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Using ICTs to Investigate Agricultural-Induced Eutrophication in Freshwater Reservoirs: A Case Study of the Tsimlyansk Reservoir (Russia)

Problem Description / Relevance to Water Security: 

The Tsimlyansk Reservoir in Southern Russia is of great environmental and economic importance to the region in which it is located. Formed as a result of the Tsimlyansk dam, the reservoir is relied upon for transportation, as a source of freshwater in an area that is densely populated, is used extensively for irrigation of the region’s agricultural lands, and is a source of cooling water for a nuclear power plant in the area, among a variety of other uses (Lagutov and Lagutov 2012). 

ICT Application / Outcome: 

The first step was to perform a land use classification to develop a land use land cover map to determine the extent to which agricultural lands cover the area of study. Four Landsat tiles (Figure 3), enough to cover the entire reservoir and adequate land around it, were obtained from the U.S. Geological Survey database (glovis.usgs.gov) for two dates, one at the beginning of the growing season (June-July) and one towards the end of the growing season (August)  Images were selected based on the 1) time of year, 2) satellite mission, and 3) little cloud cover.

Effective Communication of Flood Risk Information for Improved Decision Making in Rakhine State, Myanmar

Problem Description / Relevance to Water Security: 

Rakhine State receives stormy weather from the Bay of Bengal in the monsoon seasons, resulting in heavy precipitation between May and October each year. Flooding is a common threat for Rakhine. Mountains on the western part of the state often contribute to occurrences of flash floods while extreme flows from several rivers in the state caused riverine flooding almost annually. One of the worst floods in the State’s recorded history took place in July and August 2015 during the aftermath of Cyclone Komen, which also triggered devastating landslides throughout the country.

ICT Application / Outcome: 

In Rakhine State, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with technical partnership of the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) and the Myanmar Engineering Society (MES), initiated an activity in 2011 to assess and map the risk from possible disasters in Rakhine State including flood, earthquake, tsunami, cyclone, storm surge, landslide and forest fire. While the other types of hazards are impactful for the state, this study focuses on floods.

Geo-Spatial Data Modeling to Estimate Flood Affected Population in a Near Real-Time Scenario: Pakistan Floods 2011

Problem Description / Relevance to Water Security: 

During humanitarian emergencies, Well-timed information on losses, affected areas and affected population is essential to plan any effective response and optimum resource allocation that are in hand. However, this is, conventionally, only available following an on-ground assessment.

ICT Application / Outcome: 

A spatial model was developed for the assessment of the flood-affected population in a near real-time scenario using spatial analysis. A flood extent vector, extracted from MODIS daily images, was superimposed on a LandScan population grid to estimate the population count living in the flooded area, aggregated by their respective administrative level.

Environmental Management Plan for the Lake Uromiyeh Ecosystem, Iran

Problem Description / Relevance to Water Security: 

Lake Uromiyeh is shallow (6-8 m deep) and has no outflow, so all the precipitation falling in the basin evaporates either from the land or from the lake itself. The evaporating water leaves the dissolved salts behind. The actual salinity depends on the amount of water in the lake, i.e. the lake level. These circumstances led to the development of a relatively simple ecology, populated by salt-loving organisms at each level of the food chain.

ICT Application / Outcome: 

The principles of integrated water management were applied. The key tool in it was a decision support system (DSS) that combined data from all related fields.

The advantage of using a DSS in integrated water resources management is that it provides the possibility of testing outcomes of different water allocation schemes, i.e. of different scenarios.

The DSS for Lake Uromiyeh incorporated several software tools, comprising four major logical units (Figure 2).

Water in Central Asia Knowledge Base

Problem Description / Relevance to Water Security: 

Given the utmost importance of water resources for economies, people and ecosystems, a lot of water-related scientific and practical activities are taking place in Central Asia. A wealth of smart and locally adapted solutions, methods, and techniques are accumulated in scientific and research institutions. However, the use of these research outputs in practice is inadequate. This is mainly due to limited access to available knowledge and absence of effective knowledge transfer mechanisms.

ICT Application / Outcome: 

To deliver transboundary water security and sustainable water management in Central Asia, SIC ICWC builds on its strengths in the four areas: 1) Research and expert advice, 2) Data and Information, 3) Capacity building, and 4) Communication and Networking. All these areas of activities feed into and make use of a water-related knowledge base, which was developed to make better use of knowledge accumulated from field works, scientific research and water-related projects in Central Asia.