Successful kickoff of DeltAs project at NAWAPI
CRMGG was invited to participate in the kickoff of DeltAs project at NAWAPI on April 22, chaired by the Swiss Ambassador to Vietnam, Dr. Thomas Gass, and NAWAPI General Director Dr. Tong Ngoc Thanh). This Swiss-funded research project will be investigating the geogenic arsenic contamination in the groundwaters of the Red River and Mekong River delta over the next four years. Arsenic in groundwater has been a human health issue for more than two decades in both deltas with millions of people being at risk of chronic arsenic poisoning through the consumption of contaminated groundwater. A large group of principal investigators (Prof. Dr. Lenny Winkel, Prof. Dr. Philipe Renard, Prof. Dr. Alexander Damm, Prof. Dr. Athena Nghiem), postdocs and PhD students will apply a variety of methods, e.g. remote sensing, hydrogeological modelling, reactive transport modelling, field sampling and machine learning over different scales. The aim is to assess temporal and spatial concentration and speciation heterogeneities as well as its changes through the impact of anthropogenic pressures like groundwater pumping. The Vietnam National University of Science, represented by Prof. Dr. Pham Hung Viet and Prof. Dr. Duong Hong Anh,and NAWAPI, represented by Dr. Tong Ngoc Thanh and Dr. Bui Du Duong, are the main partners of the project and will bring in their expertise, knowledge and data to the project. Further expertise is brought in through the long-standing collaboration established by Prof. Dr. Michael Berg (eawag) and by the collaborators Dr. Ha Quang Khai (HCMUT, Vietnam), Dr. Son Nghiem (NASA Jet Propulsion Lab, USA) and Prof. Dr. Henning Prommer (University of Western Australia).
Dr. Anke Steinel from CRMGG participated in the opening and the following technical sessions. CRMGG hopes to be able to provide some useful insights to the participants about the hydrogeological and institutional situation in the Mekong Delta and wishes them a successful project.
Participants of the Opening of the DeltAs project at NAWAPI on April 22, 2024
Opening speech by the Swiss Ambassador Dr. Thomas Gass