PRESENTATION OF THE FINAL RESULTS OF THE EU FUNDED PROJECT ON FLOOD RISK ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT IN ZAKARPATTIA OBLAST

October 26, 2005.

    *** All media are invited to the final workshop of the EU funded project: ‘Flood risk assessment and management in Zakarpattia Oblast’. It will be held on 10-11 November 2005 in the Hotel Druzhba conference room, Uzhgorod, Zakarpattia Oblast, Ukraine.
    Introduction
    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.
    Cooperation with local administration
    The team worked together with the Zakarpattia Oblast administration and the (local branches of) the State Committee on Water Management (SCWM), Ukraine Hydro-meteorological Centre, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and Chernobyl Affairs, and the Ministry of Environmental Protection. For the demonstration projects, village councils were involved as well. The common goal was to improve the lives of the people living in the Ukrainian part of the Tisza river basin by reducing the effects of f! loods.
    Set up of the project
    A comprehensive programme was set up, tackling the issue on many fronts. It included the following activities: 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 plan, GIS to improve data handling and decision support, public participation and education. Construction of actual flood protection 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 at an international level.
    Results
    The results of the project will be presented and discussed during the final workshop, which you are cordially invited to attend. In short the project has contributed to:
    ° work on precautionary flood protection measures;
    ° an awareness raising book for schools;
    ° four video films: one on the technical aspects of flooding, one focusing on the perceptions of flood victims and two focussing on project work;
    ° procurement of equipment to fill gaps in the flood forecasting system and to furnish the joint flood SCWM/Hydromet flood forecasting centre;
    ° procurement of river level and precipitation measuring equipment with data transmission by satellite to enhance the existing network;
    ° providing Hydromet with radio based data transfer devices;
    ° providing radio transceivers to the Emergency Department to sustain communications with Head Quarters during emergencies;
    ° development of data processing and flood forecasting software to improve flood r! esponse capability;
    ° build-up of a GIS-based data base to improve preparation for flood response and design of flood alleviation measures;
    ° several demonstration projects, among other things on decision making/ public participation and construction of flood protection measures, effectiveness of reservoirs and the preparation of a management plan for sustainable management of the Tisza floodplain;
    ° capacity building through training, workshops and study tours.
    Contact information
    The workshop will start on November 10; 11:30-19:00 with a dinner 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.