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The fourth issue of the Quarterly Notes on Sustainable Water Management (Q04/2011) will be released early December this year. As in the previous issues the Notes will contain the following sections > Key Note > Technology > Research   > Politics & Society  As earlier, contributions from concerned stakeholders are warmly welcome.Topics may range from pure scientific hydrological issues to practical water management solutions - focussing on sustainability - and may not be limited to industrial or municpal subjects. Contributions may, for instance, cover reviews of technical achievements, short presentation of water management concepts, announcements of conferences related to water/water management, etc. You are invited to contribute with outstanding, brief and concise inputs (e.g. in the form of abstracts of white papers, papers, and any other communication form). The contributions may consist of 200-300 words (approx.), well written English and might be submi

Following thorough and carefully performed major revisions the next version of the Interactive Data Management (concept) v2.11 will be finalised soon. In particular modifications have been made with regard to the structure of the technical document, the detailed consideration of life cycle inventory data with regard to different software platforms and life cycle modelling environments. The most prominent modification however represents the incorporation of an individual chapter addressing the issue of geographical data, i.e. GIS-Data in context with sustainability analyses/life cycle inventories. The concept now is able to provide guidelines to efficiently link quantitative and qualitative life cycle data (of e.g. products and services) with GIS-Data and thus may sustainably assist in considering regional sustainability aspects of products and/or services. Further readings: [ 1 ]

In continuation of the most recent and successful controversy about sustainability ( Sustainability. What is it? view the results here , [1]) a new debate focusing on the blooming variety of sustainability labels and certificates - Labels + Certificates = Sustainability. Yes. No. Or? -  has been launched. share your view, get your insights   - a research service hosted by S ustainable | W ater | M anagement  Today, such labels and certificates exist for almost every kind of product or service - be it a building, be it packaging, be it a flight service, etc., etc. More or less each week at least one new label enters the market and most often the recipient of the label, i.e. the consumer, is confronted with a sheer endless amount of conditions, influence factors, application opportunities, aspects, etc. to be considered with regard to the application of a particular label or certificate.  The present situation does not provide for an unbiased, objective and transparent evaluation/ra

The server problems that prevented from properly viewing the web-site and all related documents (download area) have been solved. The recent issue of Sustainable Water Management - Quarterly Notes Q03/2011 can now be accessed. If the link still should not work, an alternative server location can be contacted (click alt server ). Further readings: [ 1 ], [ 2 ]

Sustainable and secure (drinking) water supply without exhausting the source of it, i.e. providing enough capacity for healthy renewal, is one of the major challenges. This in particular taking the climate change effects, e.g. rising temperatures, changes in vegetation, increasing evaporation, etc. into account. A number of regions, especially countries located closer to the equator like Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Libya, but also China are facing tremendous challenges with regard to water supply. A debate is going on whether to exploit so-called 'fossil' water. This source of fresh-water was accumulated over a very long time in the past, and renewal is almost impossible. On the other hand, this water source could stimulate economic development in regions that, until now, lack a proper economic and thus social prosperity. The questions, however, remains: is it useful to use such resources or do there exist other opportunities? Further readings: [ 1 ], [ 2 ], [ 3 ], [ 4 ], [ 5

GEO-NEWS : Myanmar (Burma, Birma) has stopped one of the most controversial water dam projects in Asia. Further readings: [ 1 ], [ 2 ], [ 3 ], [ 4 ], [ 5 ], [ 6 ], [ 7 ]

  A series of comprehensive market overviews performed in the most recent months provide detailed in-sights into a obviously robustly growing market segment: smart (water) metering. Accordingly, growth rates of > 10% per year are possible for water utilities in the very next years. Other reports consider longer periods up to the year 2020 suggesting a stable growth rate above benchmark. What is currently lacking seems to be well-developed network infrastructure/utilities/facilities; in this context mobile phone networks could play a key role when it comes to information transmission between end-user and individual equipment items. Further readings: [ 1 ], [ 2 ], [ 3 ], [ 4 ] , [ 5 ]