Author(s): Cedo Maksimovic
Linked Author(s): Cedo Maksimovic
Keywords: No Keywords
Abstract: One of the most important aspects in the development of the modern world is the rapid movement of people from rural places to urban centres. The environment of urban areas extends far beyond their boundaries; in the context of rivers, these are modified to meet the needs of the urban population and often act as conduits for wastewaters. Historically, development of watercourses has been undertaken for a variety of reasons such as water supply, navigation or flood control. Throughout historic development urban watercourses have gradually been converted from natural rive beds to confined narrow river corridors with the channels canalised in concrete and other man-made materials forming both the bed and banks of the river. In many cases they have been culverted and converts into covered combined sewers. Within urban areas, management and control of a watercourse are used to prevent or reduce bank erosion, flooding and increased pollutant loads, but may also be used for the protection of the natural hydraulic conditions and urban aquatic habitats. The urban communities expect protection from floods, and there are public health and safety issues from water quality and the proximity of running water. Resolving the conflicts over watercourse functions is particularly complex in urban areas, and urban watercourses are seen as an important element in an integrated urban water management cycle (Maksimovic & TejadaGuibert, 2001). Many urban streams have been converted into closed conduit sewers, and now receive both storm drainage and raw or dilute sewage from the surrounding area. The pollutant loading also frequently leads to poor water quality, indeed this adverse impact of urbanisation often extends to the watercourses downstream of the urban area. In some cases the bacteriological or chemical quality of urban streams may present a severe threat to public health. The result is that many urban watercourses have virtually no aesthetic or amenity value, support a limited range of ecosystems, and do not meet the water quality objectives prescribed by the EC Water Framework Directive (WFD). Modification of watercourses is recognised in European legislation through the Water Framework Directive, which defines a “heavily modified water body” as a “body of surface water, which as a result of physical alterations by human activity is substantially changed in character”. The WFD provides the basis for long-term, sustainable development, enhancement and planning of European rivers with an emphasis on natural ecosystems, and intrinsic wildlife value. The pressure on 1 The paper also to be presented at the URBEM conference, Dresden, Germany, September 2005 6174 September 11~16, 2005, Seoul, Korea European urban centres has increased significantly over the past century, with higher population densities, together with expectations of many for an improved quality of life. Improvement of the river systems through urban areas in terms of quality, ecology, aesthetics and amenity values is vital in the movement towards an environmentally sustainable future for cities in Europe. The URBEM project (http: //www. urbem. net/theproject. html) investigated various aspects of new techniques and materials for bringing file back to urban streams in order to provide long term sustainable solutions and to enhance the visual and ecological values. The approach of URBEM is based on the belief that the whole river corridor and its interactions with the urban environment are an integral part of the system (Gardiner, 1992). This paper (and the lecture that follows) presents the educational – capacity building component of the project. The educational tool that will be developed at the end of the project is an overarching framework which integrates the educational elements of the other 10 work packages and presents them in the form suitable for running various forms of training – capacity building of the defined target groups. 1. GENERAL INFORMATION 1.
Year: 2005