The first online conference on the Capacity Building Program for Hydrological Reservoir Prediction was held on 2 July 2020 to assess hydroelectric power plants' potential in the Central Asia region. The event was organized by the Regional Environmental Center for Central Asia (CAREC) jointly with Deltares (Netherlands) within the "Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Program for the Aral Sea Basin (CAMP4ASB)" project with the World Bank financial support. The training was attended by international and regional consultants and representatives of national meteorological services and departmental institutions.
In the welcoming speech, Ms. Irina Bekmirzaeva, CAMP4ASB project manager, noted: "Climate change has a significant impact on water resources due to the direct dependence of this sector on natural and climatic conditions. Also, the development of the water sector in Central Asia is crucial in ensuring energy and food security in the face of climate change. In this regard, timely and high-quality forecasts are a key factor for timely response to the consequences of climate change. At the same time, providing highly accurate forecasts requires the availability of special tools and qualified specialists in the region."
The series of online capacity building training is aimed to address those issues. Ms. Bekmirzaeva also expressed hope that the technologies proposed by Deltares will contribute to improving the accuracy of forecasting in the region.
The participants of the online training got acquainted with the consortium and the specialists involved in the project. Those are Deltatres, Multiconsult, TajHydro, Peshsaf.
Deltares is a partner of the Dutch government on water and infrastructure issues. The organization develops and applies innovative technologies on water problems and infrastructure, provides consultations in this field, conducts training programs, actively cooperates with educational institutions, and also contributes to research activities.
Multiconsult was founded in 1908 as a hydropower consulting organization. To this day, hydropower accounts for a significant part of the company's activities. Although Multiconsult is originally a Norwegian company, today, the company works around the world.
TajHydro is one of the leaders in consulting services in the energy industry; it has a vast number of successfully completed projects and a team of highly qualified specialists in its profile. Tajhydro actively participates in the formation of interdisciplinary expert and analytical platforms by providing quality, transparent, flexible, and timely services, drawing on the best international regional and national practices.
Peshsaf is a non-governmental organization founded in 2012 by the efforts of professional environmental lawyers to mobilize technical and information resources to solve local environmental problems. The organization's main activity is to involve the public in addressing local issues, particularly in solving water resources problems.
The second half of the training was directly devoted to introducing the proposed training modules and software:
• Hydrology - Wflow
Wflow software can be used for open-source distributed models. Also, there is the possibility of integration with other models. What is Wflow used for?
o forecasting the inflow into the reservoir;
o study the availability of water for different purposes, such as irrigation;
o assessing the hydrological impact of land-use change and climate change;
o calculation of erosion of catchment and sediment transport.
• Water resources management - RIBASIM
In turn, the RIBASIM software is a typical software for modelling river basins under various hydrological conditions. It provides a framework for the study of water resources with multiple water sectors and hydraulic structures (e.g., reservoirs). In combination with RTC-Tools, it is possible to simulate the management of hydraulic structures.
• Water reservoir management - RIBASIM, RTC-Tools
RTC-Tools is software for modelling the regulation and optimization of water systems. It is used for operational water resources management, strategical planning and resolution of water resources use conflicts.
Information and forecasting system - Deft-FEWSDeft-FEWS is a database management, forecasting and early warning system. Today Deft-FEWS is the world's leading forecasting system. First of all, this system provides access to global and local data sources. Besides, it also enables data management, analysis and use for hydrological modelling.
Finally, the participants got acquainted with specific examples of how these types of software are applied. In particular, an example of a quick analysis of a dam break and flooding at the Sardoba reservoir was considered.
To sum up, it should be said that this hydrological forecasting capacity building program is a useful tool for sharing experience and knowledge in the region. And this training is just one in a series of training on hydrological modelling.
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