SEMINAR “CENTRAL ASIA REGIONAL WATER INFORMATION BASE”
A regional seminar “Central Asia Regional Water Information Base” was held in the ICWC Training Center on 23 to 25 January 2006, by order of the Interstate Commission for Water Coordination in Central Asia with the financial support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
The aim of the seminar was to introduce personnel of the provincial water management organizations to up-to-date information resources in the world, and train to use the CAWater-Info portal, CAREWIB Project Information System and ASB-mm. Leading specialists from the water use divisions of water management organizations took part in this seminar.
At the opening ceremony, V.I. Sokolov, Deputy Director of SIC ICWC, Chairman of GWP CACENA) spoke. Vadim Sokolov welcomed the participants of the seminar and told about the aim of this event.
During the seminar, the participants were acquainted with international and regional experience, discussed on-line the problems facing the provincial water management organizations in the countries in the region. At the seminar, the following lectures were delivered:
- Significance of information and information systems in the present-day water sector - V.I. Sokolov, Deputy Director, SIC ICWC.
- Review of water portals in the world: UNESCO, World Water, UNEP Freshwater, Water eAtlas, Aral Sea Hydrology, etc. - I.F. Beglov, SIC ICWC.
- Introduction to the CAWater-Info portal: review of websites and opportunities - I.F. Beglov, SIC ICWC.
- Knowledge bases on irrigation and drainage: FAO knowledge forum (referral service and advanced experience dissemination); FAO Water Database (Aquastat); system for dissemination of knowledge and information on water use and protection (WCA infoNET). Review “Knowledge bases on water and land resources use in the Aral Sea basin” – B.K. Turdybayev, SIC ICWC.
- Submission of project proposals to the EU 6th Framework Program calls - B.K. Turdybayev, SIC ICWC.
- Access to information on international and national law – D.R. Ziganshina.
- What is an information system? Review of information systems – A.I. Tuchin, SIC ICWC.
- CAREWIB Information System and its functional blocks:
- DB (Land, Water, Economy, Waterworks blocks),
- GIS (use principles, opportunities, mapping),
- interface (review of opportunities and use principles) – D.A. Sorokin, Y.M. Roshchenko, A. Kats, SIC ICWC.
- BWO “Amudarya” Information System – O.G. Lysenko, BWO “Amudarya”
- Instructions for use of the IS interface - D.A. Sorokin, SIC ICWC.
- GIS: mapping - Y.M. Roshchenko, V.Y. Shakhov, SIC ICWC.
- ASB-mm Review: Socio-Economic Model – V.G. Prikhodko, SIC ICWC.
- ASB-mm Review: Hydrological Model – A.G. Sorokin, SIC ICWC.
- ASB-mm Review: Panning Zone Model – A.I. Tuchin, SIC ICWC.
- ASB-mm Review: Aral Sea and Priaralie Model - A.I. Tuchin, Y.M. Roshchenko, SIC ICWC.
- Canal Control Automaton (SCADA) – I. Begimov, SPA SANIIRI
All the lectures are based on the practical material from the CAREWIB and other projects being implemented by SIC ICWC in Central Asia. All the examples and figures given in lectures and presentations are trustworthy. Following each lecture, active discussions between participants and lecturers took place, at which the details of different issues in the countries and region as a whole were considered as well.
The participants of the seminar unanimously recognized the necessity to develop the information exchange in the region and introduce information systems not only into the activities of the ministries of water resources and provincial water departments, but also at lower level – district water departments. For that, at the first stage there is a need for continual financial, institutional and political support from governments and donors. In particular, the following suggestions were made:
- The CAREWIB Project database should permanently be estimated and enlarged with data not only from the Uzbek Hydromet Service, but also from other hydromet services in the basin states. From this point of view, the delegation from Kazakhstan suggested to conduct data exchange and hold joint training seminars on a continual basis.
- During the active discussions, the participants raised a question on water use plan. The Uzbek delegation stated that from year to year water use plan is simply recopied, only irrigated areas are taken into account at the most. The use of information systems will enable to improve the process of water use planning.
- Prof. V. Dukhovny gave a simple example of applying modern communications used around the world, namely e-mail. Through e-mail, the provincial and district water management organizations, WUAs and other water agencies can send and receive data necessary for daily activities in a few seconds, while ordinary mail takes much more time, efforts, and is more expensive.
- The participants of the seminar expressed a deep interest in organizing another special seminar on GIS. This theme is very urgent in the 21st century, because high-resolution satellite images enable to discern local landscape with a resolution up to 15 meters.
- During the discussions, the following obstacles and barriers to introducing information systems into the region were marked out:
- absence of databases;
- insufficient financing by the government;
- absence of explanatory and agitation measures;
- shortage of equipment;
- mercantile interests of chiefs of water management organizations;
- poor legislative basis;
- insufficient scientific-methodical support for reforms.
All the participants expressed their gratitude to seminar organizers SIC ICWC and TC ICWC, sponsor SDC, and expressed their wish to organize similar events at the level of provincial and district water management organizations.
At the end of the seminar, the participants were presented certificates.
NEW PUBLICATIONS
SIC ICWC Publications:
- Irrigation management for combating desertification in the Aral Sea basin. Assessment and tools / edited by Prof. L. Pereira, Prof. V. Dukhovny, M. Horst (CD containing all papers in English)
- Proceedings of the Central Asian Scientific Practical Conference on “ICWC Towards WWF4: Local Actions for Mitigating Potential Water Crises” (Almaty, 27-29 April 2005)
ICWC Training Center publications:
- Training Module on International and National Water Law
- Finding capital for sustainable livelihoods business (a finance guide for business managers)
“IWRM-Fergana” project publications:
- Individual farms in the Republic of Uzbekistan: rights and responsibilities. Issue 1. Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On individual farms" (new edition)
- Individual farms in the Republic of Uzbekistan: rights and responsibilities. Issue 2. Model agreements
- Recommendations on selection of technological irrigation scheme
- What is crop irrigation regime?
- Manual on selecting type of water measuring facility, requirements for their construction and operation
- Guideline on calculating and selecting norms and elements of irrigation technique for cotton and winter wheat according to the results of IWRM-Fergana project
GWP CACENA publications:
- Gender Aspects of Integrated Water Resources Management
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