Current Technology in Groundwater Tracing and Monitoring Workshop at Southwest University of China

With the support of the ENVIRON Foundation and USAID, in September 2008 the CEHP team worked with students and scientists at Southwest University (SWU) to jointly produce a workshop "Current Technology in Groundwater Tracing and Monitoring" for Chinese government hydrologists from Yunnan Province and the Guangxi Autonomous Region. Both of these areas have extensive karst topography and related problems in water access and quality. Undergraduate and graduate students from SWU also participated in the training.

Some Yunnan hydrologists who had been scheduled to attend the workshop were unable to do so, having been detailed to evaluate local water resources following the August 30 earthquake that affected Yunnan and Sichuan. Considering this, CEHP and SWU will organize another workshop for May 2009 in Kunming.

The workshop trained four provincial hydrologists and three environmental government officials representing Yunnan and Guangxi Provinces. The workshop is sure to have a broad reach as Guangxi hydrologist, Zhang Cheng, from the Ministry of Land and Resources and the Science and Technology Bureau is leading an important investigation in karst problems in eight provinces in southwest China. His research will be reported to the central government and used to develop a five to ten year plan for karst resource management in the region. The workshop was also attended by 69 graduate and 136 undergraduate students.

A course-book was generated and translated into Mandarin Chinese and copies were given to each provincial hydrologist and graduate student. Also all presentations were verbally translated by either a SWUC student or Yunnan Hydrologist, Zhang Cheng, which enhanced comprehension for all those attending.

Workshop participants and leaders met with community officials in the village of Silongbei to discuss water accessibility and water quality issues. A brochure on karst water quality was prepared jointly by WKU and SWUC and provided to the community leaders.

Other key successes included a hydrogeological or dye trace project planning session for a forthcoming project in Yunnan Province and demonstrations of field and laboratory methods in an actual groundwater trace in the Qingmuguan valley.