An Australian Water Partnership (AWP) project groundwater management workshop and training program was delivered in Laos in late February by Flinders University, International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and Department for Environment and Water (DEW), Government of South Australia – and the information exchange was a resounding success.
The AWP project ‘Support for the management of groundwater resources in Lao PDR’ involved two days of groundwater training in Vang Vieng for 6 women and 7 men from the Department of Water Resources (DWR), Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Provincial Offices of Natural Resources (PONREs), and from the National University of Laos (NUoL).
The trainers – Professor Okke Batelaan (Flinders University), Steve Barnett (Department for Environment and Water, SA Government), Dr Paul Pavelic, Dr Somphasith Douangsavanh and Mathieu Viossanges (IWMI) – delivered a highly interactive and hands-on training. The objective was to improve the skills in gathering, using and analyzing data for groundwater management.
“The participants discovered some surprising hydrogeological concepts and worked on real Laos context scenarios,” says Professor Batelaan. Mathieu Viossanges added “Having the training tailor-made for the participants, with examples grounded in day-to-day groundwater issues and learning-by-doing, ensured a high involvement and commitment of trainees”.
One of the participants – Ms Keomanivone Phouthakhanty of the Groundwater Management Division of the Department of Water Resources – said “The training provided me great lessons from all the experts and made me have a deeper understanding of groundwater, its flow direction, and more. This is very useful for applying in my work and for groundwater management in Lao PDR.”
The visiting Australian contingent also participated in the AWP project ‘Support for the management of groundwater resources in Lao PDR’. A workshop with participants from DWR and the Provincial Offices of Natural Resources on groundwater management was organised in Vientiane and different DWR divisions discussed their sustainable groundwater planning for Lao PDR.
Professor Batelaan, the project lead, said “the workshop was an excellent opportunity for sharing the Australian and Laos experience on developing groundwater management strategies, methods of assessment of groundwater resources and estimating the sustainable yield of aquifer systems.
DEW’s Steve Barnett illustrated the long path that South Australia has travelled in managing its precious groundwater resources – providing inspiration, as Lao PDR only recently started its groundwater management journey, to support growing demand for groundwater based on sustainable groundwater management practices.