Conference Conclusions

Nowadays natural or accidental hydrological phenomena, like floods, droughts, pollution, are frequent worldwide.
The objectives of the International Conference “Preventing and Fighting Hydrological Disasters” which were attained might be synthesized as following:   
    · establishing exchanges of ideas concerning scientifical concepts towards hydrological extremes;
    · presenting some research results, accomplishments and experiments in the domain;
    · settling the directives for the future actions.
The question we had had and wanted to find an answer for during the conference was about the way we can anticipate these phenomena and also mitigate their effects.
The conference was organized under the high patronage of the President of Romania, Mr. Ion Iliescu, by the “Politehnica” University of Timisoara, Hydrotechnics Faculty, together with the National Administration of the Romanian Water, Banat Water Branch and the Romanian National Committee for the International Hydrologic Program-UNESCO. It took place under the auspices of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) and with the collaboration of the World Association of Soil and Water Conservation (WASWC).
The conference was included in this year calendar of PHI-UNESCO, IAHS, WASWC, EWRA (European Water Resources Association) and TECHWARE being held with the occasion of the 270 years anniversary of the first water works in the Banat region and 20 years anniversary from the first National Symposium on Water Resource Management held in Timisoara, with the participation of Mr. Ion Iliescu who was the president of the National Water Council in that period.
Remarkable persons were present at the conference accepting to form the International Scientific Committee and/or really attending the PFHD Conference. We are going to name just a few of these well-known persons in the “world” of Hydrology and Water Management: Dr. Szollosi-Nagy, the manager of the Water Science Division-UNESCO, Prof. George Tsakiris, the EWRA president; Prof. Andre Musy, Ecole Politechnique de Lousane; Prof. K.V. Rao, City University London; Prof. Antonio Betamio de Almeida, Technical University of Lisbon, Prof. E. Pasche, Technical University Hamburg-Harburg.
We also were glad to be hosts of remarkable specialists from our country, colleagues from universities and managers of the National Administration and Water Branches.

The conference subjects were:
1. Natural and Accidental Floods
The approach was on the problems concerning the flood risk (choose of methods, management, design taking into account the risk, the legal reglementations concerning the accidental floods etc); modern methods and multifractal bidimensional mathematical models, runoff simulations in hydrological extreme periods; integrated water resources management during floods, evaluation and impact on erosional processes in catchments, the sediments transports in rivers and reservoirs; flood waves control and forecast using artificial and neural network as an European Flood Forecast System (EFFS); concepts on the non-structural measures for the mitigation of the flood effects; case studies on exceptional events and their implications in various hydrographical areas.

2. Hydrological Droughts
Here the stress lies upon the surface and ground water flow, the water resources investigation with the means of the Satellite Image Data, the GIS techniques, digital mathematical models; drought for agro-systems, steppe and sylvo-steppe areas; consideration regarding dry and normal periods in inter-fluvial areas, the drought monitoring (in irrigation programs or using the precipitation standards index) and the drought forecast, especially in arid and semi-arid areas; case studies on drought disasters (India, Teheran province).
3. Water Quality and the Impact on the Environment
The papers analyze ecohydrological concepts (the integration of advanced ecological and hydrological studies for improving water resources, the self-purifying capacity of water ecosystems, the effects of the drainage network taking into account the natural biodiversity); the impact on the environment (the evaluation of the water resources pollution risk, the costal protection, accidental pollution due to navigation, thermical sources, the impact of the abandoned mines on the water resources, implications of the soil erosions in the quality of the waters); the investigation and evaluation of water quality in surface systems, methods and models concerning pollution evaluation, processes and means to protect the water quality/ depollution).

4. Policies and Strategies Preventing and Fighting Hydrological Disasters
There are presented here: institutional organization in the field of water management (Romania); the GIS development concerning water resources; privatization of the water supply companies (Germany); general and particular directives; priorities in the flood protection activity; preventing conflicts between water usage and environment; projects about preventing and controlling the water disasters, climate changes and river runoff; case studies on water resources-improvement, drought, floods (Algeria, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Israel etc); modernization of the hydrological data monitoring; hydrological and meteorogical disasters.
The topics above were presented in more than 100 papers, written in English by authors from 39 countries, and they are included in a 480 pages conference volume.
Some of these papers had been presented and debated during the conference other had been shown as posters. The language of the conference was English and it was simultaneously translated into Romanian.
The conference program also contained the presentation of some documentary movies about dam failures in Europe, RAI (Risk Assessment International-Vienna) and the flood management in Banat catchment area in the last years.
The program also contained on the 23rd of November a documentary journey on Danube at the Hydrotechnical System Banat (Iron Gates I Hydrotechnical System).
Book stands had been arranged on the conference hall offering interesting books and informational brochures from IAHS, WASWC, RAI and “Orizonturi Universitare” Publishing House.
During the conference messages had been sent from the Romanian President Mr. Ion Iliescu, the central and local administration and authorities. The representative from IAHS and other remarkable persons in the field that couldn’t attend the conference but shown interest upon the topics also sent messages.
The Scientific Committee suggested to IAHS a periodical organization (every two years) of an international conference on a similar topic.
On the 20th of November, one day before the conference, the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) together with the Hydrotechnical Faculty from the “Politehnica” University in Timisoara and Banat Water Branch organized a workshop aiming the 10 days forecast in order to prepare and act in the imminent flood situations based on a project of the European Commission, 5th R & D Framework “European Fighting Flood System” (EFFS). It ended in changes of ideas and points of view with the participation of some research and forecast centers, public authorities and various users from different countries.
The boldness and sometimes even the reckless of us as the initiators of the conference have been rewarded by the major interest shown on these topics by IAHS, PHI-UNESCO, WASWC, by various specialists from a large number of countries and then by the appreciation messages on the level, assured conditions and proceedings.