussion about next actions on mobility and research infrastructures within Water JPI Community by also presenting and reviewing the new Water JPI platform for Mobility and Research Infrastructures that is in preparation.

The first Water JPI Thematic Annual Programming (TAP) action is on the topic of Ecosystem Services (SRIA sub-theme 1.1). The Kick-off meeting involved 21 participants from 16 organisations and included 8 countries. Participants met to identify synergies and shared outputs that could be achieved over the 2-year lifetime of the TAP.

Learnings from the experience of FACCE JPI TAP Soil provided a useful backdrop to discussions which were also informed by the details of the 6 participating project teams from Spain, The Netherlands, Ireland and Finland. Over the break-out sessions the participants identified areas of added value that the TAP could progress. The next steps for the TAP are to complete and then deliver their Implementation Plan. All presentations and the proceedings will be made available from the Water JPI website.

Participants at the meeting of the 1^st Water TAP Action (12^th June 2019) Dublin, Ireland.

As part of its supporting Coordination and Support Action IC4Water, the Water JPI is looking at opportunities to develop a common strategy for international cooperation with other European initiatives. IC4WATER was launched in January 2017 and is funded by the European Commission under Horizon 2020. IC4WATER aims to implement joint activities in a dedicated effort to reinforce international cooperation in research, development and innovation to address global water challenges.

There were 38 attendees from 19 countries at the workshop. The attendees represented:

• Researchers funded under Horizon 2020, COST and the Water JPI, from France, Ireland, Germany, Moldova, Cyprus, Spain, Italy, Finland, Romania, Denmark, India, Vietnam, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, China;
• Initiatives, such as PRIMA, the Belmont Forum, Water JPI, WssTP Chine-EU Water Platform, BONUS, AFRI-Alliance, etc.;
• RDI Projects with Africa, India, China, Russia, Brazil, Canada, etc.
• Network e.g. Australia, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Singapore, USA, Georgia, Jordan, Tunisia, Ukraine, Israel.

This was the second workshop in a series of three workshops designed to elaborate a common strategy with other relevant EU initiatives on international cooperation in the context of research, development and innovation activities. This workshop was primarily targeted at researchers. All presentations and the Proceedings will be made available from the Water JPI website.

2019 Water JPI Workshop (25^th June 2019) in Paris, France.

Universities and companies from the SIM Project worked with farmers, irrigation consortia and water authorities to increase irrigation efficiency with precision and thrifty irrigation management systems.

On 12^th June 2019 in Rome at the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, Politecnico di Milano together with the University of Tuscia, Valencia, Delft, Balearic Islands, the Chinese Academy of Science-RADI, CREA and ANBI, presented the results of the SIM project as part of the activities on irrigation savings in line with the guidelines of the Common Agricultural Policy.

 The SIM group and the Italian Irrigation Consortia Representative at the Italian Ministry of Agriculture (12^th June 2019) Rome, Italy.

The work aims at developing an operational tool for real-time forecasting of irrigation water requirements to support more efficient water management, providing real-time and forecasted soil moisture behaviour at high spatial and temporal resolutions with forecast horizons from few to up to thirty days.

The SIM System is an operational web-based GIS tool monitoring in real time and forecasting plant water needs for precise irrigation. This allows the required irrigation volume to be delivered only when needed, improves irrigation efficiency and creates water savings as well as savings in fertilizer and energy, compared to today's irrigation practices.

SIM combines the most recent results of scientific research to compute soil moisture at high spatial and temporal resolution. The system combines satellite monitoring of soil moisture and of evaporative fluxes, quantitative meteorological forecasts and detailed distributed hydrological modelling of soil water balance and crop water needs, and considers the economic impacts of water savings.

System outputs are also organized as performance indicators (water, environment and economic) supporting irrigation strategies for any level of users:

• farmers who keep soil moisture in an optimum interval,
• irrigation consortia that manage the water allocation;
• water authorities that manage reservoirs.

The operative dashboards are now available for the five project case studies in Northern and Southern Italy, the Netherlands, China and Spain, all of which have different climates, water availability, crop types and irrigation systems.

From the 24 to 26 June 2019, the Thematic Workshop on 'Water management and uses – nexus with climate and food' was convened in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. The workshop was hosted by the EU-Central Asia Network for Water Science and Technology that provides a cooperation platform for the two regions under the supervision of European Commission. The three-day event facilitated an exciting gathering where Central Asian experts could share a selection of successful RDI practices on: hydrology and water availability, improved irrigation technologies, innovative agro-business and tolerant crop development, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and earth observation solutions. Projects funded under the ERA-NET Cofund WaterWorks2015 were among the presented RDI projects: AGRINUPES and INNOMED. The Network will organize follow up workshops on cross-cutting topics over the following months. 

Workshop on 'Water management and uses – nexus with climate and food' (24-26 June 2019) Dushanbe, Tajikistan.