Gdansk Water Foundation was created in May, 1995 as a result of long term cooperation of institutions and organizations from Poland, France and Denmark. It originated from one of the projects of the LIFE – BALTIQUE Programme of European Committee. Founders – initiators as well as partners in GWF activities are:

 

	Poland: Gdansk Province Governor Gdansk City Commune Provincial Fund of Environmental Protection and Water Management in Gdansk Ministry for Environmental Protection, Natural Resources and Forestry (nowadays Ministry for the Environment)
	France: Region Limousin and Nord-Pas des Calais Agence de l'Eau Artois - Picardie Ministry for Environment The International Office for Water French Ministry for Foreign Affairs
	Denmark: The Freshwater Centre Danish Environmental Protection Agency

 

GDANSK WATER FOUNDATION AIMS

Basic aims, which were guided by its founders and are realized in everyday GWF activities are:

• Promotion of knowledge serving water economics, particularly the principles of water management in catchments,
• Providing additional professional training in the fields of water, sewage and waste sectors,
• Facilitate the information and contacts exchange between water-users and local and central administration,
• Undertaking activities conducive to water-saving as well as other activities in the field of ecological education,
• Facilitate the exchange of information between research centres as well as promoting the results of their work,
• Cooperation with other countries in order to disseminate new technologies, unify standards as well as exchanging experience and information in the field of water management.

 

GDANSK WATER FOUNDATION ACTIVITIES

Foundation realizes its aims through "Training Centre" by preparing and conducting seminars, trainings, workshops, laboratory courses, study travels and publications in six basic subjects:

 

	Sewage management,
	Water management,
	Solid wastes management,
	Legislative and economic issues involving environmental protection taking into account current changes in regulations,
	Exploitation of swimming pools,
	Inter-laboratory comparing investigations in the range of water microbiology (AQUA), food microbiology (FOODLAB), sewage chemical analyses (SEWACON) and water physicochemical analyses (QUALICON).

Gdansk Water Foundation consists of Training Centre and Pilot Station where there is placed a small model of Wastewater Treatment Plant and laboratory examining physicochemical  properties of water and sewage.

Apart from the typical educational activities, the laboratory provides also analytical services including:

• Marking basic physical parameters (colour, turbidity, pH reaction, redox potential, electrolytic conductivity, temperature, smell),
• Marking basic cations and anions for ion balance calculation of drinking water as well as water for economic purposes,
• Marking indicators of surface water contamination to specify purity level,
• Marking metals (Al, B, Ba, Cd, Cu, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sn, Zn),
• Marking basic indicators of sewage contaminations (COD, BOD₅, N_tot, P_tot, N-NO₃, N-NH₄, TOC, VFA),
• Examinations of activated and municipal sludge, including microscope observations.

Training Centre of Gdansk Water Foundation offers:

• Presentation of the most modern technological solutions and equipment used in water and sewage management both in Poland and other countries,
• Help in deciding of strategic meaning,
  Active agency in conveying information,
• Answering to  problems arising during exploitation,
• "a la carte" trainings – representing the programme prepared especially for individual customer needs,
• Seminars and conferences concerning issues connected with environmental protection, ran by well known lecturers who are recognized as authorities on the subject - specialists-practitioners from Poland, France, Denmark, Germany and other countries from Western Europe,
• Professional organization ensuring the best work conditions for participants of trainings.

All programmes of trainings are prepared by the professionals from GWF staff. While preparing these programmes they use knowledge and cooperate with the group of specialists and external experts in various fields.

 

TARGET GROUPS

Gdansk Water Foundation was brought to life aiming mostly to extend the professional knowledge of representatives of administration involved in water sector. Nevertheless, as GWF developed and started raising new subjects, it started to spread its offer to wider and wider audience.

Nowadays, the participants of GWF educational undertakings belong to the sectors specified below:

• Administration: Voivodeship Offices, Marshall Offices, City Halls, County (Powiat) Offices, Commune Offices,
• Water supply and sewage enterprises,
• Waste Water Treatment Plants,
• Community companies,
• Sanitary Inspection,
• Veterinary Inspection,
• Environmental Inspection,
• Design offices,
• Producing companies,
• Merchant companies,
• Swimming pools and aqua parks,
• Institutions, universities and centres of scientific research,
• Research laboratories (physical-chemical, microbiological) examining water, sewage, sludge, food.

Since 2002 r. to the structure of Gdansk Water Foundation belongs the Centre for Ecological Information and Education which was brought to life as a result of agreement between Self-Government of the Pomerania Voivodeship and the Voivodeship Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management in Gdansk. Basic aim of Centre’s actions is ecological education in very broad meaning. CEIE appears on a list of Ministry for the Environment recommending the centres of ecological education in Poland. CEIE owns very good equipped library containing about two thousands volumes of books, films, multimedia programmes and magazines on ecological and natural-science subjects. They are lent for free to all interested people. Centre organizes trainings for teachers, representatives of self government and non-governmental organizations from ecological education and environmental protection.