Using weather information to improve Water management
The start-up meeting to discuss the design of the course Weather Smart Water Resource Management was held on October 2nd of 2017 in Nelspruit. The management of Inkomati-Usuthu Catchment Management Agency (IUCMA) and of World Water Academy (WWA) discussed the draft programme. The aim is to combine knowledge and skills in Water Resource Management, Weather forecasting, creating dashboards and how to provide information for the stakeholders. The proposal envisages to develop and deliver a practical applicable course. The contents will be determined in detail during the design and development phase.
Nuffic (the Netherlands) has recently granted the proposal for a Tailor-Made Training programme: Weather Smart Water Resource Management. The joint proposal was submitted by IUCMA (requesting organisation), WWA (Dutch provider) and HydroLogic, DWA Drents Overijsselse Delta and South African Weather Service.
Proposal:
The Tailor-Made Training intervention will facilitate:
- Basic knowledge on the practical implementation of integrated water resource management including water quality, water quantity, water availability
- Smart use of decision support tools: how to benefit from these tools and to make WeatherSmart decisions
- How to benefit from weather information for more effective, efficient and reliable water allocation
- How to inform the farmers, Municipalities, Industry and other stakeholders on the availability of water and extreme weather conditions
The 7-days course is split into 3 modules (basic, weather and hydronet). It is an orientation course for new staff. The management informed that new colleagues, fresh from University, have learned the theory, but no practice and nothing about the catchment. The first module is a basic and practical module. It handles about water quality and water quantity and how to integrate; the practice will be dedicated to the area of the Catchment Management Agency of IUCMA; this practicality is not covered in University. There is going to be a moderator and different trainers (quantity and quality) will be used. For every topic, a specialist together with a local specialist will cover the training. Thus they combine knowhow from the Netherlands and from South Africa.
The project also foresees in a Training of Trainers. This training will train local specialists in didactical skills. After the training they are able to be a moderator and trainer. This Training of Trainers will be dedicated to Weather Smart Water Resource Management.
More information: Agnes Maenhout
