The President of CIM Alto Minho, Eng. José Maria Costa, closed on 14th January the Work Days in Portugal within the scope of the European project BIGDATA 4RIVERS - Improving the water quality of European rivers, which took place throughout this week. In addition to the Alto Minho Intermunicipal Community (Alto Minho CIM), the Östergötland County Administrative Council (Sweden), DREAM - Competitiveness Cluster in Water and Environment (France), the Iberian Association of Municipalities are part of this project. Bordering the Douro River (Spain), the Kaunas University of Technology (Lithuania), the National Union of Romanian Entrepreneurs (Romania) and the Regional Development Fund of the Athens Region (Greece).
The themes discussed in these days were related to the main themes around the management of water resources and various tools to support the decision-making process, highlighting:
i) the analysis of the European, national and regional framework and impact of the Water Framework Directive;
ii) the importance of Operational Programs for the improvement of water quality and for the efficiency of infrastructures, where experiences and difficulties in the implementation of the Policy Instruments addressed by the project were shared and the contribution (current and future) of these was discussed instruments for improving water quality; and
iii) finally, the lessons learned and good practices already identified during the activities of this project were addressed and how they can be replicated in other territories in the European context.
These days had the participation of entities with direct competence in the planning, management and monitoring of water, as a result of the transposition of the Water Framework Directive in each European partner country of the project; and with entities directly involved in the operationalization of policy instruments, including the Management Authorities for Operational Programs.
Finally, note that in these working days, around 40 participants from different nationalities participated for 4 days, thus promoting a diverse and enriching work experience in the context of this fundamental theme in the current context of climate change.
The BIGDATA 4RIVERS project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), within the framework of the interregional cooperation program Interreg Europa.
Viana do Castelo, 14th January 2021
