- Date:
- From 5 to 8 February, 2018
- Venue:
- Shah Alam, Malaysia
- Host Organization:
- Selangor Water Management Authority (SWMA/LUAS)
Concept of the Training
NARBO held the NARBO IWRM Training (Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) for Sustainable Development) on 5-8 February, 2018 in Selangor, Malaysia.
NARBO's major activity is to provide technical support for establishment and administration of river basin organizations which can implement the integrated management of river systems. As part of the activity, the NARBO members play host in turn and hold the IWRM Training almost every year.
As the below concept chart shows, the objective of this training was to enable each participant to formulate an action plan to solve actual issues arising from the management of water resources in the river basins of Asian countries, i.e., "Too much (floods), Too little (water shortage and unstable supply of water) and Too dirty water (water quality problem)".
Concept of training
1st Day
On the first day of the training, YBhg Dato' Dr. Hj Md Nasir bin Md Noh, Director General of Malaysia Drainage and Irrigation Department and Vice-president of NARBO, kindly delivered a lecture on "Implementation of Integrated Water Resources Management in Malaysia" and a lecture on "Implementation of Integrated River Basin Management in Selangor" was kindly given by Mr. Puan Haslina Bt Amer, Principal Assistant Director River Basin and Coastal Management Division, Selangor Water Management Authority.
From the secretariat of NARBO an explanation was provided on the concept and outline of the sequel (Part 3) of the IWRM Guideline under editing, and provision of good practices of "appropriate and applicable approach" to be introduced in the Guideline was requested to the participants. After that, participants from each country delivered a presentation on the actual situation, issues and measure cases concerning the management of water resources in their river basins. A lecture on the necessity of approaching to engagement with the Water Governance was also provided by Dr. Hj.Keizrul bin Abdullah, ex-chaiperson of NARBO.
Presenters of special lectures
2nd Day
On the second day of the training, Malaysian organizations such as DID, NAHRIM, MADA, LUAS, etc. made presentations etc. on the actual situation and issues concerning the dam management in Malaysia, their efforts to secure new water resources (Hybrid Off River Augmentation System), an examination case of construction of an underground dam and their approach to engagement with water preservation with the use of various measures. From the secretariat side, presentations were made on the cooperative operation among three dams in Japan, an example of response to floods and runoff analysis made last year at Terauchi Dam in Northern Kyushu, the method of operation and maintenance of dams used by Japan Water Agency (JWA), efforts to maintain and converse water quality of dams, the organization of JWA and its mechanism to secure funds and budgets. At every presentation, lively discussion was made through many questions asked by the presenters.
Lectures and discussions on the 2nd day
3rd Day
On the third day of the training, under the guidance of Selangor Water Management Authority, a site visit was made to the Selangor Dam, which is a pivot for water supply to the Selangor state and Kuala Lumpur, and the Hybrid Off River Augmentation System which was developed to secure alternative water sources utilizing an old mine site in the middle reaches of Selangor River. In addition to this, the participants learned about the efforts for water conservation made at the firefly sanctuary spreading in the downstream of Selangor River and to be of some help to the efforts, they did memorial tree planting of mangroves by their own hands, which will grow to be a habitat for fireflies.
Site visit at Selangor Dam
Hybrid Off River Augmentation System
Firefly sanctuary
Tree planting event
4th Day
On the last day of the training, a workshop was conducted as a summary of this training. On the basis of what the participants had learned at the training, discussions were made in five separate groups of the participants on issues and solutions concerning the management of water resources in river basins of each country so that action plans for the future could be formulated. At the end of the workshop, a presentation on the action plan was given by each group.
Discussion and presentation in the workshop
Afterword
Through 4 day training of this time, practical knowledge and experience concerning the management of water resources in river basins could be shared among the members of NARBO as a result of cooperation between the NARBO secretariat and Malaysian host organizations. In addition, through presentations by participants on the actual situation of IWRM in each country, the issues and needs concerning the management of water resources in the river basins of NARBO member countries could be grasped.
As a secretariat, we would like to continue to provide NARBO member organizations with better opportunities for training taking the results and issues recognized in this training into consideration.
Finally, we would like to express our profound gratitude to the host of this training, Selangor Water Management Authority, for the great assistance and cooperation they kindly provided from the preparation stage to the actual implementation of the training.
