All media are invited to the final workshop of the EU funded project: ‘Flood risk assessment and management in Zakarpattia Oblast’.

October 20, 2005.

    It will be held on 10-11 November 2005 in the Hotel Druzhba conference room, Uzhgorod, Zakarpattia Oblast, Ukraine.
    Floods are bad news, especially if they are major events such as those that affected the upper Tisza river catchment in 1998 and 2001, destroying property and ruining lives. Fortunately, these dramatic events attracted more than only television cameras, and in the wake of the floods Zakarpattia Oblast has received assistance from both national and foreign sources to rebuild what was lost, and prevent future catastrophes.
    The project on ‘Flood risk assessment and management in Zakarpattia Oblast’ is funded by the European Union TACIS programme (value of ?2.2 million), started September 2003 and will be largely completed before the end of 2005. It was carried out by an international consortium of consultants: ARCADIS Euroconsult, ICWS and HKV from the Netherlands and Mott MacDonald Ltd from the UK, supported by consulting partners ULRMC and UCEWP from the Ukraine. The team worked together with the Zakarpattia Oblast administration and the (local branches of) the State Committee on Water Management, Ukraine Hydro-meteorological Centre, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and Chernobyl Affairs, and the Ministry of Environmental Protection. Their aim was to improve the lives of the people living in the Ukrainian part of the Tisza basin by reducing the effects of floods. A comprehensive programme was set up tackling the issue on many fronts: strategy formulation, development and improvement of flood forecasting and warning systems, computer modelling to assess the effectiveness of flood protection measures such as the construction of reservoirs, formulation of a sustainable management plans, GIS to improve data handling and decision support, public participation and education. Construction of actual fl! ood prot ection measures was also part of the project. Because interventions in the Ukrainian part of the Tisza river can have consequences in downstream countries, cooperation was sought on an international level. The results of the project will be presented and discussed during the final workshop.
    The workshop will start on November 10; 11:30-19:00 with a diner following afterwards and on November 11 from 8:30-14:30. For more information, please contact Svetlana Kuptsova, project office manager. Phone number: +380 312 615372; Email: arcadis@utel.net.ua