WaterEurope (EUPOM68)

he water challenges face in Europe represent a major issue for the population and for the economical sector. The market for technologies to adapt to climate change – like protecting from floods and droughts – is rapidly growing, considering that the cost of repairing damages is estimated to be about 6 times higher than the cost of adaptation. Moreover there is significant potential to boost the competitiveness and growth of the European water sector, which includes 9,000 active SMEs and provides 60, 000 direct jobs in water utilities alone. A 1% increase of the rate of growth of the water industry in Europe may mean between 10 000 and 20 000 new jobs, while synergies with other sectors may generate even larger returns (some estimates indicate that the application of ICT in water management and monitoring could produce growth of 30% per year).
The objective of the WaterEurope project is to develop a unique set of pedagogic resources dedicated to the implementation of hydroinformatic solutions (numerical modelling tools) for water resources and water related hazards management at the European scale. This set of resources (course material, exercises, data sets, modelling environment integrating numerical models and communication services) is jointly elaborated by the project partners. The partners will integrate these new resources in specific training modules integrated within their master course and will intensively use an innovative project oriented pedagogic approach towards the participants. The development of the resources and their innovative use will allow promoting to young professionals the new approaches for water resources and water related hazard management. Most important, the practice gained through these training modules contributes to increase competences and professional skills of young engineers in charge water resources at the international scale.

Trefwoorden:water, climate change, numerical modelling

Disciplines:(Afval)waterzuiveringsprocessen