Introduction:  This is the third of a linked series of international conferences.

The first, “Water Contamination Emergencies:  Can we cope?” in March 2003, concluded that the UK Water Industry was well positioned to deal with typical emergencies.

The second, “Water Contamination Emergencies: Enhancing our response”, drew on developing expertise, particularly in analysis and emergency planning within an international focus on possible malicious acts of contamination.

The third, “Water Contamination Emergencies: Collective Responsibility”, seeks to encourage global sharing of any lessons learnt and collaborative research leading to the adoption of best practice.

Target Audience:  This conference will deal with preparedness and possible CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) incidents.  It will be of strategic, tactical and operational interest to civil contingency organisations, emergency planners, health professionals and associated organisations, local authorities, regulators, service and support providers, detection equipment suppliers, disaster recovery specialists, remediation companies, research organisations and water companies.

Objectives and Themes:

• target in-use and leading edge technologies
• share best practice in terms of operational procedures and security
• promote networking amongst experts
• identify collaborative and focussed research opportunities
• enhance cohesive plan development and inter-agency working
• gain common understanding of risk assessment and communication
• learn from real emergencies and planned exercises and highlight training needs

... so that all organisations with responsibilities in the field of Water Contamination, including CBRN incidents, continue to show effective preparedness.

Website of the conference                    Flyer of the conference

A new feature on the WEKNOW website is the contributions from top experts on drinking water. The experts raise topics of interest that might spark research that is needed.Visitors to the WEKNOW website are invited to add to the interactive use of the website through email contributions.

The third contribution from Annabelle May: "The Effectiveness of Drinking Water Quality Regulation". Click here to read her statement

Annabelle May

Annabelle May  has a Bachelors degree in Civil Engineering with Computing and an MSc in Water and Environmental Engineering from the University of Surrey. The research she is carrying out for her PhD is sponsored by the Drinking Water Inspectorate for England and Wales. The position as a student researcher allows her to carry out investigations without bias. Click here to read her statement.

The second contribution from John Fawell: "The Bonn Charter for Safe Drinking Water". Click here to read his statement

The first contribution comes from John Fawell: " New Challenges for Research in Drinking Water". Click here to read his statement.

John Fawell

John Fawell is closely involved in the revision of the WHO Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality. John is also involved in research on a number of priority contaminants in the environment and drinking water such as pharmaceuticals, endocrine disrupters and disinfection by-products. In  addition to WHO John is involved in a number of international forums.  He has more than 30 years of drinking water experience to bring to the attention of WEKNOW contacts and website visitors.

WEKNOW is a Concerted Action on the quality of drinking water in Europe.

The primary goal of this Concerted Action is to include all stakeholders involved in the process of supplying drinking water to European citizens in order to maximise the impact of European research and effort in all areas related to drinking water.

The WEKNOW project is funded by the European Commission within the fifth Framework Programme, Key Action 1 "Sustainable Management and Quality of Water", within the Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development Programme.
Contract no. EVK1-CT-2002-20004.

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