The SIMONA project Lead Partner (GEO-ZS) has participated in two international conferences related to river sediments: European River Symposium and ContaSed - 2nd International Conference on Contaminated Sediments. Both of the conferences were held online due to Covid. EU River Symposium was organised by European Centre for River Restoration on 26th and 27th May. The main focus was the status, restoration and management of European rivers and waters with 4 key topics: Integrating policies, EU Water Framework Directive, EU Biodiversity Strategy and EU Green Deal. According to the EEA report: European waters: Assessment of status and pressures 2018, only around 40 % of surface waters (rivers, lakes and transitional and coastal waters) are in good ecological status or potential, and only 38 % are in good chemical status. A link to the report and the full details can be found here: https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/state-of-water.

ContaSed 2021 - 2nd International Conference on Contaminated Sediments was organised on 9 - 11 June 2021, online. Sediment contamination was considered the organic and inorganic contaminant classes, including microplastics, emerging contaminants, heavy metals, and persistent organic pollutants. There were 5 key topics on sediment contamination concerning the 1) contaminants transport and deposition, 2) risk assessment: methodologies and ecotoxicological case studies, 3) analytical tools and methods for assessing sediment contamination, 4) the fate of contaminants in depositional settings, and 5) sediments as archives of historical pollution. We presented our SIMONA project during the short poster session on Friday, 11th​ June under the scope of Topic 3: Analytical tools and methods for assessing sediment contamination

The Kick-off meeting for the project Outline of the Sediment Management Plan for the Sava River Basin was organised by the ISRBC Secretariat (contact person: Samo Grošelj) on 16th June via Microsoft Teams Meeting. The main objective of the meeting was to present the development of the Outline of Sediment Management Plan for Sava Basin, the status of sediment management activities at the Sava and Danube River Basin Level, and to discuss and agreed on further activities and steps. 

The status of the sediment management in the Sava River Basin was introduced by the presentation of the projects which have already been finalized (i.e. Estimation of sediment balance in the Sava River (BALSES), and the Proposal for the establishment of joint monitoring system). The participants took note of already established Sava GIS and Sava HIS, where some data on sediment are available. The sediment management at the Danube River Basin level was presented by the two projects, i.e. Danube Sediment dealing with sediment quantity (finished in 2020) and SIMONA dealing with sediment quality (ongoing). The sediment as such was not mentioned in the EU WFD, but some new discussions held at the EU level in this regard were presented. 

SIMONA - 2ND TRAINING EVENT (28TH JUNE) ON DRB BASELINE SAMPLING DESIGN

On 28th June the 2nd SIMONA Training event was organised on the behalf of the WP7 Training leader dr. Edith Haslinger and her colleagues from the AT-AIT team, and with the help of the project lead partner (SI-GEOZS). The event was organised in a hybrid form: online and onsite (for Bulgarian Team, as the event is held back-to-back with the WP8 Workshop for the Bulgarian National, Regional and Local Authorities and experts). The event's main objective was sampling design for the collection of SIMONA DRB Baseline Network Samples - Sediment Quality Monitoring. The sampling instructions are in form of a “cookbook” and contain the design of sampling (for the bottom, suspended and floodplain/overbank sediments), the recommended tools, the equipment for measuring water and sediment physical properties, the rules for sample labelling, storing and transport, and safety rules. Besides the sampling design, the DRB Baseline Monitoring Network Case studies from 5 partner countries (Austria, Bulgaria. Croatia, Czech Republic and Romania) were presented. Additionally, the newly added WP8 - Evaluation Upgrade activities and Sampling and Laboratory protocols were also presented. The SIMONA main project outputs - Sampling and Laboratory protocol - were mainly aimed to project external participants from Bulgaria. A short discussion on the development of SIMONA Sediment Evaluation Protocol and IT-tool followed after the main programme. The online event was successfully closed in the afternoon after which followed the demonstration of bottom and floodplain sediment sampling equipment and methods. It was organised on-site in Silistra for the Bulgarian team (our BG-GIBAS partners, also organisers of the local WP8 Workshop following the training, and Bulgarian National, Regional and Local Authorities and experts). The demonstration was held by the project scientific coordinator, dr. Jordan, and reference laboratory representative, Zoltan Vilagosi.

On 29th and 30th June, after the 2nd Training event, a small-group workshop with training for the Bulgarian authorities and experts was organised by our BG-GI-BAS project partner.

Since the live meetings with an on-site demonstration of sampling equipment and the implementation of the SIMONA harmonized protocols are of great importance for the efficient uptake of the project results by water management practitioners (authorities), small-group workshops were planned in the WP8, activity 2. Capacity building: presentation, dissemination and integration of the SIMONA project results and upgrades within already existing events and small-group interactive training events in the PP. The workshop with training addresses all SIMONA national target groups that are active or interested in harmonized sampling, laboratory analyses and evaluation methods and are involved in the Danube river basin monitoring and management. The workshop is held on the Day of the Danube –  29.06. and continues with a half-day program at the lake and reserve Srebarna, which is closely connected with the Danube River. 

The SIMONA project (Sediment-quality Information, Monitoring and Assessment System to support transnational cooperation for joint Danube Basin water management) is soon approaching its end on 30th November. Since the project is in its final stages of implementation, the plans for the organisation of the Final Conference Event have started to develop in August. Thus, the project Lead Partner SI-GEOZS has organised several meetings from then to discuss the project closure in collaboration with the scientific coordinator, dr. Gyozo Jordan, AT-AIT and RO-TUCN project partners. It was initially decided that the 3rd Training Event will be adjoined to the Final Conference meeting, which originally included only the Stakeholder Workshop and Scientific Conference. 

The Final Conference will be organised in a hybrid form - online participation for everyone who wants to join and onsite for the maximum number of people allowed, not only due to COVID circumstances but due to the congress room capacities as well. According to the original project application form, the RO-TUCN project partners are the main organisers of the event which was initially planned only on-site - in the Upper Tisa Test Area - Baia Mare, Romania. Thus, they will be now responsible for enabling the on-site and online participation of the invited participants.

The meeting dates 9th and 10th November was announced to all partners and other invited participants in mid-September, as well as the preliminary agenda. The agenda consists of the 3rd Training Event on the first day and the Stakeholder and Scientific Conference on the second day. The 3rd Training event is related to the Sediment Quality Evaluation and IT-Tool application - the main final parts of the SIMONA system. The final results and outcomes of the SIMONA system will be discussed on the second day. Several talks and SIMONA Case Studies presentations are planned for the entire event, including several different prominent experts in the field of sediment quality monitoring and management.

SIMONA - HGI-CGS PP PRESENTS SIMONA ON THE 6TH REGIONAL SCIENTIFIC MEETING ON QUATERNARY GEOLOGY

Dr Ajka Šorša (HR-HGI-CGS) the leader of SIMONA Work Package 4 - Sediment Sampling and Laboratory Analysis protocols, presented the SIMONA project at the 6th Regional Scientific Meeting on Quaternary Geology: Seas, Lakes and Rivers, on 27th to 30th September in Ljubljana, Slovenia: https://www.geo-zs.si/rmqg/. The main focus of the presentation was to present the testing of the developed protocols in WP4 on the two selected sampling sites in Croatia. The SIMONA project abstract can be found on this link: https://www.geo-zs.si/PDF/Monografije/6thRMQG_BookOfAbstracts.pdf, page 92. - 93. 

On 12th and 13th October, the SIMONA WP8 small-group workshop with training was organised in Virovitica, Croatia with a visit to Barcs, Hungary. The participants of this event were the Lead Partner team (GEO-ZS) with their invited stakeholder from Slovenian Environment Agency, HR-HGI-CGS project partners from Croatia and their stakeholders: ASPs from Croatian Waters and Public Institution Waters of Srpska and members from Croatian "National Laboratory" - "Bioinstitut" and international training group (scientific coordinator, reference laboratory representative and RO-TUCN partners). Within the SIMONA project extension, a new work package for sediment quality evaluation upgrade was created - WP8 with Activity 2:Capacity building: presentation, dissemination and integration of the SIMONA project results and upgrades within already existing events and small-group interactive training events in the PP. The main principle of this workshop was to "train the trainers" - which means that this workshop was mainly aimed at presenting, demonstrating and practising the sediment sampling methodology of the SIMONA project with the Croatian and Slovenian stakeholders. This two-day event was organised in Virovitica since it is the city closest to Barcs "experimental site" in Hungary where the sediment sampling upgraded activity - passive sampling system - is developed. On the first day, the international training team presented and demonstrated the passive sampling system design in Barcs, which consists of a JDS sediment box, passive samplers - membranes designed for the collection of PAHs, pesticides and heavy metals, and showed an online automatic sensor system. After the demonstration, we visited the Hungarian Water Authority Barcs Station where the water gauging station is in operation, where dr Jordan talked about the importance and criteria for passive floodplain and bottom sediment pore water sampling under WP8 activities. On the second day, the presentations were held by the trainers, project partners and national experts/practitioners of sediment monitoring. The presentations were concerning the general SIMONA project achievements in the final period, presentation of SIMONA sampling and laboratory protocols and its testing in Croatia, developed "Field Manual" as a guidance document to DRB Baseline sediment sampling, the passive sampling system application in Drava and Upper Tissa test area and monitoring of suspended solids in Slovenia. The theory was put into practice with the demonstration and training of the presented sampling methodology on a small stream in the vicinity of Virovitica. The entire event was successful and contributed to achieving the goals of the WP8 and SIMONA project in general - to exchange knowledge and experiences in sediment monitoring with national stakeholders and demonstrate the proposed sediment monitoring methodology in person on a local basis. Similar on-site training was already successfully organised at the end of June in Bulgaria, with the same purpose but for Bulgarian authorities, experts and stakeholders.

SIMONA - FINAL AB, SCOM AND QMB MEETING 14.10.

On 14th October, the Final SIMONA SCOM, AB and QMB meeting was held online via the MsTeams application. The main purpose of the meeting was to present the management, communication and financial overview of Period 7, as well as to present each work packages˙achievements so far. Around thirty participants were present, inclusive of Full partners and ASPs. The partners were informed about the general status of project activities and about the remaining work and deadlines. Most of the work is completed and expect that all deliverables and outputs will be delivered by 31st October. Only those documents related to the outcomes Final Conference event can be delivered by the end of November - the project`s end. The partners were also informed about the final reporting deadlines for project partners and progress reports - 15th December for PR7 and 28th February for PPR7, retention of documents after the projects end and other important information related to project closure. Final Conference Event plans were presented again and some discussions arose about the participants and the COVID situation in Romania. Lead partner emphasised that the overview and achievements of the entire project per work packages and according to the project-specific goals and outcomes will be presented at the SIMONA internal meeting at the Final conference event in Baia Mare.

To conclude, the partners received all necessary information regarding the final period work plan and project closure

SIMONA - SAVE THE DATE - FINAL CONFERENCE EVENT GOES ONLINE 9.-10.11.

The SIMONA Final Conference event was planned to be organised in a hybrid form: online and on-site in Baia Mare, Romania as originally planned. Unfortunately, due to the COVID related measures introduced recently in Romania, all gatherings were prohibited for 30 days. Thus, the entire conference scheduled for 9th to 10th November will be held in an online form only. In this two-day meeting, we will join our 3rd Training Event on Sediment Quality Evaluation and IT-tool application with the Final conference event consisting of Scientific Conference and Stakeholder Workshop. Conference title: Sediment Quality Monitoring – Sampling, Analysis, Evaluation: Methods and Applications. All of the invited participants received the official Invitation with Agenda and a registration link to secure their spot at the meeting (https://lnkd.in/dX86zPqW)

SIMONA - FINAL CONFERENCE EVENT SUCCESSFULLY CLOSED

On 9th and 10th November, the SIMONA Final Conference event was held online. Originally it was planned to be organised in Baia Mare, Romania in a hybrid form - online and on-site, but due to COVID restrictions we had to transform it entirely online. As the matter of fact, this form did not disturb any aspect of our planned agenda and we managed to reach more than 70 participants - the highest number in all our project events. Altogether 92 people registered for the event. Almost the entire project consortium participated in the event and many external experts and stakeholders. 

The Final Conference was conceived as a joint 3rd Training event, Scientific Conference and Stakeholder Workshop. On the 1st day, before the training, we had a SIMONA Final Project Meeting in the morning where each work package leader presented their activities and main results. The 3rd Training event concerned the Sediment Quality Evaluation protocol and the demonstration of the SIMONA IT tool. At the Scientific Conference, we had 4 keynote speeches on sediment quality from a different perspective from prominent speakers (GEMAS/IUGS, ICPDR, SedNet, project scientific coordinator) and 5 talks on sediment sampling, analysis and evaluation.

Before the Stakeholder Workshop and Case Studies presentation, we had a live stream of Field Demonstration at SIMONA Upper Tisa Test Area Monitoring Site - the implementation and development of the passive system for sediment sampling. 

Agenda can be found on this link:

http://dtp.interreg-danube.eu/uploads/media/approved_project_public/0001/48/779bce2e793e0deb1c9961b8e16964748c27499d.pdf

SIMONA - WP8 MORAVA WORKSHOP WITH TRAINING FOR CZECH AND SLOVAKIAN STAKEHOLDERS

On 24th and 25th November, the last WP8 small-group workshop with training was held within the WP8 activity 2 Capacity Building. The form of the workshop was hybrid: online with a series of sediment monitoring related presentations and discussions on the first day, and on-site with the practical demonstration of sediment sampling on the second day at the gauging station on the Morava River near the Czech-Slovakia border. 26 participants were present at the workshop, out of which 17 were Slovakian or Czech stakeholders