Highlights

• TYPSA will support the European Commission in terms of Water Scarcity and Droughts

  The European Commission has just awarded TYPSA with a contract to provide technical assistance and support for the actions related to water scarcity and droughts based on the Commission’s communication to the European Parliament and Council “Face the challenge of Water Scarcity and Droughts in the European Union”(COM(2007) 414 final) and its monitoring. The seven working lines of this Communication cover water costs, financing or subsidies affecting water, drought management, new water supply infrastructures, technologies and good practices for water saving, encouragement of a new water culture in Europe and the improvement and spreading of knowledge in this strategic field.
  
  During the two years of the contract, we will perform scientific, technical and administrative secretarial functions, including data compilation, production of technical-scientific reports and annual reports on water scarcity and drought in the European Union, but also we will be supporting the pertinent team work in meetings. The team work is made up of eleven international experts, all coordinated by Guido Schmidt, Director of the Environmental Planning Area of TECNOMA.
  
  
  The contract is of great strategic importance due to the perspective that we will have of the guidelines that will be launched by the European Commission, and the actions undertaken by the member States.
  

• Protective measures against forest fires in wildland-urban areas

  This project, resulting from investigations in a European scope, commissioned by the Ministry of the Environment's Directorate-General for Biodiversity, consists in preparing a preliminary study on the reality of forest fires in Spain's wildland-urban areas, and analyzing such reality to propose a basic guide of protection measures that would later be applicable to all Spanish regions. It also includes the current state of legislation and regulations with regards to forest-fire prevention in those areas, its adequacy and a series of recommendations and observations for drafting new legislation in accordance with the reality brought forth by the study. Additionally, the project proposes development of awareness, educational and knowledge measures related to the problem of forest fires in wildland-urban areas by means of designing an internet-based network which would channel technical advice, regulations and management examples towards agents that are involved in this reality.

  The activities foreseen for preparing this study are:

  • Assessment of the risk of fires and their possible evolution in wildland-urban areas.
  • Study of legislation in force, at state and regional levels.
  • International experiences: legislation, preventive measures and results.
  • Preparing a guide for planning forest-fire prevention in wildland-urban areas.
  • Technical grounds for developing a counseling network to prevent fires in wildland-urban areas.

  
  

• Water quality-control in the Tajo river basin

  Its purpose is technical assistance to the Directorate-General of Hydraulic Structures and of Water Quality while sampling and analyzing at specific surveillance and control spots on the Tajo River Basin, according to legislation in force, in order to assess the overall quality of the basin's surface waters.

  The project's reach includes:

  • Revising the Operation Plan for the stations which make up the Integral Network of Water-Quality Control in the Tajo River Basin.
  • Periodical sampling and analysis of parameters corresponding to the different quality standards for each section.
  • Comparing the resulting data with the quality-target set for each section.
  • Releasing periodical reports describing the quality conditions in the Basin.
  • Preparing a computer application to manage data, and releasing reports as often as necessary.

  
  

• Ecological quality of water

  Hydraulic structures are so common in our country's river ecosystems that there are currently few rivers without artificial regulation. Water Management, and management of related biological resources, often faces the problem that these structures cause and, more specifically, the one of quantifying the minimum flows which are sufficient to maintain the ecosystems in these river sections regulated.

  Establishing these flow patters is an urgent task, since the deterioration in quality of our continental aquatic ecosystems is plain obvious, proof of which is our rivers' loss of biological diversity; and it's not possible to solve it only by means of the current legislation for River Basin Districts. Furthermore, their implantation is necessary in order for Spain to comply, formally and time-wise, with the different Directives called for through European Community orders.

  In this context, the branch office in Valencia will carry out Assistance to the Hydrological Planning Department of the Júcar River Basin District, in order to establish Environmental Flow Patterns for the next Basin Plan.

  The study will be pioneer in the sense that a number of techniques shall be applied to an entire district, namely those related to water-quality models, dwelling models and statistical analysis of rivers' natural patterns. The study will reach a total of 35 sections in order to characterize performances with regards to flow-patterns in relation to the ecotypes defined by Water Framework Directives for the Júcar Demarcation.

• Waste Strategy in Madrid (2006 -2011)

  Madrid City Council’s municipal solid waste management strategy is based on 3 key points:

  • full legal responsibility for all aspects of waste management.
  • independence in all technical, financial and organizational aspects.
  • a pioneering attitude towards selective collection, classification, composting, energy recovery and final disposal.

  Tecnoma’s task was to prepare a waste management plan for 2006-2011. The assignment was approached in the following stages:

  • In-depth analysis of all aspects related to the generation and management of waste, in order to establish a starting point.
  • Establishment of the relevant Legal Framework, as well as the legal modifications envisaged for the period (Regulations).
  • Contrast between the real situation and the current legal model.
  • Comparison between the management model in Madrid, and the model in other similar Spanish and European cities, and in the Spanish Autonomous Regions.
  • Design and implementation of an opinion survey to ascertain the degree of public awareness and acceptance of the management model.
  • Design of the Waste Management Strategy: Guidelines, Guiding Principles and Objectives.

  
  

• Regeneration at the water-treatment plant of Terrassa – Les Fonts. Barcelona

  Scope of work: Operation of tertiary waters plus desalination, at the Water-treatment plant of Terrassa - Les Fonts, for irrigation purposes at the El Prat and St. Joan Royal Golf Courses.

  Urban-industrial waste waters, coming from the Water-treatment plant at Terrassa - Les Fonts, contain high conductivity levels due to textile industry discharges (salinity over 2,000 mg/l). This regeneration system is a pioneering move for a Catalonian desalination plant, being the first to eliminate salts by means of reversible electro dialysis, and the fourth-ranked Spanish desalination plant in terms of flow.

  The plant's operation has been carried out from 2004 to 2007, guaranteeing regenerated water supply, keeping storage levels at 90% average capacity, and complying with quality requirements.

  
  

• Presa del Andévalo

  The task carried out was basically technical assistance, surveillance, monitoring and environmental control of works.

  It is a rock-fill dam with a clay core, 1,862 meters long and 62 m tall. Total catchment area is 738 km2 and reservoir volume is 600 hm3.

  Environmental surveillance tasks included the following:

  • Environmental surveillance and restoration program.
  • Research program: effects on sensitive species (lynx and black vulture, among others).
  • Preparing specific surveys on environmental damage and/or impact.
  • Coordination with Andevalo Dam's Environmental Monitoring Commission.
  
  

• Strategic noise maps

  European Directive 2002/49/CE, as it is applied in Spanish legislation by the Noise-Regulation Law 37/2003 and by Royal Decree 1513/2005 which further develops the aforementioned Law, establishes mandatory characterization, by means of strategic maps, of the sonic levels produced by roadways that surpass yearly traffic-flows of over 6 million vehicles.

  Strategic noise maps are obtained in two different stages, depending on the criteria for incoming data: Stage A: Basic Strategic Maps, on a 1:25.000 scale, for the entire scope of the study.
  In order to obtain basic maps it is necessary to compile and treat initial information (cartography, working plans, traffic, inventory of buildings, etc.) which is the basis for configuring the simulation model needed to assess the roadway’s emission-levels.

  Stage B: Detailed Strategic Maps, on a 1:5.000 scale, of the specific selected areas according to the results of Stage A. These are highly urbanized residential-areas and/or areas with health or education-related premises, or others which are sensitive to noise.

  In order to calculate Strategic Noise Maps, Tecnoma has used the CADNA-A (Version 3.6) computer program, which deploys the French method (as mandated by the European Directive) to assess the noise levels caused by roadways.

  The surveyed area extends from South to North along the coastline of Castellón, between the southern municipal area of Almenara and Vinarón, and from East to Northeast, starting from the South of Sagunto, in the province of Valencia, and up to Viver, in the province of Castellón.

  The roadways included in the survey’s scope have been classified as Strategic Map Units for their analysis and representation.