The CCOP-GSJ/AIST-DGR Groundwater Project Phase III Kick-off Meeting

The CCOP-GSJ/AIST-DGR Groundwater Project Phase III Kick-off Meeting was held on 10-12 February 2015, in Bangkok, Thailand. It was attended by forty-five participants from Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Vietnam and the CCOP Technical Secretariat. 

The Opening Ceremony started with the Welcome Remarks and Addresses delivered by Dr. Adichat Surinkum, Director of the CCOP Technical Secretariat, and Dr. Youhei Uchida, Groundwater Project Leader, Senior Researcher of Geological Survey of Japan, AIST. The Opening Speech was made by Miss Vilavan Thaisongkram, Director of Central Administration, Department of Groundwater Resources, Thailand. 

Dr. Youhei Uchida from the Geological Survey of Japan (GSJ/AIST) presented the outline of Groundwater Project Phase III with the main theme, “Renewal of database for the hydro-geological map in CCOP regions”.  He then made an update on the status of the CCOP Groundwater Sub-Project “Development of Renewable Energy for Ground-Source Heat Pump System in CCOP Regions”.  He also introduced the new CCOP project funded by Japan, the Geoinformation Sharing Infrastructure (GSi) Project with the main aim of compiling various geoscientific information in CCOP countries, and constructing a database on an open Web, using the world standard formats and GIS.

Each CCOP Member Country made a country presentation on the topic, Country’s Activity Plan and Possibility of Compiling GW Data under CCOP GW Project Phase III.

Since the current status on the groundwater database management system varies from one CCOP member country to another, three (3) groups have been formed accordingly as follows, and Group Leader for each was identified:

DB Group I – Korea (Group Leader), China, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand

• GW observation system has been installed already
• GW data has been monitored
• Web-based GW DB has been compiled

DB Group II – Indonesia (Group Leader), Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam

• GW observation system has been installed already
• GW data has been monitored
• There is no Web-based GW DB

Public Policy Group – CCOP TS / Dr Adichat (Group Leader), Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, PNG, Timor-Leste

• There is no GW observation system

 
For fiscal year 2015, the following workplan for each group has been agreed.

DB Group (I & II)

• System design for GW Geo-Portal (GSJ will propose the design)
• Selection of area for converting Web GIS System
• Try to convert GW data to the Web GIS System

Public Policy Group

• Attending to GW Training program
• Making a report for draft of public policy for GW management

Ms Marivic Uzarraga from the CCOP Technical Secretariat made a presentation on the progress of the recent developments of the CCOP-GSJ Geoinformation Sharing Infrastructure for East and Southeast Asia (GSi) Project, including the tentative date of the GSi Project’s First Meeting, 1 – 4 September 2015 in Bangkok, Thailand

Dr. Reo Ikawa from GSJ gave a lecture with the title,   “Sustainable Water Resource Management and Development Using a Groundwater Database”.  His presentation gave concrete examples of the use of groundwater database, and provided analytical possibilities which can be embedded in the GSi Project system.  He also recommended that aside from groundwater data, surface water data be collected for the Project as well.

Dr. Kyoochul Ha from KIGAM presented on KIGAM's activity for GW training course in CCOP.  Updates on the courses offered by KIGAM’s International School for Geoscience Resources (IS-Geo) can be found at IS-Geo’s website, http://isgeo.kigam.re.kr/.

A visit to the ground-source heat pump systems installed at Kasetsart and Chulalungkorn Universities in Bangkok were made during the field trip.