Asia-Pacific Coastal Aquifer Management Meeting (APCAMM) July 2017
On July 17 and 19, 2017, at the University of Da Nang, the Asia-Pacific Coastal Aquifer Management Meeting (APCAMM) Symposium was organized by the Hanoi University of Natural Resources and Environment in cooperation with the Hanoi University of Mining and Geology and the University of Da Nang. This is the 5th APCAMM Symposium, held periodically with the overall goal of creating a forum for scientists, managers to share ideas, research findings, recommendations on priority issues related to coastal aquifers in the region.
Participants from various countries attending APCAMM5
The Project “Improvement of Groundwater Protection in Vietnam” (IGPVN) has offerred a budget for 16 staffs from the National Center for Water Resources Planning and Investigation (NAWAPI) to attend the 2-day SEAWAT training course within the framework of APCAMM and the scientific symposium. This is one of the activities to develop technical expertise of NAWAPI’s human resources within IGPVN Phase I.
More than 130 participants from the United States, Australia, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia attended the APCAMM event.
The symposium was organized into sessions with various topics:
– Numerical hydrogeological modeling
– Investigation, assessment and management of coastal aquifers
– Isotope geochemistry
– Impact of saltwater intrusion, climate change and sea level rise on coastal aquifers
Participants from various countries attending APCAMM5
Presentation by Dr. Pham Huy Giao (AIT – Thailand) has clarified the concept of groundwater level drawdown due to groundwater exploitation. Land subsidence is a common process that is taking place in most of the deltas. In order to control the land subsidence process, the core issue is to separate land subsidence caused by groundwater extraction with land subsidence caused by other factors.
The research team of Professor Park Namsik from Dong A University (South Korea) shared very new study results on artificial recharge, saltwater intrusion prevention, control of land subsidence caused by over-exploitation, saltwater – fresh water interface monitoring for coastal aquifers.
Dr. Pham Quy Nhan (Hanoi University of Natural Resources and Environment) shared in-depth research on the origins and occurrence of palaeo saltwater layers in the Red River Delta. Development of the groundwater flow model and the solute transport model are effective tools for assessing and forecasting saltwater intrusion in the context of climate change and sea level rise.
Dr. Dang Duc Nhan (Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, Hanoi) presented the results of environmental isotopic studies for the Mekong River Delta provinces in framework of the State level project KC.08.06/11-15. Accordingly, groundwater in the Mekong River Delta is mainly originated from palaeo meteorological water, not recharged by surface water.
The study results of the IGPVN project in Soc Trang Province based on the stable isotope composition and the absolute age of groundwater presented by Dr. Hoang Thi Hanh at the symposium also showed that groundwater and surface water here had no connection; the recharge process to groundwater (if occurs outside the border) will not be able to help to restore the currently declining groundwater levels.
Existing issues for coastal aquifers in particular and for aquifers in general require detailed and comprehensive studies as a useful tool for water resources management.
The next APCAMM workshop was scheduled in 2019; The venue and time will be decided by the Organizing Committee.