VITUKI

VITUKI was founded in 1952 on the basis of the Hydrologic Institute to perform for the Hungarian Water Management both basic and applied research, as well as studies related to the development, conservation and sound management of water resources of the country. Supported by hydraulic, hydro chemical etc. laboratories; equipment, instrumentation and computer facilities, VITUKI has emerged as one of the most complex water-oriented full-service professional organizations in the region. At present, there are about 80 highly qualified specialists on the staff, out of the total 230 employees, including civil, chemical, electrical, mechanical engineers, geologists, biologists, mathematicians, and geophysicists.

VITUKI is the reference center of WHO and WMO concerning water quality and hydrology, respectively, one of the founding members of International Association of Hydraulics Research (IAHR) and focal point for the International Association for Hydrological Sciences (IAHS). Hydrologists of the Institute elaborated numerous national projects related to hydrological forecasting also participated in international projects of the European Union, WMO and the Danube countries. The Institution played a key role in the investigation of high floods in the period of 1998-2001 in the Tisza Basin with special emphasis on flood forecasting and flood inundation studies. Drought studies in central Hungary and investigation of the hydrological drought in the Balaton catchment 2000-2003.

The project will essentially be implemented by:

• Dr. Gábor Bálint: Civil Engineer, PhD in Hydrology and water management. Position: Head of the Hydrological Forecasting Unit, Senior Research Associate. Role: Project responsible at VITUKI. G. Balint has been working as forecaster and flood hydrologist more than two decades. He has an important experience in the processing of real time hydrological information and also in the use of hydrological data and forecast for flood-related decision making and operation of hydraulic structures. He took part in the elaboration of the VITUKI-OVSZ modelling system and in the analysis and simulation studies of climate change impact and extreme flood events in the Danube Basin.
• Dr. Balázs Gauzer: Civil Engineer, Dr Techn. in Hydrology and water management Role: Testing of hydrological forecasting models, flood simulation, developing and operating hydrological software.
• Dr. Károly Konecsny: Geographer, PhD in Hydrology. He has an important experience in analysing flood related information and also in drought studies.
• Dr. Zsolt Mattányi: Geographer, PhD in Physical Geography. He is experienced in GIS tool application, analysing hydrometeorological and rivernetwork related information and also in economic impact studies.
• Dr. István Zsuffa: Civil Engineer, PhD in Hydrology and water management. Budapest Technical University, Wageningen Agricultural University. His research field covers hydrology, hydrodynamics, ecology and operational research. His special interest is wetland management.

Finished projects:

EFFS; FLOODRISK-Hungary; The Tisza River Project: Real-life scale Integrated catchment model for supporting water- and environmental management decisions (FP5).; Harmoni-CA Harmonised Modelling Tools for Integrated River Basin Management (FP5); HarmoniQuA Harmonising Quality Assurance in model based catchment and river basin management (FP5); NÉS_Baseline information Ongoing projects: PREVIEW, CLAVIER, CLIMATE-WATER

Role in the project:

VITUKI will contribute to two Work Packages, namely WP4 “Catchment hydrological models”, where it will carry out data collection for the SVAT model and will participate in the calibration and validation of the model for (parts of) the Danube Basin (Tasks 4.1 and 4.2 consequently); WP5 “Impact on selected Societal Benefit Areas”, where contribution to flood early warning is expected (part of Task 5.6) analysis of planned and existing transboundary cooperation and international schemes is foreseen together with application of accessible remote sensing products for the given purpose.

The Commission on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution

The Commission on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution (the Black Sea Commission or BSC PS) via its Permanent Secretariat is the intergovernmental body established in implementation of the Convention on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution (Bucharest Convention), its Protocols and the Strategic Action Plan for the Rehabilitation and Protection of the Black Sea.

There are seven BSC PS Advisory Groups which provide their expertise and information support to the Commission and Secretariat on following sectors: (a) pollution monitoring and assessment (PMA); (b) control of pollution from land based sources (LBS); (c) development of common methodologies for integrated coastal zone management (ICZM); (d) environmental safety aspects of shipping (ESAS); (e) conservation of biological diversity (CBD); (f) environmental aspects of the management of fisheries and other marine living resources (FOMLR); and (g) information and data exchange (IDE).

Within the institutional framework co-ordinated by BSC PS, seven Black Sea Regional Activity Centres (RAC) have been established on base of existing national organizations.

BSC PS possesses co-operation links and options for consultative conversation with other intergovernmental organizations involved in marine pollution affairs at the global and regional level, including the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), International Maritime Organization (IMO), Global Environmental Facility (GEF), International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR), Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area (ACCOBAMS), Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), European Environment Agency (EEA), different institutions of the European Union (EU) and some other organizations.

The Black Sea states collaborate with all above organizations directly or through the BSC PS Secretariat.

The project will essentially be implemented by:

• Dr Violeta Velikova, Pollution Monitoring and Assessment Officer
• Dr Ahmet Kideys, Executive Secretary

Role in the project:

BSC is leading the “Gap Analysis” task in WP2, and taking part in the “End-user communication” and “Decision-makers and policy involvement” tasks in WP7. BSC will aslo co-organize with ITU the final project conference in Istanbul.

Center for Advanced Studies, Research and Development in Sardinia, Italy

CRS4 is an interdisciplinary research centre developing advanced simulation techniques and applying them, by means of High Performance Computing, to the solution of large scale computational problems in science and engineering, and developing innovative applications in the field of the Information and Communications Technology.

Since 1992, the Environmental group (today named Energy and Environment Program) of CRS4 has gained extensive experience in developing highly effective environmental applications by means of numerical modelling, and GIS-DB technologies. The CRS4 activities in this field are today centred on the development and application of numerical models (soil and water contamination, superficial hydrology, extreme events and hydrogeological risk) and other computational tools, such as Geographical Information System, Relational Database, and Decision Support Systems, for the analysis of environmental data and for the simulation of the dynamics of hydrological and meteorological state variables. Specific skills are focused on the development of web based portals for the environmental sciences and application of numerical models, large scale simulations and high performance and parallel computing solutions.

The project will essentially be implemented by:

• Ernesto Bonomi (Advanced Master’s degree in Physics and Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics) is the Director of three highly-motivated groups (Imaging and Numerical Geophysics, Water Resources and Management, and Process Engineering and Combustion), which include about 20 research staff, developing and applying numerical simulation models and data analysis tools for earth exploration and imaging, hydrology and territorial planning, meteorology, and chemical and combustion processes.
• Pierluigi Cau is an hydraulic engineer graduated at the University of Cagliari. Researcher for the Water Resources Management group, Energy and Environment Program of CRS4, since 2000.
• Simone Manca is a software engineering for CRS4 since 2000. He has worked in more than ten years projects on C/C++, scripting language, GIS (Geographical Information System) and environmental applications
• Marino Marroccu (Degree in Nuclear Physics at the University of Cagliari) is a senior researcher since April 2003 and head of the Water Resource Management Area.
• Andrea Piras. (Master’s degree in Computer Science Technologies, University of Cagliari) is a researcher in the Network Distributed Applications area of CRS4.
• Giuditta Lecca is a senior researcher of the Hydrology and Water Resources Management Group of CRS4 where she has been working since 1992. She got a degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Cagliari in 1991.

Role in the project:

CRS4 is involved in the gridification of SWAT in task 2.5 of WP2. The main role of CRS4 is to lead the “Black Sea Catchment Observation System for decision-makers” task in WP6 and the related deliverables.

International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River

The ICPDR (International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River) is an international organization consisting of 14 cooperating states and the European Union. Since its establishment in 1998, it has grown into one of the largest and most active international bodies engaged in river basin management in Europe. Its activities relate not only to the Danube, but also the tributaries and ground water resources of the entire Danube River Basin.

The ultimate goal of the ICPDR is to implement the Danube River Protection Convention by promoting and coordinating sustainable and equitable water management, including conservation, and rational use of waters for the benefit of the Danube River Basin countries and their people. The ICPDR pursues its mission by making recommendations for the improvement of water quality, developing mechanisms for flood and accident control, agreeing on standards for emissions and by assuring that these measures are reflected in the Contracting Parties’ national legislations and are applied in their policies.

The ICPDR actively organizes and prepares information for the countries on issues related to water quality and quantity in the Danube river basin and is the coordinating platform for the development of the Danube River Basin Management Plan as required by the EU Water Framework Directive. To carry out this coordination role the ICPDR has organized GIS information systems and data collection on water management from the Danube countries and produces numerous reports and documents for technical and public audiences.

The Project Will Be Essentially Implemented By:

• Philip WellerPhilip Weller is an environmental planner by training. He studied general Environmental Science at the University of Waterloo in Canada and received a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning from the same University with a focus on rehabilitation and clean-up of environmental hotspots within the Great Lakes of North America. Mr Weller was appointed in August 2003 as the Executive Secretary of the (ICPDR) International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River. The ICPDR is the forum for the 14 major Danube countries and the European Commission to implement the commitments they have made under the Danube River Protection Convention to improve water quality and water management in the Danube River Basin. The Commission recently received the prestigious Thiess River Prize for the success in ensuring effective cooperation in the most international river basin in the world. In his previous position as Programme Director of WWF International (Danube Carpathian Programme, 1995-2002) Mr Weller was the driving force behind the “Lower Danube Green Corridor” - an agreement between Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine and the largest wetland protection and restoration initiative in Europe. Previously he served for four years as director of Great Lakes United, a unique bi-national coalition of interest groups including local municipalities, research organizations, businesses and NGOs in both Canada and the United States focused on the clean up of the Great Lakes. Mr Weller has also managed successful consulting businesses in both Canada and Austria and has done numerous assignments for governments and international organizations. Mr Weller has considerable practical experience in the restoration of natural ecosystems and in planning processes to achieve public involvement in environmental decision-making. He also played a major role in the organization of the Danube Carpathian Heads of State Summit held in April 2001 under the chairmanship of President Iliescu of Romania and HRH Prince Philip, the Honorary President of WWF. Mr Weller helped organize on behalf of the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Christian Orthodox Church the Symposium “The Baltic Sea: A Common Heritage and Shared Responsibility” and is a member of the Executive Committee of Religion, Science and Environment. Mr Weller is author of three books on environmental topics including ‘Freshwater Seas’ an environmental history of the Great Lakes of North America. Mr. Weller is married to the Austrian Andrea Weller, pharmacist, and is father of two sons. is Executive Secretary of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River a post he has held since August 2003. He is trained as an Environmental Planner and has extensive experience in ecological restoration and management of water resources in both Europe and North America. He has managed and participated in numerous multidisciplinary research projects in the Danube and the Great Lakes of North America and is author is numerous publications including 3 books on environmental themes.
• Dr. Igor Liska works as Technical Expert for Water Quality and Water Management at the Secretariat of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) in Vienna, Austria. He provides managerial and technical support to the activities concerning monitoring and assessment of the surface and groundwater quality and quantity in the Danube River Basin as well as the maintenance, operation and further development of the Danube Accident Emergency Warning System. He contributed to the preparation of the Action Programme for Sustainable Flood Protection in the Danube River Basin and currently supports its implementation. In the recent years he has also been project manager of the Joint Danube Survey 2007 (the world’s largest river expedition), author of the monitoring strategy for the Danube River Basin District and coordinator of the sediment management issues under the ICPDR.
• Alex Hoebart is the ICPDR Technical Expert on Information Management and GIS. He is responsible for the management of the ICPDR Expert Group dealing with information management and has extensive experience in organizing and operating information systems and electronic data collection. He is also responsible for the development of the Accident Early Warning System of the ICPDR and the purchase and maintenance of hardware to secure effective storage and utilization of information within the ICPDR.
• Dan Teodor Dan Teodor is a geographer and environmental scientist. He studied Environmental Science at the “Babes-Bolyai” University , Geography College, Cluj Napoca in Romania and received a Masters in Environmental Science from the same University with a focus on GIS application in hydrology. He has 10 years experience in Geography and Environmental Science, Mapping, Cartography and GIS & IT fields. In the last 5 years he was involved in water management field and implementation of Water Framework Directive in Romania, specially from GIS point of view . He was involved in several environmental and GIS projects : Land Parcel Information System of Romania, Transboundary Water Management of Crisuri/Koros river basin” between Romania and Hungary, Elaborate the Register of Protected Ares for Romania from WFD point of view. From September 2008 he is the GIS Expert of ICPDR an he is responsible for development and maintenance of the ICPDR GIS system and in particular in ensuring the uploading data from representatives of the Danube countries. Also he is responsible for map production of the Danube River Basin Management Plan. With the EnviroGRIDS project, he will be especially involved in WP2 (task 2.1 - Gap Analysis and task 2.7 - Grid-enabled Spatial Data Infrastructure) is the Expert recently assigned by the ICPDR to assist in the development and maintenance of the ICPDR GIS system and in particular in ensuring the uploading data from representatives of the Danube countries. He recently joined the ICPDR from his post with the agency responsible for water management in Romania (Apela Romana) where he was responsible for the organization of GIS and data collection for the EU Water Framework Directive.

Role in the project:

ICPDR is involved on WP2 (Spatial Data Infrastructure) to perform and supervise gap analysis (Task 2.1) into the Black Sea Catchment. The recommendations derived from the gap analysis should aim at complementing the existing geographical information systems of the ICPDR and Grid-enabled Spatial Data Infrastructure (Task 2.7) to exchange data in various format and projections within the Black Sea Catchment and use a combination of open source (Postgres SQL, PostGIS, MapServer) and commercial software (ArcGIS server, FME) to complement the existing database used by ICPDR.

In WP7 (Dissemination and training) ICPDR will involve decision- and policy makers in the Black Sea Catchment and disseminate project results (Production of multi-lingual leaflets, newsletters, policy briefings and end-user deliverables, Outreach to international platforms - Task 7.1) and Decision and policy makers involvement (Task 7.2).