Interview with Ing. Vladimír Novák, Director General of the Directorate of Water Policy of the Ministry of Environment of the Slovak Republic
This year, the Slovak Republic is chairing the largest commission focused on the protection of watercourses, the International Commis-sion for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR). Therefore, we interviewed its president for the Year 2024, Ing. Vladimír Novák, who is also the General Director of the Directorate of Water Policy at the Slovak Ministry of Environment.
Interview with Mgr. Mark Výborný, Minister of Agriculture
Mr Výborný is participating in preparations for the construction of new reservoirs in the Czech Republic and is planning to build new pumped storage waterpower stations. According to the Minister, the priority in the field of water management is mainly the development of water supply and sewerage infrastructure, including drinking water treatment plants and wastewater treatment plants, technological measures to retain water in the landscape, construction and restoration of small water reservoirs and ponds, development of water supply systems, and also the modernization of existing irrigation systems. Mgr. Marek Výborný told VTEI about his first year as Minister of Agriculture and the objective he would like to achieve in this position.
Interview with Mrs. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Birgit Vogel, ICPDR Executive Secretary
One of the biggest international activities in water protection is the multilateral cooperation in protecting the Danube. It originally started in the 1980s in the form of the Declaration signed in Bucharest in 1985, which concerned the Danube River itself. In 1992, at the initiative of the European Communities, the internationally supported Danube Environment Programme was launched, covering the entire Danube basin including its tributaries. In parallel, work was underway to prepare a Convention on Cooperation for the Protection and Sustainable Use of the Danube. The Convention was submitted for signature in Sofia on 29th June
1994 and entered into force on 22nd October 1998. The Contracting Parties to the Convention are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, Romania, Ukraine, and the European Union. In August 2022, for the first time, a woman became the Executive Secretary of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) – Prof. Dr.-Ing. Birgit Vogel.
This year’s Danube Day is marked with round anniversaries
This year we commemorate the 30th anniversary of the foundation of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River. This is a significant event; the signing of the Convention on the Protection of the Danube River initiated cross-border cooperation aimed at the protection of the Danube and its tributaries. The Convention was signed on 29th June 1994 in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Interview with Ing. Petr Kazda, Director of Partnership Environmental Foundation
Do you know Tree of the Year, Planting for the Future, and the Adapterra Awards? And do you know what an Open Garden is? Do you use Greenways? All this and much more is related to the Partnership Environmental Foundation in Brno, whose director since 2019 has been Ing. Petr Kazda. Why is climate change a challenge for him that can bring us new opportunities?
The Czech Republic chairs the International Commission for the Protection of the Elbe River for the next three years
In Magdeburg on 16th January 2024, the handover ceremony took place of the presidency of the International Commission for the Protection of the Elbe River (ICPER). The Czech Republic took over from the Federal Republic of Germany for the next three years. Ing Tomáš Fojtík, who is Director of T. G. Masaryk Water Research Institute (TGM WRI), was appointed as the new president with the agreement of the contracting parties. The TGM WRI employees are internationally recognized and long-term leaders, spokespeople, and members of working groups and expert groups, who significantly participate in the Commission’s activities and direction. This fact underlines the significance and importance of this re-search organization of the Ministry of the Environment as well as the actual research. Since the ICPER establishment in 1990, Ing. Tomáš Fojtík is the fifth president of the Commission from the Czech Republic.
Interview with Ing. Tomáš Fojtík, director of the T. G. Masaryk Water Research Institute
He has been Director of TGM WRI for a year. How does he evaluate this first year and what has he already managed to change for the better in our Institute? How does he remember his twenty years at the Institute as regular employee? And what are his plans and goals for the future regarding the direction of TGM WRI? „I would like to continue fulfilling my vision of creating a recognized and functioning institute of national and European importance as a research base for the field of water management with such a working culture and environment that it would be a target and prestigious workplace for quality and satisfied experts willing to actively cooperate,“ says the Director of our Institute, and newly also the president of the International Commission for the Protection of the Elbe, Ing. Tomá Fojtík.
Interview with Dr. rer. nat. Slavomír Vosika, Head of the Secretariat of the International Commission for the Protection of the Elbe River in Magdeburg
Interview with Dr. rer. nat. Slavomír Vosika about his activities in office of Head of the Secretariat of the International Commission for the Protection of the Elbe River in Magdeburg.
Graphical use of AI
In the June VTEI issue, we got familiar with the AI tool ChatGPT in the form of an “interview”. We continue with the topic of artificial intelligence and this time we present experiences with a more “visual” tool. Our intention was to create different visualizations of the situation using text input, the so-called “prompt”, or from a master photo, for example a watercourse restoration or the idea of building a water tower in the country-side. But before we get to the visualizations themselves, let us say a few words about this topic.
Interview with Mgr. Petr Hladík, Minister of the Environment
The Minister of the Environment wants to give people the opportunity to live in harmony with nature, and by that he does not mean just planting trees on city streets. Why does Petr Hladík call the Ministry of the Environment the Ministry of the Future? The use of rainwater, solar panels, and deposit PET bottles no longer have to represent an excessively progressive approach, but a standard for returning to our planet at least the minimum of what we take from it. Grey water subsidies? Why should we want it and what will we actually benefit from it? The new Minister of the Environment, Petr Hladík (KDU-ČSL), answers these questions for VTEI journal.
AI – our first interview
The idea of interviewing artificial intelligence was brought to us by an article from a completely different field than our water management. However, we also had the idea to test the current level of artificial intelligence on topics that are close to our field. Based on examples of questions and generated answers, you can judge for yourself how useful this tool is in water management. The structure of the questions is built from the simplest to the most complicated in the form of comments on the results of forecasting models, or the effectiveness and efficiency of legal regulations and directives. ChatGPT was chosen for communication. However, if one does not try this tool, one has no idea what it is; it is then up to you to assess the interview itself.
Interview with Michal Broža, head of the UN Information Centre in the Czech Republic
Michal Broža was born on 13 May 1965 in Sušice. He graduated from Charles University in Prague and also studied at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Since 1995, he has worked at the UN in various positions. Since 2004, he has been the head of the UN Information Centre in Prague. He participated in missions in Africa and working stays in the former Yugoslavia and the Middle East. He also
worked as a World Bank consultant and researcher in the private sector. He specializes in UN issues, communication of global risks and megatrends. He is the author and co-author of publications and articles related to these areas, and he also gives lectures.
Interview with Jaroslav Pollert, professor at the Faculty of Civil Engineering at CTU and a successful Czechoslovak representative in canoeing
An interview with Jaroslav Pollert, professor of the Faculty of Civil Engineering at CTU and a successful Czechoslovak representative in canoeing, about his work as part of the Executive Committee of the International Canoeing Federation (ICF), the Czechoslovak and later the Czech Olympic Committee, about his professional career focused on the hydrodynamics of dispersion systems including, among other things, designing channels for water slalom and about his view on water management studies at Czech universities.
Interview with Ing. Bc. Anna Hubáčková, Minister of the Environment
Rozhovor s Ing. Bc. Annou Hubáčkovou, ministryní životního prostředí, o její profesní kariéře, zaměření a programových prioritách, na něž se zaměří ve své nové roli.
Education of water managers in Bohemia (and Moravia)
Ve vodařině se mezi odborníky i veřejností často diskutuje o suchu, povodních, kvalitě vody ke koupání, o zajištění zásobování pitné vody atd., a to vždy podle toho, co zrovna nastane. Je však stejná pozornost věnována například zajištění další generace českých vodohospodářů? Dokáže současný mediální pohled na vodní hospodářství přitáhnout mladé studenty k vodohospodářským oborům? Měl jsem možnost si na toto téma popovídat s panem doc. dr. Ing. Pavlem Fošumpaurem, zástupcem vedoucího katedry hydrotechniky Fakulty stavební ČVUT v Praze.
Interview with Ing. Zbyněk Folk, General Manager of The Ohře River Basin, State-Owned Company
This article is available in Czech only. For translation or more information on this topic, please contact author. Generálním ředitelem státního podniku Povodí Ohře jste se stal v květnu 2019. Po vašem nástupu do funkce v něm došlo k řadě změn. Které z nich byste označil za největší a jaké cíle si kladete do dalších let? Státní podnik Povodí Ohře… Read more »
Water management fifty 2019
Výzkumný ústav vodohospodářský T. G. Masaryka, v. v. i., se u příležitosti oslav své 100leté existence ujal organizace 46. ročníku Vodohospodářské padesátky. Kromě klasického výběru mezi kolem a pohorkami se letos mohli účastníci vůbec poprvé svézt i na koloběžce.
